Interesting listening to all the interviews. I find it even more interesting to hear a couple of players saying that although the team generated a lot of shots and out-shot and out-chanced the other teams, that there weren't enough high-quality chances.
At any rate, I can't fathom that Gulutzan is retained. He didn't want to share in public some of the reasons as to why he thinks the season didn't go well, and will share it with Treliving tomorrow, but for the rest of his interview he seemed to not have enough answers, and on some occasions, showed how he failed.
The last item he was talking about was centered around team-building - ensuring that you have a good team regardless of the players, and that perhaps the coaching staff didn't do enough to make them a team.
I also found his take on the not scoring aspect a bit confusing. If your team is not scoring, then you better start playing better defensively.
How about you start playing better defensively starting in game one of the season? They were terrible defensively this season for the most part - even when they were winning games I posted how I see too many quality chances being given up. For all the flack that Hartley took for running a 'river hockey' system, Gulutzan's seemed less defensive, which is outrageous given the quality of defencemen on this team.
Also, I love how open and honest Brodie was about his game, stating that in the last 2 seasons, he has regressed. He didn't once come out and say that the system was wrong, or that Gulutzan is utilizing him wrong. He simply stated that he needs to get back to his game, which is being aggressive offensively. I couldn't agree more.
I think that all the defencemen on the Flames' roster need to be more aggressive offensively, and a system has to be implemented to help them get there. That's why these Flames can't score. The Flames are built from the Defence to Center. They can't score because their depth scoring is on D, and the D can create a tonne of offence for this club.
Instead, they neither created offence, nor did they play stifling defence. That's what makes Gulutzan's statement so... terrible. Yeah, of course you need to concentrate on good D during the tough times, but it was such a regular theme with this team all season. They were neither offensive enough nor defensive enough.
Unless Gulutzan has some really, really strong points as to why this season went sideways, I can't see Treliving just accepting those answers. To me, they are not insightful and speak as to why this team wasn't able to rise above adversity - there appears to be no real answers, and there appears to be a lack of leadership.
Not getting this team to ever play proper defence or make use of the D and speedy forwards speaks to a lack of answers. Not getting this team to become a better 'team' speaks to a lack of leadership.
I feel bad for Gulutzan - I am sure he is a great guy and a really good human being, but I think he is out of his league at this level, or just needs more experience under different head coaches and on different teams. The Flames didn't seem to have many answers this year, and I think it comes from the coaching.
|