Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
Darryl Sutter was an excellent GM that got this team turned around on and off the ice. He amputated that 'culture of losing' that was prevalent here in Calgary in those years. He got the owners to buy-into a lot of things on and off the ice. His trades were fantastic and every year this team got better and better. Of course it wasn't perfect, but it is hard to argue that he made Calgary worse... until the coaching disasters.
He stepped down to be a full-time GM. Playfair promoted. Playfair was not ready. That's strike one.
He hired Keenan, and Keenan had a very talented team for the most part. Keenan was, unfortunately, also semi-retired. That's strike two.
Then came in Brent Sutter. Atrocious coaching style - both from a systems point of view, as well as the culture I thought. Darryl tried to compensate by making a series of trades to restructure this team and make them more competitive, and better able to play under Brent's system. In the end, it was Darryl that ended up losing his job and his reputation. That was strike three, and he was out.
Treliving didn't want Hartley, that's fine. It wasn't justified from a performance issue (if it was, then Ward shouldn't have been extended 2 years). It was justified from a professional conduct standpoint, as well as simply the standpoint that a new GM gets to choose 'his guy'. I said when Hartley was terminated, that the clock officially started on Treliving. I really think he was 'off the clock' right up until then. I don't give him a strike for this. Rather, I use this as a 'starting point' for Treliving's era, so to speak. Up until this point, it was still very much Feaster's team, with not much of a stamp put on by Treliving.
So Treliving hires Gulutzan - that's strike 1. No need to disect this.
Next up is Peters. After seeing that Peters was going to be available, Treliving zero-ed in on this guy and ONLY this guy. It is probably fairly obvious that Treliving didn't do enough of a background check on him. Ownership thew out Darryl Sutter's name, but AFAIK, Peters was the only coach to even be considered by Treliving. No other interviews apparently were done. Well, that's strike 2.
Ward was the Associate coach on staff, and the obvious choice to be interim coach. Treliving decided not to conduct a coaching search, and just let Ward coach-out the season (which is fine, but Ward has never been an NHL head coach, and a core only has so many kicks at the can). Still, I don't give him a strike for this. This past off-season (after an 'up and down' showing against Dallas in which there were some questionable coaching decisions made), there was no rumours of Treliving conducting a coaching search. After management's analysis, they just decided that Ward was the right fit. That's not a strike yet - he is still the coach, and who knows, maybe he will turn it around. Maybe I will win the 65 million on Tuesday's Lotto Max too! I don't hold much hope for either of those two things to happen, however. This is almost strike 3.
It scares me to think what Treliving might have planned. I hope he sticks to his 'process'. Long term vision. No quick, knee-jerk moves in terms of trades. Stick to the process.
Darryl Sutter lost his job because he couldn't pick a damn coach.
Heck, Craig Button lost his job because he couldn't pick a damn coach either, and then one got picked for him.
Maybe Conroy should be picking the next coach? Just a thought. I think coaching is going to cost Treliving his job, much like I argue it cost Darryl Sutter's job (and Button's).
I also don't believe there is any restraints on this team by the ownership group when it comes to the price of coaching. If anyone really believes this, then they are just likely to believe the nonsense from Q-anon.
Murray Edwards and the rest of the ownership group are talented businessmen. Do you really believe that they don't see the value in management? Do you really believe they are that stupid?
Hartley was not a cheap coach relative to other coaches. He wasn't the most expensive coach in the league, but IIRC, he was fairly high on that pecking order of dollars.
This team just promoted Sigalet into a new management role, and brought in Labarbera to be the goaltending coach. That's additional costs in management.
It was one of the owners himself (no idea which) that wanted Darryl Sutter to be brought back - and I am sure he knows how much Darryl Sutter was making from LA.
This team has had plenty of coaches that were terrible over its' years here, and few that were even passable, and even fewer that were great. Sign me up for passable. Got any Dave Kings kicking around? I will gladly take him. Got any Pierre Page's? Give me one of those. Find me a Bob Hartley out there without THAT level of abrasiveness, and I will jump for joy.
I am not even asking for the best out there. Just hire a competent coach. Semi-competent at least.
If I am Treliving, I am going to get someone else to pick the coach, or I am going to put all the available names in a hat and pull out one of them. I would start feeling by now that I am just terrible at figuring out coaching staff.
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