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Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
Don't get me wrong, I am not giving him a 'pass' for it, but just don't think he should be crucified for it considering Wideman's history with the Flames - especially his recent history.
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I don't want to speculate too much either, and this is not a hill I want to die on. What about the other examples of Hartley's stubbornness? His lack of adjustment when other teams have adjusted to us? his not playing nakladal until forced to by injuries and suspensions and trades? engelland as the #3 d?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
One thing that I absolutely think is critical to this young team is how much time he spends 'teaching'. Lots of coaches just bark on the ice during practices, or even just have their assistants running them. That is not Hartley. He regularly pulls players aside and explains things to them, often taking a lot of time to do so.
Does he have warts? Does he make mistakes? Absolutely.
Is this the perfect system to win championships with? Absolutely not.
Is this a system that comes close to the 'best fit' in terms of composition? In my opinion, yes.
I do think that regardless of what happened this season, Hartley does have half of next season at least before the Flames decide to make a move. I think he has earned it.
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Why can't we have a coach who can teach
and who can implement a winning system? When Julien came on as the coach of the bruins, bergeron was 22, marchand was 19, krejci was 21, and lucic was 19.
he developed them into world class two-way players, and taught them to play solid, winning, defensively sound hockey. chara and boychuk also blossomed under him. wouldn't it be better to get a great coach to teach our young guys the skills and systems necessary to play championship hockey?
i disagree that we don't have the personnel for a defensively sound, possession based hockey. look at the leafs - they had a roster full of nobodies yet always had solid breakouts, zone entries, and neutral zone play. their offense did not rely on rushes and stretch passes 99% of the time. all of the teams below and around us in possession have far worse defensive cores, and worse players in general. i think we are playing far below our potential.
i agree that hartley has done some good here, and i can see management wanting to give him another shot. i worry that if he fails again to improve our systems and defensive play, quality coaches like julien or hitchcock will no longer be around.