Quote:
Originally Posted by slcrocket
I'll be damned if we didn't desperately need this man behind the bench. I don't think I've ever seen a coach remain more objective when looking at games. Sees the GAME, not the result.
I believe that this Flames team has been mentally weak for years - and while Gio was a great leader in terms of example, I don't think he provided direction. This Flames team works more than any I have seen since, well, Sutter was here last time. That level of effort with the talent that is here has made us competitive when many of us (including myself) were ready to blow this thing up without a major shakeup.
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Is it even fair to pin that on Gio? The turnaround of this team didn’t even start this season, it started last season in my opinion. The final 16 games of last season was when the tide turned and Gio was one of the 2 main components driving that change. I actually thought he was the single best individual player in that stretch and the stats prove it. He was an absolute machine and I guarantee Darryl would love to have Gio back in the fold.
Darryl’s not the kind of coach who just gives minutes away easily, you have to earn it and he was playing Gio 26-27 minutes a night. He had 6 dmen to choose from and yet he was playing Gio for basically half the game. I think Gio will be back at some point in the near future, there’s too much synergy between the coach and the player and Gio’s agent pretty much admitted that to be the case on the radio a few weeks ago.