Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
I would be surprised actually if Ward returns as head coach.
For probably the first time since becoming the GM, Treliving is probably feeling like he is on the hot seat. I can't imagine that he is going to go with another relatively unproven head coach, who arguably got out-coached this series.
I would love Darryl back here. I recall that during the Peters hiring process, it was leaked that the owners were wanting to bring Darryl back, but left it in Treliving's hands.
As for Calgary not being a 'Sutter team' - I am not sure that's 100% accurate. The team is atrocious defensively, and I think that Darryl would really go a long way in fixing that.
On top of that - and this is something that I mentioned previously here - that I caught Darryl on either TSN or Sportsnet (I still can't remember which one) doing some analysis work. I thought he got Calgary bang-on - he stated that Calgary has stopped transitioning quickly, and he felt that in today's NHL, every team better be able to transition quickly.
That made me think that Darryl is not all about 'grinding out the wins'. I would be very interested to see him coming in with this exact same roster (not that I don't think changes need to be made - heck, I voted for a rebuild!). I am so interested to see what a proven, experienced coach who has a track record of making his teams better than expected (at least for a time). I still believe coaching has a lot to do with this team's issues. Flames haven't brought in a competent coach since Hartley IMO, and even then people feel he wasn't very competent, so you have to go all the way back to Darryl himself to get any sort of consensus on this board as to who was a competent head coach for the Flames.
Laviolette, Darryl, Gallant - those are my three choices in order. I am wary of Bruce Boudreau - he isn't a winner at the NHL level, and has had great teams. I never once thought that his teams were ever 'better than the sum of their parts', and this is what I look for in a coach. That's just my opinion.
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This is precisely why I wanted Alain vilgneault when he was available. That canucks cup run team was built on winning the puck back in their own zone, and immediately moving the puck up ice. They weren't the fastest skating teams but their ability to make quick outlets and transition the puck created so much more speed to their attack.
I completely agree that creating clean/fast breakouts are a massive part of what successful teams do in today's game.