Quote:
Originally Posted by Infinit47
Very sanctimonious. Exactly what data should I be looking at to confirm Ward is a good or bad coach? Wins/losses, CF%, goal differential? Are we statistical darlings under Ward?
You seem to be honing in on one of many things I and other people have said. Stawman much?
Supporters of Ward (and detractors of the core) like to say the core is heartless and/or not doing what they are told. I merely pointed out that the players who are mostly likely to bust their butt on every shift and do exactly what they are told are also struggling. At least argue Lucic is the exception.
The frustrating part of this discussion is that Ward detractors point out, time after time, what they believe to be things that show Ward is not effective as a head coach. Instead of a single counterpart the response is "the core is rotten/heartless/not skilled enough.
If you want to talk about confirmation bias let's talk about the complete and utter discounting of the fact the Flames finished second in the NHL two years ago. People ignoring that are guilty of confirmation bias. Not people who point out that Ward has done exactly squat as a head coach.
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There were many reasons, including overachieving perhaps, but also the defence was better. This season specifically, it's taken a hit (not surprising as two of the top 3 from that era are gone), as has all forward scoring. There's plenty of the blame to go around.
- GM's moves have not filled out the lines with championship calibre players for their position in the lineup
- GM has handcuffed the team with overpaid and/or longer term contracts
- Coaching has them performing under their ability
- Players have tuned out (again) and thrown the coach under the bus (minus Markstrom and Lucic), with no leaders stepping up publicly
Again, tons of blame to go around. Everyone gets in their rut and honkers down on coaching, and that's probably the number one factor, but the GM and players have almost as much culpability here.