Quote:
Originally Posted by ComixZone
I'm not exclusively blaming the coach. I think the roster needs to get blown up just as much as the coach needs to get fired.
With that said though, you have to look at things on a smaller scale. Being "tired of blaming the coach for players not performing" - that sounds like you're looking at the history of the Flames and are tired of them firing coaches and not blaming the players, even though the Flames coaching rotation is on-par with league norms.
Focus the view though:
Jonathan Huberdeau, 4 straight years of being a PPG player and better.
Nazem Kadri, constant pro, important part of a Stanley Cup Champion just last season.
They come here and their games collapse. Why is that? Both of those players have a history of performing - why does it not all of a sudden work? How does Jonathan Huberdeau hit the NHL record for biggest one-season drop off in production? That's all on Huberdeau? Really? You truly believe environment/other roster components/coach utilization doesn't weigh in?
He just needs to "work harder and earn more ice time"? That's such a narrow view of the situation in my eyes.
Look at it further too - James Neal comes here and his game falls off a cliff. Troy Brouwer comes here and his game falls off a cliff. Jacob Markstrom comes here and his game is all over the damn place.
Maybe it's time this team stops going out and spending signfiicant money on UFAs that are 30 or older? We've certainly got a pretty good history of proving that's generally a bad idea. Chris Tanev is like the one outlier where it looks like he'll get through his full contract without it being a disaster. Frolik was probably the next best but his contract ended up being a disaster in the last two years.
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Kadri had the outlier year with the Avs playing on a stacked team. His output this year is right in line with his historical norms. Career 0.69 ppg, which is 56 points over 82. This is Nazem Kadri. Though I was expecting a bit more edge to his game.
Huberdeau is...well...a mystery to me.