[Redliner]

Losing sucks - especially to the oilers and canucks - but I'm more concerned about the way the team is losing. They have completely moved away from the tooth & nail dogfight mentality that they had in 2014/15 during the "always earned, never given" days and just seem to be drifting right now. The team looks sluggish and disorganized, and if there is a system that they're trying to play, it's either a really bad system or they aren't doing it very well.

I wasn't sold on the Gulutzan hiring to start with, but I decided to put my faith in Treliving and give it a chance. So far what I'm seeing is a weak coach who has no influence over his team, doesn't know his players, and is completely clueless in high pressure situations. There was a lot of speculation that when Hartley was fired it was because of comments made during end-of-season interviews with players who insinuated that he had lost the room and that the team needed more of a "player's coach". For what it's worth, I think that's a disastrous way to go. The Flames are still a young, developing team and they need a coach with a disciplined and structured approach. Bringing in a wishy-washy "player's coach" with no defined system and the personality of a potted geranium is tantamount to handing the inmates the keys to the asylum.

I really, really want to be wrong about this but I'm still not sold on Gulutzan and I think that the Flames are going to struggle until the team develops some cohesion. Really need someone like Gio to step in at this point and provide some direction and leadership.