Bob "Fricken" Hartley

[Rerun]

[devo22]

14-9-0 since the Vancouver brawl ... enough said.

[undercoverbrother]

I remember early in this season there was a video or GIF posted of Hartley leaving the bench. He reached back to high five a young fan that was hanging over the railing.

I knew then he was a good fit for this team.

[Gaskal]

Keep him til the team stops listening to him. Which is likely never.

[SuperMatt18]

The one thing that always gets overlooked is that even though Hartley is preaching hard work and playing with a structure, he doesn't appear to be a hard ass coach that wears on his players.

He always appears very positive in the media, praises players when it is necessary, and doesn't overly criticize players in the media when they are not playing well.

[Huntingwhale]

I will never tire of this gif

[strombad]

During the stretch of scoreless games for the Flames, I posed the question of who would be the Flames coach next season, whether it be Bob or not, citing that I personally could not see Bob having a long stay with this club.

Now more than ever, I hope I'm wrong. He's been just fantastic. You'll get certain posters in here claiming he hasn't done all that well considering our placement, but id say that considering our roster? He's done great. Not a lot of wins, but more enjoyable games this season than any season in the last few years.

[Massonite]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

I will never tire of this gif

I can't quite make out what he's saying... lol

Hartley is definitely great for this team. Unlike other years where we've turned it on at the end, I'm actually optimistic that this effort and hard work will carry over to next year.

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by Massonite

I can't quite make out what he's saying... lol

"Go #### yourself!" (to Torts)

[Wolfman]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

"Go #### yourself!" (to Torts)

Are you sure it isn't..."you know like, like...go #### yourself" LOL

[devo22]

Darren Haynes ‏@DarrenHaynes_CP
Could it be a sign of things to come for the #Flames? The NHL standings for the period of Jan. 18 through last night.

[BloodFetish]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

I will never tire of this gif

It's been bugging me that I couldn't figure out who Gelinas reminds me of in that gif. Finally got it...

[Canada 02]

according to Peter Maher, the Flames have been in 43 one goal games this season

show how competitive the Flames have been

[EldrickOnIce]

14-9-1 since the 'brawl'.
Two 2 goal losses (one with empty netter), the other 7 one goal losses.
+19 goal differential

No wonder it's seemed like a pretty good 2014

[Calgary4LIfe]

What is nice to see on top of this is that many posters wished Brent Sutter would have been around for the rebuild. I can't imagine him doing a better job than Hartley at this point. Backlund had alluded to how he changed his game because of his past coaching in the NHL, and how he has been changing his game back to what it used to be.

He won't let other teams push the Flames around (Hi Vancouver), but he also won't run up the score when games become ugly (Hi Edmonton - could have really broken that record easily).

He yells on the bench and is a hard-ass when he needs to be, but he seems to just be a teacher.

Above all, what we haven't seen from a Flames' coach since Darryl (maybe Playfair): A system that is actually designed for the team!

Keenan in his tenure basically had no system. "You guys get paid the big bucks, so you will get the ice-time to do your thing. Just go out there and do what comes naturally."

Brent Sutter tried to force-fit a system onto the Flames. "Dump that puck in the corner. Aggressively forecheck and get it back. Cycle cycle cycle!" Flames were the smallest (or was it 2nd smallest?) team in the NHL, and amongst the oldest. Cycling should NOT be the 'go-to' choice for small teams, nor should it be "Zone exits down the boards only". It was repeated as mantra that the team couldn't score off the rush - but that is exactly what they did in their little 'runs' every year it seemed.

Hartley has a very entertaining style of play as a system. I really had my doubts that they could pull it off in an entire season. Skaters have to skate much more. Forwards have the freedom to generate offence how they see fit - off the rush, dump-ins if you can't carry the puck over, different zone-entry stats, up the middle and away from the boards is fine - as long as there are guys covering, better skate like crazy on the backcheck!

I didn't think they could keep up this level of effort in all 3 zones. I wondered if he would lose the room, or if it was simply too much skating. He preached fitness, and he keeps the shifts very short. Flames are not looking like they are running out of gas late in the 3rd periods, or this late into the season. In fact, I think it is a much easier system to keep consistent for the season than a grinding game.

Thank you Hartley, for not only preventing the Flames from becoming an embarrassment this year, but also to give us an entertaining product and a team that is easy to like, respected and admired.

[BigFlameDog]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

"Go #### yourself!" (to Torts)

Someone was asked at the time and it was "your not a ####ing ref".

When you hear that you can see it could go either way.

[troutman]

Top 5 NHL Coach.

[FlamesAddiction]

I agree that he has been a great fit for this team. I will be sad if the new GM this summer decides to bring in his own coach. The Flames have historically allowed coaches to stay for at least a season after a new GM is hired, so maybe he has nothing to worry about.

I think he has done as well as anyone could have hoped. We have a team that works like a bugger, but also a group that seems to still be having fun and getting along. Not an easy balance for any coach, especially on a team that is rebuilding.

I think Gelinas is likely having an impact too. Some of the players seem to have picked up his attitude and work ethic.

[Scoutski]

So happy despite results of the season, love the way they are playing and especially love how much the team actually looks like a team, everyone seems so close and their for each other!

It's interesting that at this moment I'm remembering Feaster's whole deal about competing for the playoffs regardless and although it sounded kinda stupid then. I feel like I now see a little method to that madness.

Hope to the high heavens that a new GM doesn't want to bring in a new coach.

[Rerun]

I think Bob certainly has Burke in his corner...

“Wins are work times system times talent. It’s three components, and we’ve got the first two down pat,” said Brian Burke, president of hockey operations and acting GM. “We’re playing the system and work. We don’t have enough skill or size to beat some of the teams we play, even when we’re perfect.
“We’ve got to give Bob more skill and more size.”

“What I’ve been impressed with is that Bob is hard on the players during games, which is what I want in a coach, but it’s a positive teaching environment all of the rest of the time. I think he’s done a really nice job with this group. It’s a real nice credit to Bob. This team works and this team listens.”

High praise indeed... coming from Brian Burke.


http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/01/26...-as-head-coach