[News] UPD: Geoff Ward officially named the franchise's 20th head coach (2 year deal)

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Crown Royal

The other guy I really like is Jim Montgomery, I loved how the Stars played under him. But I completely understand why he might not be an option...

Yeah, I have found myself wondering about Montgomery. I believe he was also one of Treliving's short-listed candidates in the Gulutzan search. It is probably not a good time for him to be returning to the bench, but could something like this be the reason for the current hold-up?

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[Crown Royal]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Yeah, I have found myself wondering about Montgomery. I believe he was also one of Treliving's short-listed candidates in the Gulutzan search. It is probably not a good time for him to be returning to the bench, but could something like this be the reason for the current hold-up?

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If he did return, I feel like we'd be the perfect option with McGrattan on staff in a support role that could be extended to staff as well as players.

There could be a million reasons for the hold up. We all know Treliving doesn't like to make rash decisions that are controlled by his emotions. We also know he's always working phones.

We also know he was trained by Burke who is of the school where the interview is the final step in hiring someone and that interview is just to confirm your decision, so a good interview won't get them the job but a bad one could lose them the job. The decision is made by talking to your connections around the league and watching film of the coaches teams.

I feel like fans put too much emphasis on interviews, this isn't like everyday life where a company interviews 50 guys for 1 position because they don't really know the candidates. All the information about these guys is out there for all to see, so the interview is not really that important for guys who have been a head coach before. The research is what truly matters and if Treliving is doing his due diligence, that can take time.

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

Pretty disappointing if this is ends up true. Another first round loss and another dollar store coach where much better options are available. If we trade Gaudreau and Monahan each for a first and 2 crappy prospects we'll be right back in 2013.

Maybe the Flames didn't really have a blueprint and banked on Johnny and Monahan being able to carry the team. Then we wasted some development opportunities by bringing in and paying players who performed poorly and later had to be shipped back out. Adding GG set us back some more due to incompetence and lack of experience. Do the Flames really have a plan on what kind of team they want to build and if so are they sticking to it? This is not a knock on BT who has done a lot of good things, but perhaps BT is not the right person for the Job?


I look at Tampa and how they addressed their problems; They brought in a winner in Steve Yzerman who then hired an AHL coach Guy Boucher who came with a strong winning record and a sports psychology background. Steve looked for winning intangibles In contrast, BT wasn't looking for a proven winner in GG but someone he liked and who could be a players coach.

It was frustrating watching GG always experimenting, putting square pegs in round holes when the team desperately needed to focus on wins. His systems proved complicated with the Flames losing to the point they had scale the systems back.When team lost the excuse was, "they didn't follow the system."

I know some blame some of these coaching changes on the players but I think the guy at the top, Brad Treliving needs to shoulder some of the responsibility.

His first mistake was looking for a an unproven coach (when many said at the time that he should be looking for a winner) Hiring GG then expecting the players to get it right was a mistake.

If the Flames end up trading Johnny and Monahan for a first and 2 prospects, you have to wonder if the team has actually made any significant progress.

[Ped]

No idea if Ward is the right guy. But if he is the guy, I would imagine this might be a little embarrassing. "Well, we couldn't really come up with anyone better, so we guess you're our guy."


Hopefully they've been keep him in the loop, but if they were one hundred percent with him returning, you would think it would have been announced by now.

[Strange Brew]

Can’t imagine the Flames would go anywhere near Montgomery after the Peters fiasco. His second chance will likely need to come elsewhere.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by Crown Royal

Do people actually think Peters was a cheap option for a coach? He opted out of something like a 3m contract with Carolina, it's safe to assume he got a similar number here and a 3m coach is not exactly a bargain price.

Not a bargain bin coach, code beige Gulutzan certainly was. Peters was at best an average priced coach with a low end track record prior to his time with the flames.

I can't remember if you were on the forum then, but there were quite a few people against the Peters hiring at the time, myself included. It was another year of "oh hey this guy seems acceptable and affordable", Peters was never a hire that wowed people.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Can’t imagine the Flames would go anywhere near Montgomery after the Peters fiasco. His second chance will likely need to come elsewhere.

Why not? Montgomery's issues in Dallas were entirely tied to his own struggle with drugs and alcohol, no? Tbat's completely different from what they went through with Peters.

I think if and when he conquers his own personal demons he is going to get NHL interest. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Flames have made inquiries.

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[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

Not a bargain bin coach, code beige Gulutzan certainly was. Peters was at best an average priced coach with a low end track record prior to his time with the flames.



I can't remember if you were on the forum then, but there were quite a few people against the Peters hiring at the time, myself included. It was another year of "oh hey this guy seems acceptable and affordable", Peters was never a hire that wowed people.

Your recollection is wrong. Peters was not hired because he was affordable. Treliving targeted him; it was patently obvious that this was the guy he wanted; it sure didn't seem to have anything at all to do with salary.

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[Crown Royal]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Can’t imagine the Flames would go anywhere near Montgomery after the Peters fiasco. His second chance will likely need to come elsewhere.

A couple things.

First, I wouldn't call the Peters situation a fiasco for Calgary, everything he did wrong was before he was hired and swept under the rug by other organizations.
If anything the Flames earned a lot of respect for how they handled that situation and despite being fed a #### sandwich, they came out smelling like roses.

Second, Montgomery has an addiction problem. There has been no talk of him doing anything to anyone but himself. He sought help and when he is ready to coach again he will be a great hire for someone.

Third, people deserve second chances, even Bill Peters. Life is nothing but a series of mistakes and you become a better person by learning from those mistakes. Peters is in the KHL now I believe and if he can show a change in how he treats people he may earn himself another chance in the NHL.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Why not? Montgomery's issues in Dallas were entirely tied to his own struggle with drugs and alcohol, no? Tbat's completely different from what they went through with Peters.

I think if and when he conquers his own personal demons he is going to get NHL interest. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Flames have made inquiries.

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You think they’ve looked at him as HC? I don’t. Assistant is a possibility but don’t see how that is holding up anything to do with Ward.

I’m in no way making light of Montgomery’s struggles nor suggesting he isn’t fully capable of moving past it. But I also fully suspect his addiction problems led to behavior in his public life that was embarrassing to him and the organization which was certainly rumored to be the case in Dallas. That’s unfortunately what often happens.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Crown Royal

A couple things.

First, I wouldn't call the Peters situation a fiasco for Calgary, everything he did wrong was before he was hired and swept under the rug by other organizations.
If anything the Flames earned a lot of respect for how they handled that situation and despite being fed a #### sandwich, they came out smelling like roses.

Second, Montgomery has an addiction problem. There has been no talk of him doing anything to anyone but himself. He sought help and when he is ready to coach again he will be a great hire for someone.

Third, people deserve second chances, even Bill Peters. Life is nothing but a series of mistakes and you become a better person by learning from those mistakes. Peters is in the KHL now I believe and if he can show a change in how he treats people he may earn himself another chance in the NHL.

Everyone deserves their first chance. Everyone deserves to do things that earn them a second chance. And third and fourth for that matter.

I have no issue with how Flames handled Peters, with the small exception of the wording of his exit. But honestly would rather not get into it as we simply don’t know the details of the negotiation.

Unfortunately “smelling like roses” isn’t how I’d characterize the impact to your brand of being associated with a racist pig. I don’t think that something they’d want to go the through again in the near future.

And to be clear i’m not calling Montgomery racist. More about having to replace your coach mid season for factors out of your control. I don’t expect Montgomery’s next job will be NHL HC.

[FlamesAddiction]

If Ward was previously interviewed for the HC and then was hired as an associate coach, it stands to reason he would be Treliving's next choice.

Not a lot of talk about Reirden, but if the Flames thought him worthy to consider before, I wouldn't be surprised if he is in the mix.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

If Ward was previously interviewed for the HC and then was hired as an associate coach, it stands to reason he would be Treliving's next choice.

Not a lot of talk about Reirden, but if the Flames thought him worthy to consider before, I wouldn't be surprised if he is in the mix.

He already got hired by the pens

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Crown Royal

A couple things.

First, I wouldn't call the Peters situation a fiasco for Calgary, everything he did wrong was before he was hired and swept under the rug by other organizations.
If anything the Flames earned a lot of respect for how they handled that situation and despite being fed a #### sandwich, they came out smelling like roses.

Second, Montgomery has an addiction problem. There has been no talk of him doing anything to anyone but himself. He sought help and when he is ready to coach again he will be a great hire for someone.

Third, people deserve second chances, even Bill Peters. Life is nothing but a series of mistakes and you become a better person by learning from those mistakes. Peters is in the KHL now I believe and if he can show a change in how he treats people he may earn himself another chance in the NHL.

It so happens that Montgomery’s problems led to a real issue where he embarrassed the team and himself pretty badly. It hasn’t been well publicized and I’m not going to repeat it.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Your recollection is wrong. Peters was not hired because he was affordable. Treliving targeted him; it was patently obvious that this was the guy he wanted; it sure didn't seem to have anything at all to do with salary.

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My opening sentence was "Not a bargain bin coach". There was a misunderstanding between us. Peters was a middle of the pack price coach.

If you had bothered to read the rest of the post, I also said that Peters was priced around the average.

Major whiff there bud

[tkflames]

Originally Posted by JTech780

I get what you are saying, but Calgary was soundly outplayed in all but one of the games against Dallas and if wasn't for Talbot standing on his head for most of that series it wouldn't have even been close.

Dallas was outplayed by Colorado and the only reason they beat them is because Colorado was down to their 3rd string goalie.

So yes they were 11 seconds from going up 3 games to 1 in the series, in actuality it really wasn't that close of a series.

I dont disagree with you at all...but given this organizations history...I can easily see this mindset. Colorado was on their 3rd goalie...we were missing our top player...

Whether or not you or I agree with it, tell me honestly that you cant see the management in this organization using this logic and then pushing this messaging out to the fans?"...parity...razer's thin edge between winning and losing...saw growth....look at what Dallas did and we almost had them....blah blah..."

[TheSquatch]

Originally Posted by tkflames

I dont disagree with you at all...but given this organizations history...I can easily see this mindset. Colorado was on their 3rd goalie...we were missing our top player...

Whether or not you or I agree with it, tell me honestly that you cant see the management in this organization using this logic and then pushing this messaging out to the fans?"...parity...razer's thin edge between winning and losing...saw growth....look at what Dallas did and we almost had them....blah blah..."

That's absolutely my take here - Tre will be saying "Hot damn we made the playoffs with Ward and got beat by a hot team." So Ward stays. And the core stays. Cuz .. we're just... that close.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by TheSquatch

That's absolutely my take here - Tre will be saying "Hot damn we made the playoffs with Ward and got beat by a hot team." So Ward stays. And the core stays. Cuz .. we're just... that close.

Treliving is not one to gloss over and spin his own mistakes IMO. He made a mistake with Neal and did his best to deal with it. Bought out Brouwer. Hamilton wasn’t a mistake per se but he wasn’t afraid to deal him after he was his big acquisition.

[Textcritic]

NM

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[getbak]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

And he replaced his first ever NHL coaching hire after only one year.

Gulutzan was here for 2 seasons.