Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
People need to keep things like this in mind when they discuss the Superbowl incident, and attempt to imply that Gaudreau, Monahan and Bouma may have an attitude problem.
None of us are in the room, so we can't know the facts or how things actually transpired. And this type of stuff should remind us that we should not be drawing any conclusions about the players from incidents like that because we don't know the whole story.
Did Hartley freak out because it was a huge problem and the tip of the iceberg? Or did he freak out because he is somewhat irrational on the subject? Or (likely), something in between?
We can't know, so be careful before judging or commenting is all I'm saying.
|
I wonder if a player drinking - even just a little - might have been a uniquely troubling thing for Hartley to grapple with?
Take note as he describes the bracelet that was in his pocket for every single game he coached as a Flame and listen closely to why it was given to him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcK6AXG9i_s
Maybe he deserves some slack on the subject?
An earlier poster made the point by simply asking the question of what Micheal Ferland would say about Hartley. So I thought I would just amplify that a bit:
Quote:
|
Coaches can make their most significant impacts off the ice. Hartley experienced tragedy in Atlanta when Dan Snyder died in a car crash. During Snyder’s hospitalization, Hartley and his wife brought meals so his player’s family would not have to eat hospital food. Hartley was attending an Atlanta Braves game when Snyder’s mother called the coach with the news that her son had died. Years later in Calgary, Hartley recognized that Micheal Ferland needed help with his alcoholism. “I told Ferly, ‘I already saw one of my players buried, I don’t need a second. We’re here to help you,’ ” Hartley said. “Ferly started to break up. Cried like a baby. He came around my desk, gave me a hug, and said, ‘Please, help me. I don’t know what to do.’ ”
|
http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/br...XqJ/story.html
I am not going to doubt player accounts of what they personally experienced, nor am I making a case one way or another about his coaching style or tactics. But maybe Hartley can be both the worst coach Sarich ever had and also a fantastic, yet flawed, human being who made it to the NHL as a coach on merit and happened to pick up a Stanley Cup and Jack Adams award along the way?