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

[Crown Royal]

Originally Posted by Britflamesfan

Sadly after 21 years following this team, I think that’s it for me.

I don’t get how some of you are happy to support yet another mediocre coach being put in place. The only times this team has performed in the playoffs has been when they had decent coaches in place. D Sutter and Hartley. It’s such a key position that it is quite frankly more important than any of the current crop of Calgary players. It’s where I put my money first, regardless of if you are rebuilding or a contender that position is the driving force of the whole team.

Year after year Calgary has put poor coaches in position and people wonder why they have such a god awful history. A really good coach will get even a poor team playing to best potential and if nothing else out working the opposition and can make a real difference. A poor coach, well I don’t need to say anything as we have seen them in action far to often.

This GM with his process has quite often failed to even look at some of the better coaches that have been available. This past season he has done it again, there have been some very good coaches available but he has not gone there. As he has stuck with his coach then he must be going to make some big moves this off season, if not then he needs to go because this team is nowhere close to getting it done. To soft and not enough players prepared to do what is needed. I would take that 2004 team over this one every day. They fought, punched, hit, wound up and did just about anything they could to win and they damn well nearly pulled it off. Compare them to this current bunch who wilt at even the thought of it getting rough.

Anyhow yet another opportunity wasted. Might be fun to watch Seattle for a while until this team decides it wants to win the cup again and starts to rebuild from the top down.

If you are going to quit being a fan because of a coach, you were never much of a fan in the first place.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Nammer403

Eh I wanted a new coach but I can see why they kept him

That's where I'm at too. I would have obviously preferred a big name coach, but for all we know they all made it clear that Calgary wasn't an option for them. I don't think Ward is that bad. His record in turning the team around after Peters' left speaks for itself. And I 100% blame the no-show of the star players on the players themselves and not the coach. I doubt Ward told the top line to suck at a crucial time, or told Gio to get older.

If this was any other period in time I'd probably be ok with him getting the job. But after yet another 1st round loss and changes on the core (hopefully) incoming, Ward was stuck between a rock and a hard place and emotions are still running high for the fanbase.

So I'll accept this hiring and root hard for Ward to have success because complaining does nothing at this point. I'll also say that I'm a big BT fan, but this feels like his last hail-mary attempt at a coach before he's on the hot seat and for good reason.

I'm hoping Ward can build on some of the success he had last season, BT gives him a couple different bullets in the chamber, and the Flames can finally take a step forward.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

I have to throw this in here because people are actually studying the ability of certain personality traits and whether they lead to success or not. This study has been making the rounds of late:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...20advancement.

Two studies provide empirical evidence to settle the question of whether being aggressively Machiavellian helps people get ahead. The studies concluded that being a jerk provides no advantage in career advancement. Any power boost disagreeable people get from being intimidating is offset by their poor interpersonal relationships, the studies concluded.

"Disagreeableness is a relatively stable aspect of personality that involves the tendency to behave in quarrelsome, cold, callous, and selfish ways," the researchers explained. ." ..Disagreeable people tend to be hostile and abusive to others, deceive and manipulate others for their own gain, and ignore others' concerns or welfare."

"The bad news here is that organizations do place disagreeable individuals in charge just as often as agreeable people," Anderson said. "In other words, they allow jerks to gain power at the same rate as anyone else, even though jerks in power can do serious damage to the organization."

Read it on your own, but it appears that the hardass/negative management style is antiquated, yet we still have a tendency to favor it because of assumptions that it "gets the job done" with no evidence to support that thought. In fact, it seems to be a net negative since it damages reputation and interpersonal relationships.

I think people need to reimagine what it is to be a good coach/manager. It's not the 1960s anymore.

[N-E-B]

I think some of you seriously overrate how big an impact a coach actually has. You can bring in Scotty Bowman but at the end of the day if you don’t have the right players nothing will go right.

Look how well elite coach Joel Quenneville has worked out in Florida. What’s their excuse?

If you’re considering becoming a fan of Seattle because the Flames hired Geoff Ward maybe hockey isn’t for you.

[GranteedEV]

I wonder if the staff will remain the same. It would be nice to add Todd Reirden as the PP coach.

[timbit]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

I wonder if the staff will remain the same. It would be nice to add Todd Reirden as the PP coach.

He signed a contract with Penguins as an assistant coach.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Blaming a goalie who hadn't seen so much as an exhibition period in 3 months to hop back in to a TIE ELIMINATION GAME where the team in front of him was completely deflated from a massive momentum swing is weak, weak, sauce...

Talbot and Rittich both split the exhibition game in July.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

I think some of you seriously overrate how big an impact a coach actually has. You can bring in Scotty Bowman but at the end of the day if you don’t have the right players nothing will go right.

Look how well elite coach Joel Quenneville has worked out in Florida. What’s their excuse?

If you’re considering becoming a fan of Seattle because the Flames hired Geoff Ward maybe hockey isn’t for you.

Well look at the Islanders under Trotz. It matters a lot. I don't fault any fan reconsidering their commitment to this team. I'm actually a little in that boat. I'm not going to cheer for another team or quit being a Flames fan but I'm just not feeling invested in Treliving's Flames. It started eroding after the Gulutzan hire and it's just continuing as the direction seems to be a whole lot of meh. I know there's going to be no cup or extended success and that kind of takes the fun out of being a fan as there's no hope, just hopelessness until the next GM gets hired and we have to start this all over again.

[Crown Royal]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

Look how well elite coach Joel Quenneville has worked out in Florida. What’s their excuse?

I'm not sure this is the best example, he's only been there 1 year and they were on pace for a 7 point improvement and were right in the thick of the playoff race. Losing in the qualifying round to another elite coach.

[bax]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Well look at the Islanders under Trotz. It matters a lot. I don't fault any fan reconsidering their commitment to this team. I'm actually a little in that boat. I'm not going to cheer for another team or quit being a Flames fan but I'm just not feeling invested in Treliving's Flames. It started eroding after the Gulutzan hire and it's just continuing as the direction seems to be a whole lot of meh. I know there's going to be no cup or extended success and that kind of takes the fun out of being a fan as there's no hope, just hopelessness until the next GM gets hired and we have to start this all over again.

I won't criticize you for feeling how you do, but building a championship team isn't a linear development path. I think there is a lot of positives to take out of the season we just had and personally, I can't wait to get the off season going to see what happens with this team.

I mean we lost to the west champions and put up more of a fight than Vegas. It happens. Flames had a decent showing and will be better for it.

Did anybody expect the Stars to be in the cup final lead by Bowness? How was the hope level for the Blues all those years of doing nothing in the playoffs. The Caps?

Part of being a fan is the highs and lows of the team- the draft is exciting, free agency is exciting, trades are exciting. It's a tough league to win in. I still have a ton of hope in the Flames. Things can change fast in the NHL. Just have to enjoy the ride and not take everything too seriously. Sports are fun!

[Bonded]

Yeah, if the Flame go back to boring perimeter hockey it will be hard to get excited.

[shogged]

This is the guy who pulled Talbot in an Elimination game for a ice cold, hadn’t yet played since the shutdown, Rittich. Gonna be a long 2 years

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Because Talbot disappeared for 10 minutes.

Which is standard operating procedure for a goalie that gets pulled - they are frustrated and upset.

If only there were something that the coach could have done in that situation, if his plan were to put him right back in... like maybe - just spitballing here - TALK to Talbot as he comes off and tell him that?

A timeout would was the right play. But doing what he did (or intended to do) simply required a little communication.

Also, if the Flames' mgmt was concerned with Rittich's preparation, practice habits, and readiness, and Ward put him into that game anyway, that is an even worse blunder.

I don't think one situation like this should define a coach, or get him fired, but there is absolutely no defending what he did.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Table 5

He was looked at someone with future promise, but no someone who actually had achieved anything at the NHL level. Is it really that high of a bar to once in a while want someone who has achieved something of significance at the NHL?

At least Hartley won a Cup. He's the only other coach who's done something with this team other than Sutter.

Isn't the point going after a big name coach?

He was well thought of at the time, and it appeared the Flames raided coaching talent instead of going the cheap route.

The fact that it didn't turn out doesn't alter the magnitude of the move.

[Enoch Root]

If mgmt felt that way about Rittich, I have to believe he won't be back. And if he is back (and stays for the full year), that wouldn't be a good look for Treliving.

[Freeway]

Via Capfriendly, deal is two years at $900k per.

[Toonage]

Shocker.

[mrdonkey]

Originally Posted by Freeway

Via Capfriendly, deal is two years at $900k per.

Well, at least that sheds some light on why he was hired...

I'm finding it harder and harder to give a damn about Treliving's Flames. Nobody stops being a fan because of one coaching hire, so let's just throw that straw man out the window right now - it's one move in a long line of succession of moves that indicate there's no real direction or desire to change things up to get better. Sick and tired of "almost" moves followed up by a whole bunch of "meh." Stay the course, trust the process. Over and over and over.

If there aren't some significant roster shakeups (which I think won't happen because so many teams are financially handcuffed), what incentive do I have as a fan to watch? Or worse yet, maybe they trade Johnny for 2nd/3rd line filler and some long shot prospects/late 1st rounder and finish in that "bad, but not so bad" territory we're all familiar with. No playoffs (or a quick exit) and no impact player at the draft. Rinse and repeat.

This show got old years ago.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Freeway

Via Capfriendly, deal is two years at $900k per.

I think we have to accept that economics probably played a role here. I imagine he may be the lowest paid head coach in the NHL?

[Jiri Hrdina]

Every fan has the right to support or not support their team. I stopped being a Rockets fan many years ago, due to the culmination of many decisions the team made.
I don't look down on those that make this decision - it's up to each person.
But either do it or don't do it. The constant false promises of "that's it for me" are more irritating than the actual reality of some fans choosing to stop rooting for this club.
At least from my POV.