[TrentCrimmIndependent]

F it

I think the only thing the current system and coaching style is conducive towards is the development of the young d-men not named Parekh, but then again they're not even playing Bruz lately so what's the point.

It also worked alright for Honzek's development when he was healthy because of the role he's being raised into I suppose.

But the muzzling of skill players has been terrible and the tight structure and short leashes on any one with potential has created not only a worse product to watch but has kept them from bottoming out as well as they could be this year, as while it's like pulling nails to watch, it keeps them in games.

You don't have to play outright pond hockey like the Oilers without the skill, but for god's sake, give them some room to spread their wings.

Scratching young players intermittently while not holding vets to the same standard is my least favorite part of the coaching by far. You can't even call it meritocracy because it only goes one way.

In-game deployment has been slightly better since the Flames veered out of it, but for the bulk of the year the decisions late in games and OT have been Atrocious. No one pays what it costs to attend games here to watch Backlund and the slower, less skilled players in overtime. You're playing to score next at that stage, not to protect anything - jfc.

Kerins should be up full time in a depth role out of due diligence to make sure you don't have an NHLer there (you could say the same for Hunt with his exceptional performance this year) and Kuznetsov should never have been sent down to begin with (and potentially being claimed). That was poor evaluation in favor of placeholder-caliber player like Bean and Miromanov to start the year. Maybe that's all Conroy, but it's likely decisions were made off of Huska's input.

Dressing a pure energy 4th line in this day and age is ancient thinking. You can put skill on your fourth line. Why they think they're restricted to 3 lines is beyond me and a poor excuse to keep the Kerins and Stromgrens down without a proper look. Poor guys are probably mentally defeated at this point.

These cups of coffee for the AHL call ups where they're limited to a paltry 6-10 minutes of TOI have been insulting to the players that earned them. In such limited viewings a player cannot showcase themselves nor grow or learn in real time because it's so heavily sheltered. It also messes with confidence (as we heard from Parekh first hand). Hate it.

If we draft a true blue chip prospect like Stenberg or McKenna I'd be wary of having Huska get his claws into them unless he adjusts his approach from what he employed this year to something more youth and skill-friendly.

I'm glad we hired Huska over Love (thank #### for that), but based on the body of work I don't like him for this particular job.

And giving slightly more ice time to Parekh and Gridin last game doesn't erase the coaching style that has skewed more towards leaning on veterans and playing an offensively restrictive system to (I assume) try to fulfill the mandate of squeaking into the playoffs rather than focusing on transitioning to the next core of players and giving them prime opportunities to make mistakes and grow into the roles we ultimately need them to occupy for the foreseeable future.

And all of that doesn't even factor in how the power play has been run this year, where we somehow downgraded from Marc Savard... all I can say is, wow.