Quote:
Originally Posted by getbak
Yeah, this is a team that has had home ice advantage in a playoff series once in the last 20 years. Find a coach who can get the Flames into a position to regularly play a Game 7 at home and then I'll start worrying about losing too many of them.
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I'm actually on the side that people shouldn't read too much into Boudreau's playoff record and he's likely a pretty good coach.
But I shudder when people say things like we'll worry about it when we actually get home ice in the playoffs in these types of discussions. I remember that was an argument when we brought in Turek as a starting goalie, people were saying don't worry about his lack of playoff success, we'll worry about that when we get there.
It's not that Boudreau hasn't had playoff success that's really the issue, it's that he hasn't been seen as being able to get his teams "over the hump" or "to the next level". Essentially, when you are coaching the ducks, home ice and playoffs aren't the goals with such a talented roster, it's winning the conference and the cup. And in fairness he failed (although most in pro sports do, very few win). For the Flames, who are not yet the Ducks roster wise, the equivalent of getting Ducks to a cup final is likely getting the Flames into the playoffs consistently. I don't think it's fair to say Boudreau is a good coach at getting his teams to the playoffs as much as it to say that maybe he hasn't gotten the most out of his teams or met expectations. Expectations would be different in Calgary and Anahiem, and at least initially he won't have as good a roster to work with.