Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
Well, Parker had concussions and Hartley was trying to make him fight anyway. And threatening him with the minors if he didn’t. That’s offside.
The other guys, fine, don’t believe them. But what you are doing is dismissing multiple stories from multiple sources. Plus Sarich’s claim that numerous players have Hartley on their no trade clauses. And the story about Flames exit interviews after his last season. So everyone had an axe to grind about Hartley, who despite a cup has always had trouble getting NHL jobs? There’s a lot of smoke around Hartley. It’s a stretch just to claim it’s sour grapes from all these guys.
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It is not that I don't believe them - on the contrary, I ABSOLUTELY DO BELIEVE them. You are a lawyer, so let's hit this one at a time.
Parker - undoubtedly the most severe transgression. Put yourself in Hartley's shoes
at that time. CTE wasn't a thing then - nobody knew about it. If Hartley wants Parker to play and fill that role, it is because the medical staff cleared Parker to play. So what is Hartley supposed to do? Either Parker plays - who, once again, was obviously cleared by the medical staff to play - or Hartley has the responsibility of replacing that player with someone else who can fulfill that role. In today's world, it is 100% out of line, but back then? Who was talking about CTE? Doctors sure wouldn't, and neither was anyone else involved in hockey.
Sarich - the only thing I have heard Sarich talk about was that golfing incident. Horrible mind games? Or was Sarich just a poor fit and who didn't get the ice-time that he felt he deserved? Once again, I loved Sarich and I wanted him to get more ice time, but with how the Flames were trying to be a quick transition team, he really didn't fit. Was it really mean of Hartley to insert Sarich into the lineup after he found out about the golf and beers evening? I get what Sarich is implying with it, but has to be really low on the 'abuse' spectrum.
O'Brien - this is the most credible thing, but again, Baertschi was not giving an effort out there. We as fans saw this night-in and night-out. I would like to know WHEN this happened. I remember Burke at the press conference pretty much destroying Baertschi, but he was also spot-on. So Baertschi started crying when Hartley said what he did, but what exactly did he say? It is hard to make a judgment call on something like this without knowing what was said, and even what Hartley's reaction to it afterwards was. On top of this, O'Brien was at the end of his career and probably wasn't happy with his lack of playing time too.
I am not privy to the exit-interviews, but again, who exactly is making what statements? What is being said? Is Hartley a monster? Or is he a tough, hard-assed coach that was starting to get grating? Is he a tougher coach than most? Or is he a monster?
I don't believe he is a monster, but I do believe he is one of the tougher coaches. Brent Sutter was voted as the toughest coach one year too in the player's surveys.