The trials and tribulations of Glen Gulutzan

[Toonage]

By some accounts he was almost moved to Vancouver and/or Vegas last season. He may be more willing to move than we think.

[Draug]

Originally Posted by Bingo

This has happened to a few teams every year good and bad.

Some of the time it's a sign of a eroding core, sometimes a coach, sometimes it is luck.

I'm not advocating luck as the principal answer, they need to dig deep on that and come up with their own conclusions, but I'm also not going 100% to systems either (coach) as there are too many supporting numbers that suggest they're getting more than enough chances to finish.

And once again eye test is subjective.

The Flames to me were out playing and out chancing teams, but that's just me. Recently however they seem to be giving up more, and creating less ... all the while throwing everything on net.

The numbers matched what I was seeing in both circumstances.

I always respect your opinion, analysis and writing ... are you suggesting they stick with this coaching staff for another year? If it's 100% your decision, do you fire them or not?

Granted, there are holes in this roster. But I don't think the coach has maximized the fitting of the system with the talents of the players. We play slow. We should involve the D more. Maybe some sort of cross between Hartley's and GG's system??? And then the PP ... ugh .... I've hated the player utilization since way back in November.

I also think that for whatever reason, our younger roster needs a firm father figure type of coach, not a player's coach, despite what I perceive is a great Captain in Giordano. And, these coaches have been mediocre (or outright bad) at their previous NHL stops as well.

If it were my call, they would all have been fired back before Christmas....

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Draug

I always respect your opinion, analysis and writing ... are you suggesting they stick with this coaching staff for another year? If it's 100% your decision, do you fire them or not?

Granted, there are holes in this roster. But I don't think the coach has maximized the fitting of the system with the talents of the players. We play slow. We should involve the D more. Maybe some sort of cross between Hartley's and GG's system??? And then the PP ... ugh .... I've hated the player utilization since way back in November.

I also think that for whatever reason, our younger roster needs a firm father figure type of coach, not a player's coach, despite what I perceive is a great Captain in Giordano. And, these coaches have been mediocre (or outright bad) at their previous NHL stops as well.

If it were my call, they would all have been fired back before Christmas....

I don't agree they play slow, or that the system is completely flawed. But I do hate some deployment, the powerplay and have to agree with you in the bolded part.

The team is fragile, they won't stay on task when they give up a goal. If leadership can't solve that in the existing roster its too expensive and unlikely to find that with a trade.

Much easier to replace the coach.

Or ...

Force said coach to fire his assistants and hire an experienced staff with a clear option to replace him mid season next year if they don't bounce back.

[Jason14h]

Does anyone believe the room is still playing for him? They clearly look like a team that has given up.

And you can't fire 20 players.....

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I don't agree they play slow, or that the system is completely flawed. But I do hate some deployment, the powerplay and have to agree with you in the bolded part.

The team is fragile, they won't stay on task when they give up a goal. If leadership can't solve that in the existing roster its too expensive and unlikely to find that with a trade.

Much easier to replace the coach.

Or ...

Force said coach to fire his assistants and hire an experienced staff with a clear option to replace him mid season next year if they don't bounce back.

A lame duck Gulutzan would be even worse than the current situation. The players will not respond to a coach who's standing on the plank.

That would just be another bad start to the season. If you don't believe in him, fire him now.

[Flashpoint]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Force said coach to fire his assistants and hire an experienced staff with a clear option to replace him mid season next year if they don't bounce back.

I am in the camp that change is needed, as our coach is not leading this team (a-la Darryl Sutter). Not all teams need that - but this one clearly does.

That said - I don't feel it would be fair to keep Gulutzan without allowing him to choose his own staff though. That seemed to be how Keenan was hamstrung in his time here. You let the man run his own ship, and if it sinks, you can point at him.

I was a season ticket holder in Dallas when Gulutzan was coaching there, and unfortunately I cannot say experience has changed him much. He had both Benn and Seguin and was similarly unable to capitalize on their talents in the two (one and a lockout shortened) seasons he missed the playoffs. He refused to alter his lineups, and you didn't see adaptation in his approach to the game as it would change.

I appreciate the man values loyalty to a fault, and obviously has a lot of "X and O" knowledge. But this team needs someone to take charge in the worst way.

It's time to make a change.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by Five-hole

So Gio's comments following the loss was that it was a "puck management" failure, and that they "should have at least got that game to overtime".

I think this is conclusive proof that the team is coached to sit back on a lead -- or even a tie -- rather than pursue a win.

Maybe that works sometimes, but I think we've all seen enough times this year when sitting back has led to failure. I think it has probably contributed to the psyche of the team and why they're so fragile. They're expected to sit on 1-goal leads to win, or sit on ties to ensure a point, so they know that even one mistake will be catastrophic.

It's also likely got them gripping their sticks because it's so important to get a lead, and as a result they can't score.

I dunno, maybe I'm overestimating the importance of this comment. I've been wondering what could possibly cause this roster to be so mentally fragile, when essentially the same team hasn't been in the past. It wasn't last year, at least not to the same extent.

I noticed these comments from Stone too. To the effect of its a 2-2 game and we turn over the puck at blueline. That comment is directed at Gaudreau.

The only guy the team can count on to create offense. It signals they aren't supposed to make plays to get a lead or that they can't get one back to make it 3-3. Against the worst team in the league no less.

That this team can only succeed scoring 2 goals is pathetic.

I hate this win 2-1 mentality. Make some ####ing plays, don't ####ing get walked on defense.

This slow team has to play a boring style against last place teams to earn a point?!!

Get faster, more skilled players and score more than 2 ####ing goals. The team is in the entertainment business too and they went from fun to watch to god awful boring .
2-1 50/50 hockey ####ing sucks if you don't win

[Resolute 14]

They aren't slow, Bingo, but they do play slow. When every break out is pass or skate to the wall, then pass up to the blue line, then pass back to the middle, you've pretty much just surrendered initiative. As a consequence, we don't generate fast break chances very often. And when you take away those two on ones and those situations where you've caught a defender in a panic, you're depriving yourself of some of the best scoring opportunities.

It is honestly amazing that we do generate as many shot attempts as we do given our breakout is metaphorically a mule rather than a thoroughbred, but we have very definitely sacrificed quality in favour of quantity.

[Gunkle]

Fire GG tomorrow!
Show the team that from here on out that mediocrity & excuses only go so far.
Let Geli stand on the bench for the last few.

The apathy surrounding this team is too much.

[4X4]

The next stick Gulutzan throws might as well land in a garbage can. That'd pretty much sum up his coaching. I'm sure he'd get corsi points for where he threw it from, and how many times.

[Hey Connor, It's Mess]

Is Glue Gun still prohibited?

[Locke]

Season on the line and we've scored 2 goals in 3 games.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Totally agree.

The buyout gets you a four year head ache, and even more so if Brouwer goes Benoit Pouliot on the Flames and puts up 15 goals next season for another franchise while pocketing the Flames cash.

Retained is the way to go

Are there going to be many teams willing to take on Brouwer even at 50% retained? He's really in that territory where if he was a free agent teams would likely be offering him one year deals or camp tryouts as it's hard to imagine many teams willing to take him on for two years.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Gunkle

Fire GG tomorrow!
Show the team that from here on out that mediocrity & excuses only go so far.
Let Geli stand on the bench for the last few.

The apathy surrounding this team is too much.

I think that at some point, we need to let go of the idea that Gelinas is a good coach because he scored three OT clinchers a decade and a half ago.

It's time to let the entire staff go.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

I think that at some point, we need to let go of the idea that Gelinas is a good coach because he scored three OT clinchers a decade and a half ago.

It's time to let the entire staff go.

It should have been done at Christmas. Now we're going to have to put up with an entire season of 'new coaches, new system, takes time to adapt.'

[Toonage]

Originally Posted by Locke

It should have been done at Christmas. Now we're going to have to put up with an entire season of 'new coaches, new system, takes time to adapt.'

I agree it should have been much, much sooner but there won't be another long adjustment period. Not with a proven coach. This was a GG thing. A stupidly complicated, demanding system. Its 2 years in and they still have issues with it.

[FanIn80]

At this point, I'd fire GG and put Harvey the Hound behind the bench.

[4X4]

Fire the whole staff and let Stajan coach the rest of the year.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

At this point, I'd fire GG and put Harvey the Hound behind the bench.

I think hed have done an equal, if not better, job.

"Oh no hes banging that drum again!"

[SuperMatt18]

First 41 games (2016): 21-18-2
Last 41 games (2017): 24-15-2

First 41 games (2017): 21-16-4
Last 41 games (2018): 14-14-6

Gulutzan had a pretty brutal start (First 20 games of 2016) and what appears to be just an absolutely terrible end to his time as a Flames coach.

I can kind of see why they didn't pull the trigger at christmas - it was in the middle of an 82 game stretch (End of 2016/17 and Start of 17/18) season that had a 45-31-6 record - but even then I think that is pretty telling of Gulutzan's time here in Calgary.

Even if you cherrypick just the best segments of his time here it gets you 96 points over 82 games and you are a borderline playoff team.

Clearly an "average at best" coach when it comes to getting the team to win games.