Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
It actually makes me laugh a little that some posters have this retroactive love for Hartley and act like his firing was a big mistake, when really his performance was even worse than Gulutzan.
Hartley - GP: 294; PTS%: .498; Best Season: .591 (97 pts - 45-30-7)
Gulutzan - GP: 164; PTS%: .543; Best Season: .573 (94 pts - 45-33-4)
Hartley put up a .470 in 15-16 and deservedly was fired. Gulutzan wasn't a good coach and even he never put up a season worse than .512 (or .500 if you include his 2 seasons in Dallas too).
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Of course people are going to wax poetic about Hartley.
Hartley missed playoffs, but had a younger, less deep, and less experienced team playing an entertaining style that resulted in scoring a lot of goals, albeit also leaking quite a lot of goals. He massively overachieved with those rosters and brought playoff hockey back to the Dome after the horrific B. Sutter era.
GG missed the playoffs by making a roster with a healthy Gaudreau-Monahan duo, the 3M line, a solid defense (Hamilton, prime Gio, and prime Brodie), and a still decent Mike Smith play a passive system that resulted in low event hockey. It was legitimately awful hockey to watch that didn't result in scoring goals or preventing goals.
Hartley and GG's win-loss records might be a wash, but why would anyone have any love for GG after both underacheiving and putting a boring product on the ice...