Quote:
Originally Posted by Heavy Jack
Wasn’t meaning that he was available but I can see where how I worded it that way and didn’t establish what I meant that it could be construed that way. What I was meaning is we brought in a guy of Sutter’s pedigree too late, we should have brought in a coach like him with the roster where it was when we brought in Peters and really when we brought in Gulutzan. I thought firing Hartley was a tad knee jerk from Treliving and when he went on to replace him with ‘smartest guy in the room’ type picks before finally settling on Sutter it just screams if missed opportunities. If all we have to show from this core group which is already dismantled on the back end (Brodie,Gio exits in succession with no returned assets) and about to dismantle up front (Gaudreau/Tkachuk) is a couple of brutal first round exits and one series win against a weak nucks team at the time then to me it just speaks to how Treliving has talked a good game but hasn’t walked it and I’m hoping he’s walked out if this season is yet another stumble.
At any rate the ‘if you can squeak in anything can happen’ mentality he was spouting after his off-season work leaves a lot to be desired as a fan and is a tad ridiculous with the likes of Gaudreau, Tkachuk, Mangiapane and Lindholm upfront.
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The key thing to remember about Hartley is the players wanted him gone. Hiring Gulutzan was a failed selection, but I think hiring a young ‘player friendly’ coach for that group at that time wasn’t a terrible idea. When GG lost the room, Treliving went with a firm coach who he had first hand experience and won with. I think many GM’s make their decisions on who to hire based on similar criteria. Some will cast blame (surprising, right?) at the GM for hiring a guy with the the skeletons Peters had in his closet, but who is more responsible for bringing that to light? Treliving, or the two other organizations who knew and kept quite about the transgressions in question. So, not only did Treliving have to go beyond the role of GM and deal with that disaster, which should have been dealt with by a POHO (side note: the Flames don’t have one) he had to hire a top shelf coach too, right?
The players, reportedly, liked Ward and they had turned things around. Then the pandemic hits and no one knows what that means to the team, or the league. The Flames have a respectable showing in the bubble, albeit disappointing finish. Nevertheless, there’s still reason for optimism. The Flames go silent for well over a month. During this time, they’re evaluating their options, and likely speaking to Sutter about his interest in coming back. Given the state of the world at that time, there are many reasons why Sutter may not have wanted to come back at that moment. So, plan B is probably give Ward a shot. They signed him to a two year deal and was likely among the lowest paid coaches in the league. Not a stretch to think they positioned themselves to move on without much difficulty if need be.
I know it’s fashionable and easy to simply say ‘Treliving hired terrible coaches’ but I don’t think that takes into consideration the actual events as they happened. The question shouldn’t be ‘what didn’t work’ it should be why didn’t it work’.