Quote:
Originally Posted by wingmaker
Oh my lord. I am not a Hartley enthusiast by any means but the anger and vitriol over a coach going through the process of a rebuild is WAY ridiculous. Posters on this board are happy to laugh at how badly the Oilers have managed things with a continuous coaching carousel and then want the Flames to replace Hartley for no good reason. He has been fine. He has the team working hard, he is holding the young players accountable, and he is preaching a winning atmosphere. What else can a coach in this situation do? People bitch and moan about him benching Sven and then on Saturday Sven blows coverage in a dead simple hockey play, leading to the Oilers first goal, and after the game everyone wants the coach fired because the team lost the game. News flash, the line combinations are not the difference between the Flames winning and losing and young players need to be sat so that they understand what is expected of them.
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I totally agree with this. We should stick to the plan for this season, see how everything pans out. Once the work ethic stops, bring in some of those youngsters from the Heat to pick it up again. If that means benching some of the highest salary players, then so be it. The work ethic stops that will be our problem. Playing as individuals instead of working as a team and sticking to the system, then changes should come.
And the only changes that should occur are moving players up from the farm and or at the deadline trading guys for high picks, no 4th or 5th draft picks. 1st and 2nd rounders only, IMO.