Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntingwhale
It's funny how some claim Bob was such a horrendous coach...and yet fail to mention that those were the dog days of the rebuild. His first season here, we literally had Matt Stajan as our top C. Cervenka was brought in and wasn't even a C. Gio wasn't a #1 and just coming into his own. The Flames D had to be completely rebuilt. No top 4 Brodie. A slow Sarich on the roster. Derek Smith and Butler in the top 4. A pending Iggy trade. A declined Kipper. Stempniak in the top 6. Cammalleri our go-to forward. Scorpion's favorite player, stupid David Jones in the top 9.
I think some of you plain forgot how bad that roster was. Rebuilds are supposed to be exactly that; sucky seasons. The playoff run was epic, but then things quickly went back to the way they were supposed to be. Can anyone with a straight face say an 'elite' coach like Quennville or Sutter would have done better?
Hell, go read the fire GG thread and the first half is FULL of people missing Hartley and the work ethic he brought. Hartley squeezed blood from a Stone. He laid the foundation for hard work ethic, an ethic that hasn't always been there afterwards. He literally said he is there to build the rebuild. No one was expecting playoffs. And if you were, that is your own fault for putting those expectations on him.
IMO he was the perfect placeholder coach until the team was ready to take the next step. He was the coach in Burke's ''crawl'' phase. I think he did a fine job with what he was given.
If you give me crap tools at my job, I will do a crap job.
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I read that all in my head in Hartley's voice for some reason.