Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
I think you have to give Hartley credit for more than just "motivation"
- he was outstanding at line matching, line blending, shortening his bench, reading the hot hand and double shifting them
- he was strong with details. Even more recently, Giordano credits Hartley with teaching him details he never learned under previous coaches.
- he ran high intensity practices, which set the bar for how the team would approach games
- he didn't have overt vet/star favouritism. Even benched Gaudreau and Monahan, batted heads with Raymond and Sarich, pushed Backlund... he really got the most out of individuals
Even if Gulutzan had better systems (and special teams), Hartley was the superior bench guy IMO. This is a guy who coached against Scotty Bowman and soaked in all the things he saw Scotty do.
My fave coach in the league is Joel Quennville... he has the systems of a Gulutzan, but runs his bench to perfection like Hartley.
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Fair. I was just looking at the whole body of work and his record overall was quite poor outside of the one fun season in 14-15. 3 seasons out of 4 being below .500 is not a great look.
But yeah I think you can flip Gully and Bob and it’s not really an issue.
Overall though I think the biggest story is that I don’t think any of these guys are top end elite coaches, or even good coaches for that matter.
I’d label them as as middling to mediocre at best, and downright horrible at worst (Ward).