Originally Posted by GranteedEV
You know, it would be a great story if Ward was the man to right the ship and take this team further than expectations. A guy who's been an assistant coach in the NHL for over a decade finally getting his shot in the driver's seat and bringing a group of so-called underperformers together as more than a sum of their pieces. It would be a charming plot.
Is it?
I'm going to preface this with this - Ward isn't the entire coaching staff. Others on the staff - Ryan Huska, Ray Edwards, and Martin Gelinas shouldn't escape this criticism as the four of them are a team. But since Ward has the final say in decisions, he should still take the brunt of the criticism.
Isn't Ward a solution for the Calgary Flames now that he's built a decent body of work to evaluate? I mean, at 18 - 11 - 2 he's basically got this team playing 100 point hockey ... right? And the team's struggles are a result of their own indifference as players... right?
In my opinion - No. That record is essentially so despite Geoff Ward. And while a thorough autopsy of Peters' coaching early on may be needed to make that claim, that's a variable I am electing not to discuss in this post. I'll generalize it to the following though - the Peters wasn't the same coach from the 2019 ASB onwards that he was prior to then, and this year was subpar himself and despite that his record was also a function of shooting percentages bottoming out. But overall Peters stopped being a solution before the beginning of the season.
Anyways - Wards makes a lot of errors. I'm not talking about those rookie mistakes that a budding coach will grow out of. I am talking about deliberate errors on a fundamental level that are causing his impact to be a net negative. What are they?
Veteran Favouritism
Do you remember when Bob Hartley posted "Always Earned, Never Given" on the walls of the locker room? Yeah, it was a bit of a cheesy motto for a team, but there was one thing about it that worked. The fact that Hartley followed through with it. He rewarded players who earned more opportunity. And he was unafraid to butt heads with those whom the game was passing by. He saw the potential and work ethic in then-kids like Paul Byron, Michael Ferland, and Josh Jooris and contrasted that with established veteran players like Matt Stajan, Dennis Wideman, and Curtis Glencross.
Ward does no such thing. Whether it's Milan Lucic dogging it, Travis Hamonic overplayed in the top 4, Mark Giordano getting exhausted on the powerplay, Michael Stone being overwhelmed, or Mikael Backlund looking lost on right wing - he operates on the base assumption that experience indicates performance. Veterans are given every opportunity to work through stretches of subpar play at the expense of the team, while younger players like Sam Bennett, Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington, Andrew Mangiapane, and Dillon Dube were playing well in limited roles. Those roles remained limited even as those veterans were costing the team wins in a league that's built around speed through the middle and short shifts. Yes, Lucic did eventually turn it around - credit to him - but that was after the media called him out to such an extent where he needed to elevate his play to remain prideful. It should have never gotten to that point given the opportunity Lucic was given.
On this team, it is Always Given, Never Earned. There is a fear of inexperience or a fear of the unknown that causes the "Devil You Know" to impact us negatively in the standings.
Inability to read the flow of the game and adjust accordingly
Anyone remember that game about a week or two ago tied after the first period with some new look lines, but the Flames were dominating and Ward randomly busted out the blender and we lost? It was a personification of his poor feel for what a game is calling for. He suffers a lot of these similarities with our old pal Glen Gulutzan, although I'd wager he's got a more talented group that the lack of proper adjustments in-game are not magnified so much. But still - a coach needs to know who's going in a game, who's struggling, what strategies are working, what strategies are struggling - and tweak. It's what got guys like Sullivan and Quennville all the way to the promised land. Bill Peters possessed this ability although he stopped going to it as often after the 2019 All Star Break. Bob Hartley possessed this ability and it was primarily what allowed us to come back in Game 6 down multiple goals to take that series at home. It's a coach imposing his will on the game. Double shifting a guy who's really going. Mixing up the lines when there's something missing. Keeping lines rogether when the only thing missing is finish. Getting a guy with two goals a few extra minutes in special teams to get a hat trick. Shortening the bench when down a goal. All these little things... Geoff Ward either doesn't have the feel for them, or is philosophically opposed to them. And it costs the team more than points in the standing. It costs them in morale.
Inability to evaluate, then make sensible and timely adjustments
As an extension of the in-game adjustments, Ward doesn't implement out-of-game adjustments very well. Brodie has been our best defenseman on the right side and yet got moved to the left while barely logging 20 a night (when he's shown to be capavle of 25+). Hanifin-Hamonic as a defense pair were not working for so long, and nothing was done about it (to the point where by January, Hamonic had the worst expected goals on the team by dar) until an injury forced his hand. Backlund as a right winger wasn't working in any way whatsoever given his skillset and this was only adjusted when the player went into the coach's office and stated the obvious. Jankowksi, after being profoundly snakebitten all season, finally breaks the dam and scores a goal and is benched the very next game. Giordano wasn't doing well on the powerplay. Kylington is proving game-by-game that he can do so much more than Stone every single shift. Bennett's probably been our best and most consistent player since the all star break and there's very little doubt that his usage will continue to suffer until he loses his confidence yet again, instead of being harnessed. There's a stubbornness to stick with things that aren't working far beyond their expiration date that not only affects this team in the regular season, but bodes poorly for the playoffs when game-by-game adjustments are needed to take control of a series - the same issue Bill Peters ran into.
Poor line change strategy
Whether it's "Chip & Change" or "D to D", this has to be the worst team in the league with respect to offensive zone line changes. This team has lines capable of hemming opponents into the offensive zone but there is no wave of one-by-one line changes that are the staple of true puck possession teams. Instead players take long offensive zone shifts deep in the zone and the moment there is a turnover are exhausted and cannot backcheck properly. One-by-one line changes is something you have to practice and preach for it to begin to manifest. Our line changes are the opposite, dump the puck in to the other team, and let them begin their rush by the time the next line is onto the ice. It doesn't work. It breaks the defensive structure, it reduces offensive zone time... and it reduces actual goal scoring out of the cycle.
Poor neutral zone strategy
You know what Glen Gulutzan actually was good at? His teams were pretty suffocating in terms of positioning and gap control. Getting past them was no easy task. I'm not sure what Ward's strategy in the neutral zone is because from what I have seen - there is none. This is one third of the game we might be the worst team in the NHL at. I don't know the numbers but I find it difficult to believe the players simply aren't executing - even when they win 6-2 there isn't much by ways of neutral zone suffocation.
Poor zone entry strategy
I'm mostly talking 5 on 5 here, but I'm sure there could be a breakdown of powerplay entries that doesn't do the coach too well. But 5 on 5 our entries are too often performed by wingers who are outnumbered and they dump the puck in. Mangiapane, Gaudreau, Bennett, Tkachuk.. these guys enter and then just throw the puck away. There is no speed to attack the opponent because they are usually pinched in along the boards.Our forecheck is too often our only option to take control of the puck in the offensive zone, and usually it's late because the team was performing a line change. This team isn't the worst at forechecking, but they're not the best either. The team doesn't carry the puck in enough. They've shown to be an elite possession team when they carry the puck, and their puck possession has fallen to average-at-best since they became a dump and chase team. It is insanity.
In my opinion, unless the goal is to tank, Geoff Ward must be replaced by a strong head coach ASAP.
His record is a mirage.
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