Quote:
Originally Posted by nik-
O'Brien, Jones, Galiardi. I think the guy is getting overrated because we didn't quite suck as much as we should have last year. I think he's also getting too much credit (although he obviously deserves a good portion of it) for the culture change that resulted from Iginla leaving.
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Two of the three guys you listed, to point out Hartley's failure to motivate are great examples of the opposite.
David Jones was injured half the season, so how you can blame Hartley's inability to motivate him to be more productive is a little strange.
As for Galiardi, he spent time in the press box, and was released at the end of the season.
O'Brien was waived, and then bought out.
Hartley implemented a system, the new leadership group bought in, and together they had the team buy in, players who didn't are no longer here, which pretty much shows it was the players who were not willing to buy in, not Hartley being unable to coach them.
You have to remember, especially with the guys you listed, they are grown men. Hartley can't force them to do anything, it's a matter of them being open to the system, and wanting to be a part of the team. The fact that you could only name 3 guys as examples of players that Hartley couldn't coach up to your standards is pretty impressive when the Flames had 40 skaters dress for them throughout the year. That's a 92.5% success rate of having players buy in to a hard working system, when they weren't working for anything. I'd call that a a job well done.