Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
I would say this team turned the corner a little bit. Not quite all the way, but if you haven't seen improvement in the last 3 games, then you have to have the hate goggles on.
I was starting to really lean on the 'fire Gulutzan' side as things weren't improving overall with the play on the ice, and to confound the issue, the younger 'core' players all looked like they took a giant step back.
Things are definitely improving lately on both fronts, even with tonight's loss. Let's see what the next handful of games produces both as results and trajectories. I have said this in almost every post about the coaching staff - results don't quite matter as much right now as how the team is developing overall, since this team is not a Cup contender yet. Playoffs would be a great learning environment, but I am just really more concerned with getting this team playing solid systems and improving how they play, and improving the youth on this team as they will be the backbone of tomorrow's cup contenders.
Gulutzan has at least successfully stayed his execution. It will take more than one disorganized clustercrap of a game to make me lean that way once more, as every team has a few of those a season. I like where they Flames are trending - effort and playstyle - and I look forward to the next 5 games and see where those are trending.
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Literally everything I was going to say, including the desire to fire them a few days ago. Things looked bad and I thought we may have had Eakins 2.0 as our coach. The team looks much more competent of late.
I actually noticed how eerily similar their style is to the Blackhawks. Not in every way, but many ways their style is exactly the same. Lots of skating, good sticks, not necessarily outmuscling guys, but winning key battles, making the safe play when there isn't a better one, puck support all over the ice, collapsing into the danger areas when the opposition starts to shoot but keeping pressure on the puck carrier until they're in a shooting position. The only major difference is the Flames prefer shots from the point with traffic, whereas the Hawks try to get it in the slot as much as possible.