Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts
You think they would be pay someone to come coach this team in its current form? While paying Sutter 4 million.
We have gone through so many coaches I wouldn’t be surprised if Geoff Ward was still on the payroll.
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Sutter's 2 year extension expires after this season. I also doubt they gave Ward a 5 year extension when they removed the interim tag.
As for Huska, he is a much worse coach than Sutter from an analytics perspective. Sutter was sunk by terrible goaltending, just as much as Huska is elevated by it. Having 17 OtL/SOL also didn't help Sutter's case. Unfortunately, when losses pile up under a coach like Sutter he losses a room rather quickly.
I fully expected the Flames to be a bottom 5 team this season. That's why Huska should also get credit for them overachieving. For the first time in a very long time the Flames started the season on the right foot. They did it by showing up every night and out working teams.
In the game against COL the Flames forwards had a total caphit of $39.4M, the COL forwards had a caphit of $52.2M. The difference is one Nathan MacKinnon quality player making $12.6M. On Defence the Flames had a caphit of $15.6M, the AVS first pairing of Makar - Toews makes $16.25M, and the 6 man unit has a caphit of $31.25M. Yet somehow it's Huska's fault that we lose and make a game of it in the 3rd.
Is Huska a top 10 coach in the NHL? Definitely not. Are the Flames losing games directly because of his coaching/system? Also no. One could make an argument that he's not the best for the development of our young players. That said, Zary, Coronato, Pospisil, and Wolf were all used in roles where they could find success, and made progress under Huska's leadership.