An "article" musing about Hartley's expectations for the year

[Loyal and True]

Imagine you are Bob Hartley and having a long chat with Brian Burke and Jay Feaster about your first season as coach, and then creating some goals for the coming season. Here's what I think he might say (for best results, use the Hartley accent in your head).

What do you think Hartley's goals and expectations are?

Things I think Hartley would say about last season:

"Well we're disappointed in finishing 25th overall. 6 games under .500 and the only good part of that is that you get a nice draft pick at #6 overall. Obviously as a coach I feel I am doing a better job if we are drafting #30 overall. But you know I was quite proud of our guys and the coaching staff last year. We battled through a lot of adversity."

"If you look closely at our record we were actually .500 (11-11-4) on March 17 with 2 or 3 games in hand on a lot of teams. We were right in the middle of 12 teams that were 13th to 24th overall, battling for a playoff spot. And that was with some big injuries to Kipper that started a rotation of backup goalies, so we had a lot of adversity there."

"And at the same time we were in the last year of Jarome's contract and by this time it was apparent that we would be trading our captain by the trade deadline, and we were also intending to trade our top defenseman for future assets. So in the dressing room we knew there were going to be huge changes to our lineup. You try to keep everyone's focus looking forward, but I'll admit several players looked a little bit lost when it was all going down. It took us awhile to accept our situation before we could turn the page."

"The rest of the year we were bringing up AHL players and college players and challenging them to understand what it takes at the next level. So you know I don't think the coaches should really be judged too harshly on the fact that we were 6 games under .500 for the rest of the year. In fact we actually went on a nice run and started to believe in ourselves. So even that was positive in some ways"

Things I think Hartley would say about 2013/14 expectations:

"I like the energy with youth and the opportunities for guys to step up. I expect this group to win more games than others expect. Too much credit from outsiders was placed upon Iginla, Bouwmeester and Kiprusoff, but not enough recognition to the rest of the team. These guys have some things to prove this year"

"The trade deadline is March 5. After the Olympic break you may trade 3 or 4 veteran guys in the final year of their contracts and those are important guys for us. Judge the coaches on how we perform up to the Olympic Break. 58 games. Trading veterans for picks will cause a decline at the end of the year, but we will focus on developing the callups again. Maybe that is ok with management, but as a coach I am used to being judged on my win-loss record. At the end of the day, the organization needs to think big picture."

"Most important is building the culture and identity for the young players. Every player competes. Every team should dread playing us, because we challenge them physically and with our skating, especially in our building. Build a culture of winning. Losing is not something we accept. At the same time we are willing to work and pay the price to win"

"My goal is to be a .500 hockey club through 58 games. At that time, we will again be in the mix of teams that have an outside chance of playoffs. If we achieve this goal, then it is likely that our veteran players are playing well, so if you are looking to trade you will realize a good return. I expect the roster to change at the deadline, and we'll drop to 25th overall again. Playoffs are not realistic, especially if we are trading away players at the deadline."

"In Goal, Kipper is gone. We have MacDonald and Ramo/Berra. With all due respect, Kipper was not his usual great self last year anyway. MacDonald was our best goalie last year. I think our goltending will be about the same as last year."

"On Defense, Bouw is gone and he played big minutes against top lines. He was paid like Norris calibre, but he was not at that elite level. Still a good defenseman and he will be missed. Our new captain Giordano will need to step up and Brodie and Wideman will get more icetime. We added Kris Russell and have some young guys coming, but I think we will have another challenging year defensively. We need a #1 defenseman if we are going to be a bona fide contender"

"At Forward, we don't have Iginla, Tanguay, Cervenka, Comeau. We have David Jones, TJ Galiardi, and then Knight, Horak or another young guy. Maybe Monahan. David Jones might score 20 goals for us. Veteran wingers Stemp/Hudler/Glencross/Cammy will get more ice with Iginla and Tanguay gone. I will challenge Backlund and Baertschi to step up and seize the opportunity. Iginla is a hall-of-fame player, but last year he was not the dynamic power forward he used to be. I think our forward group will do about as well as last year, but we need elite talent at centre if we are going to be a contender"

"If we achieve .500 through the first 58 games, I think the coaching staff did extremely well and we are comfortable being judged on that standard"

[memphusk]

I think he would say 20-fit overall, or tirtiest overall.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Roll Iggy under the bus and call him washed up ? When he actually gets a center like Krejci just 1 year later? Careful. Yes, you can't deny that years are passing but Sutter ruined this team by not playing players to their strengths. No way Hartley is daft enough to roll a legend under the bus who is in a way more promising situation now.

[bluloc]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Roll Iggy under the bus and call him washed up ? When he actually gets a center like Krejci just 1 year later? Careful. Yes, you can't deny that years are passing but Sutter ruined this team by not playing players to their strengths. No way Hartley is daft enough to roll a legend under the bus who is in a way more promising situation now.

????????.

[BlackWallStreet]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Roll Iggy under the bus and call him washed up ? When he actually gets a center like Krejci just 1 year later? Careful. Yes, you can't deny that years are passing but Sutter ruined this team by not playing players to their strengths. No way Hartley is daft enough to roll a legend under the bus who is in a way more promising situation now.

????????

[Poe969]

I think he'd start talking about going forward with Ekblad

[PlayfulGenius]

Off topic... How does Ekblad compare to Seth Jones a year ago?

[Poe969]

To me, Ekblad seems way better. He seems like he has it all and plays a little physical but more positional. The kid has a great shot and vision of the game. He may not be the fastest skater but I think his style of play makes up for it. I thought Jones was over rated, he seems like a run and gun kinda defensman. I think Ekblad wll be star defensman in only a few years in the league.

Bold prediciton.... The Flames get Ekblad with the #3 overall pick this coming draft.

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by PlayfulGenius

Off topic... How does Ekblad compare to Seth Jones a year ago?

He is more physical. Watching TSN preview show for 2014 draft a couple days ago ( i know way to early), they said that Reinhart and Ekblad while good players would not have been taken in the top 4 in the draft we just had. So i guess they were saying that he is not quite as good as Jones?

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by Poe969

To me, Ekblad seems way better. He seems like he has it all and plays a little physical but more positional. The kid has a great shot and vision of the game. He may not be the fastest skater but I think his style of play makes up for it. I thought Jones was over rated, he seems like a run and gun kinda defensman. I think Ekblad wll be star defensman in only a few years in the league.

Bold prediciton.... The Flames get Ekblad with the #3 overall pick this coming draft.

I agree with your prediction. It might be #2 or #3. Florida will be getting #1.

As for Jones being over rated, i agree in the sense that i never understood the talk of him going #1. He is going to be a really good D-man, but i still think when all is said and done that Nurse will be the best d-man to come out of that draft. I really hope Nurse and the Oilers have a falling out.

[Poe969]

I can't see Florida getting the #1 pick... I think this year with the "lottery" the league is going to have to do something to spice things up. If Thomas plays for the panthers, I could see them being better than we were last year (lets hope anyway).

As for Nurse, I really can't see him being in Edmonton too long. They're bound to screw that up somehow.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Poe969

I can't see Florida getting the #1 pick... I think this year with the "lottery" the league is going to have to do something to spice things up. If Thomas plays for the panthers, I could see them being better than we were last year (lets hope anyway).

As for Nurse, I really can't see him being in Edmonton too long. They're bound to screw that up somehow.

They can only give $6M to so many players...

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Roll Iggy under the bus and call him washed up ? When he actually gets a center like Krejci just 1 year later? Careful. Yes, you can't deny that years are passing but Sutter ruined this team by not playing players to their strengths. No way Hartley is daft enough to roll a legend under the bus who is in a way more promising situation now.

????????.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Loyal and True

Imagine you are Bob Hartley and having a long chat with Brian Burke and Jay Feaster about your first season as coach, and then creating some goals for the coming season. Here's what I think he might say (for best results, use the Hartley accent in your head).

???????

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by bluloc

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Not sure what is confusing. This OP is pretending that as part if his assessment, imaginary Hartley says Iggy is pretty much washed up (depends how literally you read an expression like 'not what he used to be' - the inference is more than literal). But Hartley would not be dumb enough to say that, because firstly you are more diplomatic to a future HOFer, and also because Iggy may just have a very good year. Because he is on a good team with a top notch center, a glaring something he has lacked for years. So I expect Iggy will probably in fact have a better year than any Flame, and I could not see Hartley including a remark along those lines.

In fact there is a lot in this make believe piece that I can't picture Hartley saying.

Just a strange topic.

But whatever, it is an internet board. And it is less strange and much better to imagine reading in Hartley's voice than when Darren Dreger wrote a column about hockey that was supposed to be read to the tune of American Pie.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Not sure what is confusing. This OP is pretending that as part if his assessment, imaginary Hartley says Iggy is pretty much washed up (depends how literally you read an expression like 'not what he used to be' - the inference is more than literal). But Hartley would not be dumb enough to say that, because firstly you are more diplomatic to a future HOFer, and also because Iggy may just have a very good year. Because he is on a good team with a top notch center, a glaring something he has lacked for years. So I expect Iggy will probably in fact have a better year than any Flame, and I could not see Hartley including a remark along those lines.

In fact there is a lot in this make believe piece that I can't picture Hartley saying.

Just a strange topic.

But whatever, it is an internet board. And it is less strange and much better to imagine reading in Hartley's voice than when Darren Dreger wrote a column about hockey that was supposed to be read to the tune of American Pie.

I personally find it funny you felt you had to take the OP to task for "rolling Iginla under the bus" when in your rebuttal out of nowhere you roll Brent Sutter under the bus. The guy that was getting this mediocre group annually within a few points of making the playoffs rather than challenging for a top 5 draft pick. Yeah it's all his fault Iginla is close to 40 and not the player he used to be.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I personally find it funny you felt you had to take the OP to task for "rolling Iginla under the bus" when in your rebuttal out of nowhere you roll Brent Sutter under the bus. The guy that was getting this mediocre group annually within a few points of making the playoffs rather than challenging for a top 5 draft pick. Yeah it's all his fault Iginla is close to 40 and not the player he used to be.

I bet Iggy has his best year since he played for Keenan.

Maybe that helps you

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

I bet Iggy has his best year since he played for Keenan.

Maybe that helps you

I doubt it. Iggy can still score, but he is not the player he used to be. Claude Julien expects all his forwards to be commited to a 200' game with attention to detail. Iggy will not get umlimited ice time if he does not abide. Boston is not Calgary where no matter how Iggy was playing he got all the ice time he wanted.

Forgot to mention the Boston Bruins are not known for their players to get huge amount of points. They have not had a player be a point a game guy in the last couple of years. The last 82 game season the highest Bruin point getter was under 70 points.

[SHOGUN]

I really hope the Flames save their crappiest play for the 2015 draft.... a lot of people have been saying Connor McDavid could be the next best thing since Crosby.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

I doubt it. Iggy can still score, but he is not the player he used to be. Claude Julien expects all his forwards to be commited to a 200' game with attention to detail. Iggy will not get umlimited ice time if he does not abide. Boston is not Calgary where no matter how Iggy was playing he got all the ice time he wanted.

We will see. Calgary's defensive woes were more due to the glaring weakness at the C position and the soft D.

Lots of people here don't even think Iggy backchecked and our opinion on that differs greatly.

I think the player Iggy is now with Boston will be better than the player he was the past 4 years with the Flames.