Quote:
Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy
2018 was the off season Vigneault got turfed by the Rangers and the Flames fired Gulutzan and hired Peters. Now who knows if he would have come to Calgary or not, but boy is that ever frustrating in hind sight.
|
Vigneault was available and the coach I was hoping for way back when we were struggling with Gilbert. I even called in to the Mark Stephen show to advocate firing Gilbert for him. I recall that Mark didn't like the idea, but he was nice about it.
That Darryl Sutter guy ended up being a good hire, so I can't complain. Just a cool story, bro.
Gulutzan was a case of the Flames playing musical chairs with other teams and being left standing at the end. I personally don't think he was the guy Treliving wanted from day 1.
That's the problem when your team is seen as coaching carousel though. It's hard to convince good coaches to come over if you're firing them all the time.
Just look at what has become of coaches after going though the Flames over the past several years.
Jim Playfair - Rookie HC with only one season to prove himself. Had decent results. Some arrogant players allegedly drove him out out of town. Current status: Associate Coach in the NHL, never had another HC opportunity.
Mike Keenan - Decent regular season results. Fired after 2 seasons. Current status: Out of the NHL since then.
Brent Sutter - Was regarded as a top coach. Underwhelming results, but not terrible in the big picture. Ruined a lot of the goodwill he had in the NHL the way he left the Devils for the Flames. While I didn't like him as a coach, he took a big risk by leaving the Devils and hasn't had a whiff of the NHL after the Flames fired him. Current status: Out of the NHL since then.
Bob Hartley - His overall record wasn't great, but he had one really good season and the on-ice product was entertaining. He was also coaching during what was pretty much a rebuild at the time, so the results can't be looked at the same as previous coaches. Fired a year after winning the Jack Adams and the only Flames HC to make it passed the 1st round of the playoffs in the past 14 years. Current status: Out of the NHL since then.
Glen Gulutzan - Fired after one season. Assistant coach in the NHL. (not a rookie HC as previously mentioned).
Bill Peters - Not really a reflection of the organization, but still only 1.5 seasons behind the bench. Current status: Out of the NHL (albeit, extenuating circumstances).
Geoff Ward - Interim, but probably not coming back as HC. He will almost certainly get an NHL assistant coach position at the very least.
That is an average of less than 2 full seasons for any HC in Calgary since 2006 with all of them never getting another NHL HC job at this point. What proven coach wants to come to Calgary knowing this? It's a career killer.