Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
I think these things speak pretty strongly to what the problem with Gulutzan was in Calgary, and it seems that management—and now other NHL coaches—do not believe it was his "systems."
I still maintain that when the team played the way that Gulutzan wanted them to play, they were really successful. The problem was that the players struggled to do so consistently, and they really struggled to maintain their level of play when things went wrong.
The game plan itself was fine. It was Gulutzan's ability to implement and normalize the plan that was the problem. He is probably a much better assistant coach than a head coach as a result, and it is pretty unsurprising that he would find NHL work again so quickly.
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I am not convinced of this. You can pretty much say the same thing about any team when they are winning. I think the Flames did in fact follow Gulutzan's system. I am positive there were other issues outside of the system itself - and it showed in things like the repetitive slow starts to games.
I haven't commented much as who am I to kick sand in the face of someone who has already been thrown to the ground, but one thing since his termination has irked me. In both times I have heard him speak, he brings up "injuries".
Is injuries the reason that during his tenure as a coach the offence from the defence dried up? Or the offence from the bottom lines dried up?
Look at the Ducks. For a half season, they were playing essentially their AHL squad, yet they kept themselves in striking distance.
Injuries is not an excuse. I didn't expect to hear much from Gulutzan, but blaming it on injuries leads me to believe that he felt everything else was going well. I would rather hear: "In hindsight, there may have been a few things I would do differently.." or "there are things I learned from my time in Calgary that I can move forward with". I just think the injury excuse is a poor one, especially considering that for the majority of the season this team did NOT do well, and though the injuries were to significant players, it was still a fairly healthy roster all things considered.
As for him going to the Oilers, I am personally ecstatic. I don't view him as a coach that had any answers. The Flames couldn't generate offence, and they couldn't defend well. Every team - even the Oilers - can look good through a stretch. Over the first two seasons, I don't see anything that the Flames were decent at.
Glossing over the list of coaches that this team has had, you could at least pinpoint an area of strength for the Flames. Keenan had an offensively capable team that allowed too many goals. Sutter had an offensively challenged team that didn't allow too many goals. Hartley had his team pumping out goals, but was defensively challenged (though being in the midst of a rebuild can't be ignored). What did Gulutzan do well? Going by the standard stats, only the PK was a strength. GA poor. GF poor. PP poor.
With Yawney going to Edmonton, I seriously doubt that the one area of strength the Flames experienced under Gulutzan is the area he will be coaching.
However...
I do think that outside of McDavid and Puljujarvi, that Edmonton team is a slow team. I do think that the '5 man breakout' will work better for them, and give them easier entries and more zone time. At the same time, with the way that Brouwer was utilized and the success he has had in Calgary, I can't imagine Gulutzan is going to help get Lucic going in any other direction except down.
I am really glad that Gulutzan is gone after seeing his comments twice now.
I don't think he makes a good head coach, and I don't see anything to believe that he would make a good assistant. Brent Playfair is an excellent assistant for defence. Sutter would probably make a good assistant for the defence. Hartley would make a good assistant for the offence. Keenan.. well... he was practically semi-retired on the job here, but I am sure with his experience he would have made for a good assistant. I just don't think that Gulutzan 'thinks' the game really well, and I am deducing this based on what I think was a history of a lack in-game adjustments, implementation and adherence to a system that didn't ever seem to take this teams' strengths and weaknesses into consideration, and an apparent lack of awareness on the pulse of the team (like them being rattled and allowing consecutive goals 23 times this season).
I just don't see it.
