Just to keep all the long rants in one spot so it doesn't bog down every other thread. Here's mine:
Okay, I haven't posted much lately due to .... emotions, but here we go.
1) Goalie, goalie goalie goalie goalie .... can we get a fracking goalie already? If people are having flashbacks of the young guns era, it isn't necessarily due to the quality of skaters, it's due to the constant carousel of sub par goalies. Here's what we had in between Vernon and Kiprusoff (1994-2004):
Trevor Kidd
Rick Tabaracci
Dwayne Roloson (before he was any good)
Fred Brathwaite (though he did have a couple decent years)
Ken Wregget
J.S. Giguere (before he was any good)
"washed up" Grant Fuhr
"washed up" Mike Vernon
Roman "the pretender" Turek
Jamie McLennan
Now since Kipper's last good season we've had this run of goalies (2012-present):
"washed up" Kiprusoff, or he just stopped caring. Either way.
Leland Irving
Joey MacDonald
Reto Berra
Joni Ortio
Karri Ramo (although he did put up ok numbers during his tenure)
"washed up" Jonas Hiller with one vintage season thrown in
Brian "I may as well have Jamie Lannister's gold prosthetic from Game of Thrones for all the good my glove hand does me" Elliott.
and Chad Johnson, who has done yeoman's work, but is really a backup who can play 30 games for you. He's not a #1 goalie.
We need to find a permanent solution at goalie ASAP. Teams like San Jose had a quick turnaround because they found a solution like Martin Jones. Why can't we just fix this already? Overpay for a goalie. Find someone with the ability to keep a team in games and make a timely save or two. I can't watch this anymore. I am literally calling goals before they go in because I know what will happen with our goaltenders. I am rarely wrong, but oh god I wish I was wrong more often.
I'm done with Elliott. If anyone is willing to take him at the trade deadline I'd dump him and see if either of Rittich or Gillies looks ok at the NHL level backing up Johnson.
2) Where is the passion? Where is the intensity? Where is the willingness to go into a corner and come away with a puck?
I put this one squarely on the demeanor of our coach and captain. They are far too calm in the face of incredible adversity. I don't want screaming fits and angry tirades, but stop being so complacent and accepting of losses! It seems that they believe playing smarter means playing without emotion. I'm not saying Gio is completely devoid of emotion, but he's not someone that I would follow into a battle at the moment. It's filtering on down through the lineup, and guys are just listless way more often than not. The lack of intensity is glaring when you see someone like Hathaway or Tkachuk in the lineup. Those guys bring a level of gamesmanship that few others are bothering to bring.
3) This is also a call out of guys like Monahan, Gaudreau, Brouwer, Bennett, Ferland, and others to a lesser extent. These are guys that have shown that they can play the game with intensity and passion. They have ZERO passion for the game right now. Whether that is because of the coach or not, they need to find that passion again somehow and show something on the ice. Perhaps it's been coached out of them. I don't know. IF that's the case, then we need to dump Gulutzan immediately. In a league full of parity, the only way you can beat most opponents is to want it more than they do (see: Columbus this year).
4) Hartley was a great motivator, and his team's were good at creating offense, but he was possibly the worst defensive coach I've ever seen. Gulutzan is clearly good at coaching defensive structure and getting the most out of less talented players, but has no ability to coach offensively skilled players at all. If there were a way to blend these two into one coach I'd be all over it, but sadly, genetic experiments like these are considered "unethical".
However, if there were a way to have Hartley lead the team and handle the offense, and have Gulutzan as an assistant to coach the defense and overall structure, we'd have a winning combination. Is it too late to apologize to Bob?
5) As for Gaudreau getting run and there not being a response, I have a few thoughts:
-He never used to get hit like that because he knew to dodge, duck, dive, dip, and dodge. Now he's getting hammered because he's admiring his passes and he now longer is thinking about avoiding contact. He's gotta get back to that elusive style that drove the opposition nuts.
-Teammates know that he complains too much and they don't want to give the refs a reason to call a penalty against them. Seems like the refs are tired of Johnny's routine and are waiting til he stops complaining so much to make regular calls on him. It's slowly happening this season, but I'm thinking it's going to take a while to get rid of that reputation.
-Teammates are responding when things happen, but in today's NHL, there's just not a lot of fighting, nor guys willing to fight. Moreover, there's only a couple guys on the Flames that can dish out hard hits, and they don't play very much (Hathaway, Ferland, Engelland).
-WHEN teammates respond and take a penalty, like Chiasson did last night by giving the forearm shiv to Komarov's face, they get benched. Chiasson missed his next 3 shifts after taking that penalty. The message from Gulutzan is pretty straightforward, "I'd rather be weak and playing 5 on 5 hockey than be physical and intimidating but short-handed a little more often". I'm calling B.S. on that mindset, especially with smaller players like Gaudreau on your roster that you have to stick up for.
6) This team doesn't have the horses to run with the big dogs yet. Down years from everyone not named Backlund, Frolik, and Tkachuk will do that to you as well, but it's obvious that they need to fill a few more spots in the lineups with quality players. This off-season will be an important one as Wideman, Smid, Engelland, Elliott, Johnson and their combined $15 million come off the books. Use that money wisely.
Find a capable starting goalie, even if you have to overpay for someone like Bishop. Bring Johnson back at his current salary as the backup, or don't. I don't care.
Find a capable #4 defenseman long term and a stopgap bottom pairing defenseman.
Find a legitimate scoring threat top line right winger (or two).
Do those things and we can talk about playoffs realistically. Until then, we have to accept that this is a bubble team with some glaring holes in the roster.
We are still in the "jog" phase as Burke would put it. Not quite ready to "run".
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"You know, that's kinda why I came here, to show that I don't suck that much" ~ Devin Cooley, Professional Goaltender
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7) Our years long insistence on playing demonstrably washed-up or sub-par/reclamation players with zero upside in place of letting a rookie make the same mistake and *possibly* develop.
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Jarome Iginla has never had a good centreman. Not once, not twice, not three times, not ever. Mike Cammalleri was overrated, and not even a natural centre! I mean, it's mind-boggling how much not-a-centre Cammalleri was. Oh my gosh. And Craig Conroy just sucked! Flat-out sucked. No redeeming qualities whatsoever. Connie, I love ya, but you couldn't shoot the puck. No shooting the puck? Ya suck. And don't get me started on Olli Jokinen, or should I say, Olli Joke-inen. What an awful centre. He was so slow and soft and awful and terrible and bad and just the worst. And he wore Cammalleri's 13 so when he came back from Montreal he had to switch to 93, what a bum. Oh, right -- Brendan Morrison! Old, slow, Brendan Morrison. Sure, you say, he was old and Feaster was the problem. But NO! IT WAS BRENDAN MORRISON HE WAS SO OLD AND SLOW AND COULDN'T SKATE AND WAS SO BAD AND GAH. And then there was Daymond Langkow. Old, overpaid, and sure he was on the good line with Huselius, but that was all Huselius. And don't get me started on Matt Freakin' Stajan. He's so bad, that we had to trade Dion Phaneuf for him. I could go on all day, but my fingers are now bleeding.
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7) Our years long insistence on playing demonstrably washed-up or sub-par/reclamation players with zero upside in place of letting a rookie make the same mistake and *possibly* develop.
Yup, I somewhat agree with that. But here's the thing, until you have your core players in the league long enough to become the veterans for those rookies, you are going to be really bad. Like inexcusably bad. We're almost at that stage with Monahan now in his 4th season, and others close to taking over the team, but for now I think having a veteran presence is good, so long as they're not playing below replacement level.
__________________
"You know, that's kinda why I came here, to show that I don't suck that much" ~ Devin Cooley, Professional Goaltender
I don't care what goalie you put in, Price wouldnt even be a god send the way the players are playing in front of him. Agree with the rant, to find a definitive goal tender long term.
BANG ON with this quote!!!!! Listless hockey, no passion or pride, no pushback or team toughness
Quote:
Where is the passion? Where is the intensity? Where is the willingness to go into a corner and come away with a puck?
I put this one squarely on the demeanor of our coach and captain
We need change, just not for the sake of making change.
Just to keep all the long rants in one spot so it doesn't bog down every other thread. Here's mine:
Okay, I haven't posted much lately due to .... emotions, but here we go.
1) Goalie, goalie goalie goalie goalie .... can we get a fracking goalie already? If people are having flashbacks of the young guns era, it isn't necessarily due to the quality of skaters, it's due to the constant carousel of sub par goalies. Here's what we had in between Vernon and Kiprusoff (1994-2004):
Trevor Kidd
Rick Tabaracci
Dwayne Roloson (before he was any good)
Fred Brathwaite (though he did have a couple decent years)
Ken Wregget
J.S. Giguere (before he was any good)
"washed up" Grant Fuhr
"washed up" Mike Vernon
Roman "the pretender" Turek
Jamie McLennan
Now since Kipper's last good season we've had this run of goalies (2012-present):
"washed up" Kiprusoff, or he just stopped caring. Either way.
Leland Irving
Joey MacDonald
Reto Berra
Joni Ortio
Karri Ramo (although he did put up ok numbers during his tenure)
"washed up" Jonas Hiller with one vintage season thrown in
Brian "I may as well have Jamie Lannister's gold prosthetic from Game of Thrones for all the good my glove hand does me" Elliott.
and Chad Johnson, who has done yeoman's work, but is really a backup who can play 30 games for you. He's not a #1 goalie.
We need to find a permanent solution at goalie ASAP. Teams like San Jose had a quick turnaround because they found a solution like Martin Jones. Why can't we just fix this already? Overpay for a goalie. Find someone with the ability to keep a team in games and make a timely save or two. I can't watch this anymore. I am literally calling goals before they go in because I know what will happen with our goaltenders. I am rarely wrong, but oh god I wish I was wrong more often.
I'm done with Elliott. If anyone is willing to take him at the trade deadline I'd dump him and see if either of Rittich or Gillies looks ok at the NHL level backing up Johnson.
2) Where is the passion? Where is the intensity? Where is the willingness to go into a corner and come away with a puck?
I put this one squarely on the demeanor of our coach and captain. They are far too calm in the face of incredible adversity. I don't want screaming fits and angry tirades, but stop being so complacent and accepting of losses! It seems that they believe playing smarter means playing without emotion. I'm not saying Gio is completely devoid of emotion, but he's not someone that I would follow into a battle at the moment. It's filtering on down through the lineup, and guys are just listless way more often than not. The lack of intensity is glaring when you see someone like Hathaway or Tkachuk in the lineup. Those guys bring a level of gamesmanship that few others are bothering to bring.
3) This is also a call out of guys like Monahan, Gaudreau, Brouwer, Bennett, Ferland, and others to a lesser extent. These are guys that have shown that they can play the game with intensity and passion. They have ZERO passion for the game right now. Whether that is because of the coach or not, they need to find that passion again somehow and show something on the ice. Perhaps it's been coached out of them. I don't know. IF that's the case, then we need to dump Gulutzan immediately. In a league full of parity, the only way you can beat most opponents is to want it more than they do (see: Columbus this year).
4) Hartley was a great motivator, and his team's were good at creating offense, but he was possibly the worst defensive coach I've ever seen. Gulutzan is clearly good at coaching defensive structure and getting the most out of less talented players, but has no ability to coach offensively skilled players at all. If there were a way to blend these two into one coach I'd be all over it, but sadly, genetic experiments like these are considered "unethical".
However, if there were a way to have Hartley lead the team and handle the offense, and have Gulutzan as an assistant to coach the defense and overall structure, we'd have a winning combination. Is it too late to apologize to Bob?
5) As for Gaudreau getting run and there not being a response, I have a few thoughts:
-He never used to get hit like that because he knew to dodge, duck, dive, dip, and dodge. Now he's getting hammered because he's admiring his passes and he now longer is thinking about avoiding contact. He's gotta get back to that elusive style that drove the opposition nuts.
-Teammates know that he complains too much and they don't want to give the refs a reason to call a penalty against them. Seems like the refs are tired of Johnny's routine and are waiting til he stops complaining so much to make regular calls on him. It's slowly happening this season, but I'm thinking it's going to take a while to get rid of that reputation.
-Teammates are responding when things happen, but in today's NHL, there's just not a lot of fighting, nor guys willing to fight. Moreover, there's only a couple guys on the Flames that can dish out hard hits, and they don't play very much (Hathaway, Ferland, Engelland).
-WHEN teammates respond and take a penalty, like Chiasson did last night by giving the forearm shiv to Komarov's face, they get benched. Chiasson missed his next 3 shifts after taking that penalty. The message from Gulutzan is pretty straightforward, "I'd rather be weak and playing 5 on 5 hockey than be physical and intimidating but short-handed a little more often". I'm calling B.S. on that mindset, especially with smaller players like Gaudreau on your roster that you have to stick up for.
6) This team doesn't have the horses to run with the big dogs yet. Down years from everyone not named Backlund, Frolik, and Tkachuk will do that to you as well, but it's obvious that they need to fill a few more spots in the lineups with quality players. This off-season will be an important one as Wideman, Smid, Engelland, Elliott, Johnson and their combined $15 million come off the books. Use that money wisely.
Find a capable starting goalie, even if you have to overpay for someone like Bishop. Bring Johnson back at his current salary as the backup, or don't. I don't care.
Find a capable #4 defenseman long term and a stopgap bottom pairing defenseman.
Find a legitimate scoring threat top line right winger (or two).
Do those things and we can talk about playoffs realistically. Until then, we have to accept that this is a bubble team with some glaring holes in the roster.
We are still in the "jog" phase as Burke would put it. Not quite ready to "run".
I am having flashbacks of the Young Guns era. Team has no jam, near the bottom of the league in points, and the organizations braintrust keeps telling fans that there is a "plan" or a "process" that our existing players are the way to victory, notwithstanding what is being accomplished on the ice. It's reeking of Oiler-esque "our people are smarter than everyone else" theology.
As for Chaisson, he should have been benched after that Komarov hit. The reason is that he accomplished nothing aside from getting a penalty. If he wanted to go after Komarov, then do it BUT DO IT RIGHT!!!! Instead it was weak, poorly executed, and dumb. I wanted to see greater response from the Flames and even I think Chaisson should be benched for that weak effort.
I see a coach too set on his systems and unable to adapt during a game. He really comes across as another Dallas Eakins. He needs to adapt or be shown the door.
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I put this all on the coach. GG needs to be gone asap. It doesn't seem like the players have bought in and he is too stubborn to realize his system is not working. Fire Dallas Eakins 2.0 before he ruins more of our players.
How the hell did we hire a coach that won't even talk to his players after games?
Such leadership.
Look, it can be argued that a lot of it falls on the captain and the assistants, but ALL of it starts with the coach. It's not magic that going from Hartley, a coach who was by all reports a very demanding one, to a "player's" coach in Gulutzan, that this team has a severe lack of backbone.
Was talking about it with a buddy, who couldn't believe that he just retreats into the coaches' room and doesn't talk to everyone til the next day - he said after laying eggs like these, you need to get your players riled up. CP brought up this video and some chuckled over it a bit, but boy we sure need something like this now.
We laugh at Torty for trying to barge his way into the Flames locker room. But hey, who won that game again? Sure need someone like him now.
Watching these videos just make me shake my head because I know that in the Flames locker room, they're just all sitting quietly in the locker room undressing, no one really talking to one another.
You can tell with both Torts and Bruce that they absolutely hate losing. Especially Torty. Glen just seems content to look at the stat sheet and go off to the coaches room to prepare for the 'pep talk' the next morning. Ugh.
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How the hell did we hire a coach that won't even talk to his players after games?
Watching these videos just make me shake my head because I know that in the Flames locker room, they're just all sitting quietly in the locker room undressing, no one really talking to one another.
Sorry, how do you know these things?
The loud swearing coach has a pretty short lifespan. I would have liked to take a chance on Boudreau, but him swearing in the locker room is pretty damn low on the list of reasons why, perhaps last on the list.
Yup, I somewhat agree with that. But here's the thing, until you have your core players in the league long enough to become the veterans for those rookies, you are going to be really bad. Like inexcusably bad. We're almost at that stage with Monahan now in his 4th season, and others close to taking over the team, but for now I think having a veteran presence is good, so long as they're not playing below replacement level.
I'm not saying you don't need veterans.
I'm saying that removing a demonstrably bad / no-upside player from the line-up in favour of a less-proven player is not a meaningful risk. Yet we treat that possible exchange as something to be avoided at almost all cost.
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Rant Thread
