This link has been posted before - the reaction from the players and also Gulutzan himself speaking about 'the incident'.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/f...ed-stick-toss/
How can anyone say with a straight face that these three players being questioned here 'are not taking this seriously'?
Do people not pay attention to the interview? The reporter's question to Tkachuk was:
"If you were an olympic judge, and you were to score a javelin toss, and you saw Gully in practice here, how would you score what you saw on the ice..."
It was a leading question and intended to be 'fun'. The players responded accordingly. It wasn't a matter of them 'not taking it seriously'. That is how the question was given.
I just think too many people here are looking far too deeply in an effort here to either support or attack Gulutzan (or the players now too).
I encourage people to listen to what Gulutzan said in his media scrum as well. This was not the first time the players have seen this, and it wasn't the worst. He just doesn't do it in front of the media.
This isn't something new for him. This isn't him feeling the pressure of having his job on the line and finally having an outburst of emotion. He has apparently screamed at this team before (which all players' coaches still do from time to time).
No, this is not a sign that Gulutzan lost the room.
No, this is not a sign that the players aren't taking him seriously.
No, this is not a vain attempt by Gulutzan to hang onto his job.
Sometimes people have to stop looking too deeply into things. That is when stories get constructed, rather than just see the facts. This was Gulutzan getting annoyed at his team for not practicing well enough. Maybe it was calculated, maybe not. I haven't seen Gulutzan angry before (and probably no one here has either) so we don't know if this was him being 'fake' and making a calculated move here.
All we know is that Gulutzan called his team out (rightly) for not practicing hard. The response was (what I hope - wasn't reported) that the Flames practiced with much more energy. Hopefully that carries over to tonight's game.
That's it. The players might have had a good laugh about it afterwards, but that doesn't mean they don't respect Gulutzan. Heck, just listening to what the players would say about Darryl Sutter here in Calgary during his tenure (when no players tuned him out) would make you think they never took him seriously. People sometimes react with humor to many situations, and it shows exactly ZERO as to how seriously they took those comments to heart, especially when they are asked a leading question in that way.
Anyone that is saying that Giordano's captaincy should start to be questioned needs to actually pay attention to the interview. You are reading WAY too much.
I must admit, some of the responses in this thread made me shake my head, and many made me laugh out loud. It is really interesting to see people's takes, and interesting to see all the conspiracy theorist enthusiasts making such deeply (fictional) insightful posts.