Quote:
Originally Posted by polak
I'd love to hear why I'm out to lunch?
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Because Hartley has gone from being the best coach in the league last year to being sackable 13 games into the following season. You say last year was a fluke? But what happens if the players are actually the problem, not him? What happens if they produced fluke performances and the bump back to earth is something he can't control?
We all knew the issues with Russell and Wideman didn't we? We all knew Wideman had serious defensive issues in Boston/Washington, so why are his performances this season a surprise? Russell allows too many shots say the advanced stats guys. So is his defensive issues a surprise? As for Gio, I think the criticism of him is almost as bad as the criticism of Hamilton. Gio was worth every penny of his contract in the summer, but 13 sketchy games into this season and he now looks like a terrible signing which will weigh us down. After the way he's played and led this team over the last 18 months, he deserves every ounce of patience from the management and fans to sort himself out, which I have no doubt he will. That again is something Hartley can't control, nor the injuries to the likes of Bouma and Ferland, plus Brodie missing time, plus the 3 headed goalie monster. These are all things Hartley can't be blamed for, all issues which have led to this poor start.
Look at our forward roster though: Jones, Backlund, Raymond, Bollig, Stajan. Man there are a lot of underperforming forwards on this team. None of those players I'm convinced are long term options for us. Maybe Hartley worked miracles on a pretty poor group overall last season, but simply can't repeat the feat this time around. That doesn't mean he is a poor coach and should be fired. That simply means the roster seriously needs upgrading, especially the bottom 6 and goaltenders.
Talking of goalies, if the issues are entirely on the goaltenders(or at least mostly), what is Hartley supposed to do? They aren't his area. That's Sigalet's. Why should the head coach be fired because his goalies are letting him down game after game?
You are totally out to lunch and making rash long term decisions after a short term bad start. Why are we in win now mode? This roster isn't a contenders roster. Hell, it should never have been a play off roster. One excellent season last year(fluke or not) doesn't change that. I think you need to chill out and show some patience. This team needs some serious work and that is only going to happen in the long term. There are no short term fixes for this, not unless Treliving pulls off a Dubynk-esq trade out of nowhere. Need to stay the course and see where we are come the deadline. Firing Hartley will solve nothing in my opinion.