[Loyal and True]

Imagine you are Bob Hartley and having a long chat with Brian Burke and Jay Feaster about your first season as coach, and then creating some goals for the coming season. Here's what I think he might say (for best results, use the Hartley accent in your head).

What do you think Hartley's goals and expectations are?

Things I think Hartley would say about last season:

"Well we're disappointed in finishing 25th overall. 6 games under .500 and the only good part of that is that you get a nice draft pick at #6 overall. Obviously as a coach I feel I am doing a better job if we are drafting #30 overall. But you know I was quite proud of our guys and the coaching staff last year. We battled through a lot of adversity."

"If you look closely at our record we were actually .500 (11-11-4) on March 17 with 2 or 3 games in hand on a lot of teams. We were right in the middle of 12 teams that were 13th to 24th overall, battling for a playoff spot. And that was with some big injuries to Kipper that started a rotation of backup goalies, so we had a lot of adversity there."

"And at the same time we were in the last year of Jarome's contract and by this time it was apparent that we would be trading our captain by the trade deadline, and we were also intending to trade our top defenseman for future assets. So in the dressing room we knew there were going to be huge changes to our lineup. You try to keep everyone's focus looking forward, but I'll admit several players looked a little bit lost when it was all going down. It took us awhile to accept our situation before we could turn the page."

"The rest of the year we were bringing up AHL players and college players and challenging them to understand what it takes at the next level. So you know I don't think the coaches should really be judged too harshly on the fact that we were 6 games under .500 for the rest of the year. In fact we actually went on a nice run and started to believe in ourselves. So even that was positive in some ways"

Things I think Hartley would say about 2013/14 expectations:

"I like the energy with youth and the opportunities for guys to step up. I expect this group to win more games than others expect. Too much credit from outsiders was placed upon Iginla, Bouwmeester and Kiprusoff, but not enough recognition to the rest of the team. These guys have some things to prove this year"

"The trade deadline is March 5. After the Olympic break you may trade 3 or 4 veteran guys in the final year of their contracts and those are important guys for us. Judge the coaches on how we perform up to the Olympic Break. 58 games. Trading veterans for picks will cause a decline at the end of the year, but we will focus on developing the callups again. Maybe that is ok with management, but as a coach I am used to being judged on my win-loss record. At the end of the day, the organization needs to think big picture."

"Most important is building the culture and identity for the young players. Every player competes. Every team should dread playing us, because we challenge them physically and with our skating, especially in our building. Build a culture of winning. Losing is not something we accept. At the same time we are willing to work and pay the price to win"

"My goal is to be a .500 hockey club through 58 games. At that time, we will again be in the mix of teams that have an outside chance of playoffs. If we achieve this goal, then it is likely that our veteran players are playing well, so if you are looking to trade you will realize a good return. I expect the roster to change at the deadline, and we'll drop to 25th overall again. Playoffs are not realistic, especially if we are trading away players at the deadline."

"In Goal, Kipper is gone. We have MacDonald and Ramo/Berra. With all due respect, Kipper was not his usual great self last year anyway. MacDonald was our best goalie last year. I think our goltending will be about the same as last year."

"On Defense, Bouw is gone and he played big minutes against top lines. He was paid like Norris calibre, but he was not at that elite level. Still a good defenseman and he will be missed. Our new captain Giordano will need to step up and Brodie and Wideman will get more icetime. We added Kris Russell and have some young guys coming, but I think we will have another challenging year defensively. We need a #1 defenseman if we are going to be a bona fide contender"

"At Forward, we don't have Iginla, Tanguay, Cervenka, Comeau. We have David Jones, TJ Galiardi, and then Knight, Horak or another young guy. Maybe Monahan. David Jones might score 20 goals for us. Veteran wingers Stemp/Hudler/Glencross/Cammy will get more ice with Iginla and Tanguay gone. I will challenge Backlund and Baertschi to step up and seize the opportunity. Iginla is a hall-of-fame player, but last year he was not the dynamic power forward he used to be. I think our forward group will do about as well as last year, but we need elite talent at centre if we are going to be a contender"

"If we achieve .500 through the first 58 games, I think the coaching staff did extremely well and we are comfortable being judged on that standard"