I like what Nilson said - he left Calgary because Keenan was hired. He stated that both Keenan and Darryl were hard coaches, and that Darryl was probably probably even harder (or did Warrener say that?). The difference was that Darryl respected you. Keenan didn't, and he didn't agree with how Keenan treated people. Sarich hinted at how it was either "Iginla or Keenan" in his interview, so maybe Iginla was just publicly saying one thing trying to keep things in-house? Or maybe him saying Keenan was the greatest coach he ever played for was at the start of Keenan's tenure? Interesting tidbits that come out from these interviews.
As for Brent Sutter - I think that era was one of the least entertaining periods of Flames' hockey. Yes, that team wasn't a potent offensive team, but it was even less able to play the system that Brent tried to make them play. Remember that they were the oldest team in the league, and that they were also one of the smallest. What was his system? Everything out of the zone must go up the boards. To generate offence, it based off the cycle. That team wasn't built for that hockey at all. They were better off the rush. They had the defensive personnel to help support it. I remember vividly by the middle of the second season, I started noticing how every time a defencemen grabbed the puck, the opposing team would hug the boards right away, knowing full well they wouldn't have to defend the middle.
Hartley was a much better (and the team was way more entertaining). The only thing he didn't allow was for defencemen to rim the puck back and forth behind the net - he wanted the puck moved up fast, as he believed in a fast transition. However, defensively, I thought he was decent - he was more concerned with shots from in-tight, but wasn't bothered by shots from the perimeter. For 1.5 seasons, this worked fine, especially considering the personnel. It was when the goalies suddenly couldn't save those perimeter shots that things fell apart. Then Ramo comes back from the AHL and emerged as a capable goalie once again, and the Flames were back in the race, until he got hurt. That's how I remember it anyway. I thought Hartley really made Backlund into a strong defensive player. Other than squeezing too much out of that team and falsely signalling to management that this team was further ahead than they really were in the rebuild, he was a great 'teaching coach'. Forced offensive players to play better defence, forced overly-defensive players to play better offence. It was a nice break between the tenures of Brent Sutter and Glen Gulutzan - some of the least inspired and exciting hockey in the history of the Flames (then a break with Peters, then again another difficult season to watch under Ward).
Breath of fresh air is what I call Huska. Seems to be firm and isn't shy to scratch a player or bench him (benched Huberdeau, even though he knew it would make a lot of noise). Treats everyone fairly and seems to have the respect of the team. Team is also not boring to watch. May this team never hire disruptive asshats like Gilbert and Keenan (and Hartley - good coach IMO, but divides the team with his stupid mind games), or terrible boring coaches who can't get the team to at least play to their ability (Gulutzan, Ward, Hay, Playfair, etc).
More Darryl Sutter types (at least when the team needs one), Badger Bobs, and even Huskas (so far, not a single complaint by me). Strong leaders, firm but fair, good communicators, etc., who actually get something out of these teams.
I love hearing stories and tidbits from the '89 team (They should invite more members from that team to talk about it), the '04 team, and I look forward to more players from that last generation (Gaudreau, Monahan, Bennett, Giordano, Backlund especially) talk about going from Brent Sutter's tenure right down to Darryl's Tenure (and Huska - if it is Backlund getting interviewed). I find these really interesting. The funny thing is that whenever Conroy mentions Hartley, he seems very positive on him. I don't agree with Sarich's takes as I haven't heard him share a story that I actually found to be terrible - finding out that he wasn't ready to play because he went golfing and drinking the day before and inserting him into the lineup just to teach him a lesson doesn't strike me as something terrible enough to bring up - but from Stajan's viewpoint, there were many things there, especially how he divided the room.
Either way, it is interesting to hear the dynamics of how the teams were, and listen to some interesting stories. Hopefully the Barn Burner does a lot more of these interviews.
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