[Igottago]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I agree with this. I thought the results were acceptable from Hartley. The year before last, everyone knew constant comebacks were not going to be sustainable but despite the growing pains last season, I felt there was a lot to grow on if we kept some continuity at the helm. Firing Hartley and hiring GG was like Peter Griffin giving up the boat for the mystery box. It basically starting the process all over as most coaches need at least a full season the experiment and work things out. As soon as you change the coach or GM, you are almost always going to take a step back at first.

And just like how there are people always blaming the coaching, there are always people who never blame the coach. I would also be willing to bet that most of the people who supported letting Hartley go didn't like the hire to begin with and have a confirmation bias.

Agreed, Hartley also got career best performances out of many players, lets not forget that. Simply put it was too early to pull the plug on him. As you stated, last year was probably a natural step back in the rebuild process, its never a linear progression. This year could've been 2 steps forward. The Flames bungled the coaching change.