Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
You can look back months to see this isn't something I just acted on today after looking at the stats. I actually followed the Heat somewhat during the lockout and don't pretend to be an expert but I've seen enough to know he's trying to win hockey games not develop young players. We have seen many Flames head coaches bench young players after a bad play or bad game but does this really need to be happening on the farm as well? It seems like once a young player gets in Ward's doghouse he gives them the Keenan treatment. You can easily crush the confidence of young kids and I don't see any young kids excelling in Abbotsford.
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I respect everyone's opinions of Ward, whether positive or negative.
I'll just add my piece to this thread. The bolded part is just wrong. Nobody has been purposefully benched more under Ward than Kolanos. In fact, at least twice a game Reinhart will turn the puck over or bobble the puck, which leads to an odd man break and he doesn't miss a shift.
Since the lockout, Reinhart's time on ice has essentially doubled from 9:40 to 19:23 per night. It seems like he's always out there and in every situation imaginable except goalie. That's just one example. Another example is an increase in ice time for Byron and Sylvester. Breen plays the second most minutes of any blueliner (behind Callahan. Used to be behind Brodie).
I also want to note that Ward doesn't stifle offense. In fact, it's the exact opposite. Straight out of Ward's mouth (start watching at the 2:00 mark):