Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
The other elephant in the room is the coach. Darryl was a great coach in his time but is anyone else watching games from the other divisions? It's so much faster and more exciting than the hockey we have seen from the locals. The Flames play so slow and trying to win games 2-1 goes against the grain of the rest of the league. I'm just not saying Darryl can't coach a winner but the margin for error is so small when you can't score goals and have to rely on slowing down opposition. Once they get down by a goal you can pretty well turn out the lights. I just don't see things getting better as it looks like the team is going to be a basement dweller for some time.
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This was a pre-existing problem.
Darryl is seems pretty openly critical of this team's "style" and is working on getting them to play with more pace.
I don't think this is coaching problem - it used to be part of it, but not anymore. Not since Darryl.
Now we just have to face the fact that this team has a bottom-10 roster. If we look at things in hindsight, you could see it coming. The train was derailing during the Gulutzan years and it just kept sliding off the rails more and more every year. The core of this team just never developed beyond where they were years ago, and they built up a plethora of bad habits along the way.
Monahan developed into a one-dimensional player that relies on Gaudreau to get him the puck in high danger areas, and never grew his game beyond that.
Gaudreau is elite on the rush, but quite poor in most other circumstances.
Tkachuk came into the league as a power forward who focused on crashing the net, drawing lots of penalties and generally being a pain. He's now just not effective.
Backlund has stayed steady, but he is what he is. He'd slot nicely on a team that needed a shut-down centre who can pitch in offensively, but this team pretty much needs him to be more than he's capable of being for it to be successful.
Giordano, father time is catching up. I can't be critical of this guy, he gives it his all.
Lindholm is one of the bright spots, but as our best forward, that's not a high enough ceiling for a successful team.
Mangiapane is a good support piece, but Dube, Andersson, and Valimaki are all players who have failed to take steps forward this year - and none of these guys are tracking to be elite. So where's the future?
Hanifin is solidifying his spot as a minute-munching 2nd pair defenceman, but not a cornerstone piece.
Tanev is having a hell of a bounce back season and a great first year for the Flames, but his contract still scares and I don't think he'll ever be as good as he is this season again.
Add up the parts and this team's roster just is what it is. Outside of 18/19 this team has been a bubble team every single season under Treliving. With one of the poorest prospect pools in the league, I'm not sure why we should be defending Treliving at this point. The team just isn't good and it isn't primed to take a big step forward. The rush back to the middle is complete.