Quote:
Originally Posted by nik-
That is true, he did have the Stanley Cup. I guess we were just two all-world centers, a top 3 goalie of all time and two HoF caliber d-men away from a cup. Oh, and a completely different era.
Shoulda kept him.
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Well under Hartley, Monahan was an all-world centre, and Giordano and Brodie was the best D-pairing in the league. So all Harley needed was Backlund or Bennett to be good at centre and a good goalie (ie, not Hiller or Ramo).
If you're going to belittle the man's resume, let's not forget the Championship Avs were also the sad Nordiques just before they won the Cup under Hartley's leadership. Likewise, he took a garbage team in its 2nd year of rebuild to the semi finals. I wonder how that would've looked with Hamilton, Brouwer, Elliot, Johnson and Tkachuk against the Ducks. Hartley proved he can win with this current era. He did that when the miracle that was a rebuilding Flames exceeded all expectations.