Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
Sure, but they are also what qualify as half-truths:
· 2006–07 ECHL Pacific Division Championship, Brabham Cup
· 2007–08 ECHL Pacific Division championship
· 2008 John Brophy Trophy, ECHL best coach
Gulutzan does not have a good track record as a NHL coach, but it is disingenuous to pretend that he did not get to this level on the basis of some impressive accomplishments as a professional hockey coach.
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With all due respect, I think you are really stretching there with the "Pacific Division Championship". That is not the league championship and that is my point. If you aren't winning "the championship" then you are not the winner. Winning a division or winning a bracket is not winning a championship. It looks like he had some good runs in the ECHL but he never "won" the championship.
To me, GG seems like a guy who thinks the game and strategizes well, but cannot make adjustments. At the ECHL level, that can help him build a power house team, but when he faces a decent coach at the championship series, GG isn't able to make the adjustments needed to "win".
I know I am projecting a lot here, but I am basing it on what I see with how GG coaches. He doesn't make in-game adjustments or he doesn't make the right in-game adjustments. He seems stubborn to his strategy and to his system and that's what I see when I watch this team.
I'm not the type who is in love with players. I cheer for the team. I'm not the type who is always defending the players and blaming the coach for everything. I thought at the end of the Iginla era, the problem was with the players. I've sided with the coaches and management on many player issues such as the Baertschi situation and even the slow handling of Jankowski at the beginning of the season.
I've watched this team for two years and it's just my opinion that the issue is the coaching. The players played hard for most of the year. I admit they probably haven't played hard in the last little while, but that's natural given where they are. Hell, I haven't even bothered to watch lately, so I can imagine how hard it is to actually play.
I've said it before, GG is a good hockey mind, you can tell when he speaks, but there's more to strategizing and analysis in coaching. There's an element of coaching that he is missing, that feel and sense for the game. Maybe he eventually develops it and he becomes a great coach, but so far, he has not developed that and his NHL teams have suffered for it. As opposing coaches have said when commenting on the Flames, sometimes they look great, other times.....that kinda describes GG's coaching. There's just something missing.