Quote:
Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder
Yeah that pretty much sums it up.
I still think most fans have watched other teams go out and get great coaches and the whole not even being in on Boudreau last year and it just gets frustrating.
Kinda feels like the one thing we haven’t tried as an organization inthe last 25 years is getting a top quality coach. We’ve tried being fast, we’ve tried truculence and every type of front office possible, but still very limited success.
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I think that does make sense, but I also think you need to look at this as a pre and post lock out thing as well (04/05).
Calgary was a budget team pre salary cap era. They couldn't afford to "compete" with the big boys per say, and that didn't just apply to player salaries. I actually think the ownership group did hire closer to the top of the pile with the D. Sutter choice, so that's something.
After the cap era, I agree easy to look back on the choices and feel underwhelmed, but how much of that had to do with lack of desire to spend? Obviously I don't know, but here's how I would break down the coaching choices at the time.
- Playfair - I'm sure he was cheap, rookie head coach. That to me though was likely more about promoting from within, and likely the fact that our GM (and former coach) probably still wanted to try and do both jobs, so that choice allowed him the most chance at doing that.
- Keenan - When the above didn't work, our GM went out and hired a guy who he felt coached like him and he was familiar with. Again, less likely to be about budget.
- B. Sutter - everything I remember hearing is that D.Sutter was forced by ownership to turf Keenan even though he didn't want to. That is the opposite of being cheap, they spent more on coaches because of that. And the hire being B.Sutter, who was the hottest coach in the NHL at the time. So they did go out and land the "big fish" so to speak when it came to coaches.
- Hartley - I'm going to guess he was cheap as well. Obviously he was tight with Feaster, but I'm also guessing that the owners didn't want to invest heavy in a top flight coach for what was the beginning of a scorched earth rebuild, and to that I say fair enough.
- Glue Gun - As mentioned before, I've heard he was cheap. But again, did we pick him cause he was cheap, or because BT wanted to hire a "new style" or "new generation" coach. I actually don't know, but wouldn't surprise me if it was the latter. Something tells me BT wasn't hamstrung on budget for coaching. Now whether he got his man or had to settle on a 2 or 3rd option that ended up being cheaper, who knows.
I'm with you though, I'm hoping we get an established high end coach for next season, so fingers crossed.