We can all complain about Hartley and how he's got one of the worse records as a Flames head coach. But, think about these:
1) If he had a better team, maybe his coaching record with the Flames wouldn't have looked so bad
2) If he had a better team, the Flames' rebuild would've been a lot worse. It was just too bad that his team rose to the occasion for one season while almost every team held back to position themselves for the McDavid sweepstakes.
3) I would almost have to question why the Flames didn't tank properly the one year when they had the opportunity to draft before the Oilers and yet the team decided to win games when they're supposed to lose. Thus, the Oilers got Draisaitl while the Flames got an injured Bennett.
4) Does anyone still thinks Bärtschi is that good of a first round pick?
5) With the way the Flames were turning over the pucks in their own zones, I don't doubt Hartley's system of going forward with the puck on zone exits. It was frickin atrocious at times when the Flames exiting out of their own zone only to have it passed back and then they get into a turnover and they're hemmed in their own zone for most of the period.
Yeah, Hartley's tactics as a hard-ass coach is likely to break everyone down and rebuild them back up to be better players. So, if it works great or else GTFO. It works for some and probably not for many who are used to the country club atmosphere. Maybe GG stick throwing tantrum with the media present kind of shows you what the coaching staff has to go through in order for the team to succeed.
So, do I care if Hartley was a bad coach as a Flames? No. All I cared was that if the Flames wanted a rebuild, Hartley was there to build a Flames team from ground up. It doesn't matter what went on behind the scenes as long as the team that he had was progressing and I think he did his job. Some players really just need to suck it up and be professional about it.
|