[News] Flames hire Bill Peters as the franchise's 19th head coach

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by oldschoolcalgary

well, the truth is BT has a philosophy that he believes in... and while GG didn't pan out, it wouldn't nor should it, make him make wholesale changes to that philosophy.

While people may disagree with that approach, he has been given the mandate by the ownership to pursue implementing that concept.

BT isn't an idiot... obviously the believes that Peters will succeed and undoubtedly, he also knows that his job is riding on whether Peters is successful or not.

Yeah, that's basically what concerns me. BT has a clear idea of what he's trying to build, and his next steps will not be so different from the direction things have already moved in team style. He's not stupid, he just likes teams to work in ways that I think suck to watch or cheer for.

[868904]

Originally Posted by Racki

Would Treliving even have had any interest in Gerard Gallant if he were a available when we hired Gulutzan? Gallant seems to fall into that category of old fashioned coach that’s not driven primarily by analytics. He seems to be doing okay down in Vegas though...

Gallant was fired because he didn't share the same belief in analytics as the Panthers new regime.

The GM Tallon did not either and was also let go.

When the Panthers failed after that, they brought Tallon back.

[Mattman]

Not my first choice from who was available, but hiring coaches is comparable to getting a new goaltender.

Maybe just be accepting of him for a few games atleast this year? Idk like give him 30 games or so?
I'm not sure how a young team like the Flames will respond under a vet like Bill Peters. Maybe they will do awesome and this is just the coach they needed.

Be positive people! This probably isn't the only offseason move Tre will make.

[TheAlpineOracle]

I’m going to give Peters a chance before i comment on him, but Jesus am I sick of the direction of this organization from management. Is there a reason we keep going to absolute loser organizations like Phoenix and Carolina to fix our problems? If we aren’t going to get the shiny new toy (AV) can’t we at least look for unproven people from winning organizations or organizations that look like they are trending upwards?

[Mattman]

Also would Brad Treliving have sacked GG last summer after the Ducks sweep if Peter's was the guy they really wanted?

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

Yeah, that's basically what concerns me. BT has a clear idea of what he's trying to build, and his next steps will not be so different from the direction things have already moved in team style. He's not stupid, he just likes teams to work in ways that I think suck to watch or cheer for.

gotta kept the faith.

the weird thing is, last year when calgary was playing well, the hockey was pretty decent... i mean not LGV level of fun, but i enjoyed watching iirc...

the season just turned into a smoking wreck and i think there is some recency bias in effect here...

like i said earlier, if Peters is the choice, then come Monday, we'll just have to wait and see how he does when the season starts, as i don't think one can judge him before he coaches a game here.

i think BT will try making a few moves to shake things up... the comment of relying on too few pieces really stood out to me... Flames need to replenish the forward ranks as they really couldn't finish in spite of the team playing pretty well especially early in games and late into the season

as far as i know peters wasn't an option last year as he was still under contract and only came free this year due to the coach's option clause he had in the contract... sacking a coach one year into a 3 year contract is a bad look unless the guy you hire is on the level of Mike Babcock or Quenville...

[Barca]

Originally Posted by Mattman

Not my first choice from who was available, but hiring coaches is comparable to getting a new goaltender.

Maybe just be accepting of him for a few games atleast this year? Idk like give him 30 games or so?
I'm not sure how a young team like the Flames will respond under a vet like Bill Peters. Maybe they will do awesome and this is just the coach they needed.

Be positive people! This probably isn't the only offseason move Tre will make.

unless he's going to blow it up, what other moves can he make without messing with the current pieces?

trade Hamilton? Brodie?

[GioforPM]

Just so it's clear - coaches like AV have the same philosophy as GG. It's all about getting it executed. Dipoles this sound familiar?

"It's no secret, and you see all the teams in the League that are capable of playing a high-pace game," Vigneault said recently. "They're all teams that have a five-man unit. When they don't have the puck, to get it back, whether it's in their zone, the neutral zone or on the forecheck, but when their transition game is there it's from a breakout, to the transition to the neutral zone to the offensive zone."

[direwolf]

Originally Posted by Mattman

Be positive people! This probably isn't the only offseason move Tre will make.

During his post season presser, he mentioned that the blame falls on everyone, including the players. He knows he needs to make a couple of significant roster changes for this team to be competitive next year. I think we'll see a D man moved for some offensive help to shore up the top 6. We still have a gaping hole at RW that needs to be filled, and I'm betting that will be the first thing he addresses this summer once all the coaching positions are filled.

After that he's gonna have to dump some of the dead weight on the bottom 6 and inject some more speed and skill into those lines.

If he can get all of that sorted out this summer, I think we'll be in good shape, and Peters will have a good solid roster to work with.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Barca

unless he's going to blow it up, what other moves can he make without messing with the current pieces?

trade Hamilton? Brodie?

Trade candidates are Brodie, Bennett, a goalie prospect, a D prospect.

[smalltownref]

I really wish there was a website that gave a personal review on all the coaches. Strengths, weaknesses, skillsets etc. That would help me to make a more informed decision on this.

I'm not one to get outraged very easily, so I will admit I am willing to give Peters a shot. From what I have read it sounds like a possession focused coach with a no nonsense attitude. He isn't afraid to be blunt and calls it as he sees it.

I do wonder a bit if the transition from Hartley to GG was too drastic. A hard coach to play for in Hartley to a real players coach in GG. Maybe that's why performance was an issue... guys weren't being held accountable. My gut tells me Peters falls somewhere in the middle.

Guys like AV and Sutter are fine, but you can't look at results as the only indicator too. I've always questioned how good of a coach is AV when he has always had good goaltending (Luongo and Lundqvist). What happens when he doesn't have a hall of fame goalie on his team? And Sutter... a guy known for squeezing every ounce out of every player but a hard coach to play for. He's the type of guy I would think you bring in when you have a veteran lineup and need to get just a little more out of the guys to put them over the top. The Flames aren't there yet.

If it does end up being Peters I wish him all the best. I just hope he's better than GG.

[Caged Great]

I'm firmly in the lets wait and see mode. There were aspects of GG's systems that were good, and if those are used by Peters, then that'll be fine. There were also aspects of the system that were dumb and held the team back. If Peters changes those, to something that better reflects the team's personnel, then that would be great.

If the Flames have anything similar to a season that they just did, then the entirety of everything in the organization's management should go. All of it.

[Kybb79]

Well it is what it is. I don't know much about him but listening to his past interviews he sounds like a smart guy. I just hope he can give this team an identity and a hard work ethic. Something this team never had with GG.

[gunnner]

41 pages of Corsi, fenwick, high danger shots, WHIP, WAAR, and DVOA talk about Peters. All i want to know about Bill Peters is he gonna stick to the Babcock school, or will he let Brodie play his offside.

[activeStick]

It's always exciting to see a new coach for the first time as he brings a different system to the team. Not going to claim a failure before I see games as coach of this roster as I'm not a future predictor.

It's also unfortunate that many Flames "fans" are now using the nickname that that db Bieksa gave to one of our young players, which was meant to insult Ferland as unimportant.

[Dr. Doom]

I have to laugh at this. And I think it both fails to improve the on-ice product and gets BT fired.

Fact is he's a 500 coach, has shown nothing to suggest otherwise. The risks BT is willing to take at this stage are strange to me.

[devo22]

I've been trying to find the positives in this decision, but I find it tough to sugarcoat it. I guess the fact that the Canes retained him for four years and apparently were willing to do so again must mean they were pretty happy with him and didn't put the blame of consecutive underwhelming seasons on him. You could argue that their goaltending was abysmal and they, as a whole, are simply not a very deep and talented team. So it's certainly possible that Peters is a far better coach than his Canes record indicates.

But that still makes it a puzzling hire to me when all things are considered. There are more proven, more experienced and more successful coaches available at the moment, and it's entirely possible that a few other interesting options become available soon as teams crash out of the playoffs. Treliving usually isn't someone who rushes to make a decision, so him banking on Peters so early makes me think that he was the only real candidate all along. And that honestly annoys me. As nik- brought up many pages ago:

Originally Posted by nik-

Style of play myopia.

It just seems to me that Treliving and the other decision makers have one particular vision in mind of how this team should play and now that GG has failed they are just bringing in the next guy who believes in the same things.

I just feel this group, after the Gulutzan years and all the roster moves Treliving has made, would benefit from having an experienced winner behind the bench who can take them to the next level. Who knows, maybe Peters can do that and I'll happily eat crow if he does. Treliving better hopes he does, because I firmly believe that he'll be gone too otherwise ... it really baffles me that he's willing to bet his ass on Bill Peters with so many other options available. Hopefully they'll at least hire a good PP coach.

[Yoho]

If the option was given at the end of the season to keep GG or try a new coach Peters I’m sure an overwhelming percentage would have taken the Peters hire.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Yoho

If the option was given at the end of the season to keep GG or try a new coach Peters I’m sure an overwhelming percentage would have taken the Peters hire.

Absoteluly. A nail in the foot is also better than a nail in the eye. But you'd still rather not have the nail in the foot.

I actually took some time to look at 'Canes games from this season. Slow transition, perimeter shots. Sure they're faster than the Flames, but that's because they have faster skaters. It's not because they have a faster system. They do seem to work harder though.

In any case, if it really is Peters (I'm still holding on to hope that this is a false alarm), I probably won't be watching much.

[getbak]

Peters interview with local Raleigh paper: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/n...209479494.html

Peters, who will coach Canada in the upcoming IIHF World Championship in Denmark, said he leaves Wednesday for Riga, Latvia, where Team Canada will play an exhibition game.

There’s also the matter of the Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars and New York Rangers currently having coaching openings. Peters may not stay unemployed for long.

Much NHL speculation has Peters, a native of Alberta, linked to the Flames job. Peters would not confirm or deny.

“I haven’t kept up with that a whole bunch, being busy,” he said. “I’d like to work, I’d like to coach. I hope something is in place soon.”