[News] Head coach Bob Hartley fired; Associate coach Jacques Cloutier not returning

[JonDuke]

Didn't expect this at all. Not yet at least. I liked Hartley. Sad to see him go, but excited to see who comes in to fill the shoes.

[CaptainCrunch]

I really respect Bob Hartley and what he did for this franchise. But at the end of the day the Flames and their management need to ask if last year was some universal positivity theory where everything went right and when combined with a great work ethic lead to a exceptional one off season?

But this year was different.

This team didn't outwork anyone on a lot of night, and on a lot of other nights maybe matched the opponents work ethic. But the peerless relentless efforts that lead to third period dominance were a thing of the past.

while Bob didn't have much to work with, I don't think he handled the goalie situation all that well, and it really cost us the confidence in that position and hurt Ortio's development and confidence.

It just felt like with the exception of a few he didn't like to use young players, bringing guys up and sitting them in the press box is fine if they need to acclimatized and watch the game, but Wotherspoon is a good example of bringing a player up and wasting the airline money.

I tend to think that the term shelf life is a big one. Bob is described as easy to get along with when he's not coaching, and he's a bit of a monster when he is coaching, and those guys create a us versus them environment eventually, I think that happened this year.

I do think that the Superbowl thing was a shot across the bow of Hartley by the future leadership of this team, was it right by the players? Absolutely not, did the team do the right thing in sitting them? Absolutely. But it showed huge disrespect to the coach.

Tactically, his game plan of stretch passes and activitating the defense makes for entertaining hockey, and I still don't buy the advanced stats stuff in terms of defining your teams style of play, we all don't need to play like the Detroit Redwings under Babcock. But the penalty kill and defensive zone coverage were a disaster this year and that goes to coaching vision. We need a new vision.

At the end of the day, the positives for Bob outweighed the negatives. When I look at the Oilers situation, I said that the smart move with a young team is to bring in a teacher for a few years, and then bring in a monumental a$$ kicker, I think the Oilers failed to do that and don't have that today? The Flames need to be really careful in terms of who they bring in. Is BB the guy, it feels like that's who they want.

This is a crucial year in terms of the rebuild, the Flames have to move back into the playoff contention area in the upcoming season, or we are in danger of running into a cap crunch and a player crunch that debilitates this team long term.

[getbak]

Both Dreger and Kypreos are saying the Flames aren't in a rush to find a replacement.

I was under the impression that Treliving had already left for the World Championships, but perhaps this was one last thing he wanted to do before he left. Does anyone know if he was over there already or not?

[Hackey]

Don't really mind they let Hartley go but a bit hesitant on who is replacing him. Not really big on Boudreau.

[Ashasx]

Can anyone tell me if Cloutier and Gelinas are gone too?

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by JayP

The Ducks only transitioned into a trap team this year because they were forced to. Their offense and shooting luck cratered in the first half - Boudreau did what a good coach does and reinvented his team to keep the season alive.

Contrast that to Hartley who kept game planning for the exact same stretch pass offense that worked for the Flames two seasons ago even though it was apparent very early on in the season that other teams were ready for it and made adjustments to shut it down.

Hartley did define insanity a couple times this year.
Meanwhile Boudreau often owned us coaching wise. Boudreau did approach his game differently prior, so you're right I guess. It shows versatility and creativity as a coach which is valuable. I just don't want to see the trap. But a stronger possession/cycle game with this team would be very much welcomed.

[Machiavelli]

Yeeeeeeeeeeees

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

Can anyone tell me if Cloutier and Gelinas are gone too?

Cloutier is right there in the title.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

David Gray (@Graydio1)
5 mins ago - View on Twitter
Will Bruce Boudreau be named new #Flames head coach at 10am this morning? @EricFrancis thinks so. @CBCEyeopener

Breaking: Bruce Boudreau will not be named the #Flames' head coach at 10am this morning.

[Finger Cookin]

Well, this comes as a bit of as surprise to me. Can't say I'm thrilled about the decision, but I can understand it. I'll definitely listen to what Treliving has to say about it in the press conference. A lot of how I'll feel about this depends on who replaces him, too.

[Knut]

The PP, PK were horrific this past season. Also the continued reliance on the stretch pass made it easy for teams to turn back on odd man rushes. The flames D are great skaters and in a lot of ways should have been skating the puck out more.

[Enoch Root]

I remember thinking, after Treliving made the comments about not liking the way the team plays (major paraphrase there), and then Hartley responding about needing more shot blocking, that that situation screamed of a disconnect between the coach and GM.

I remember thinking at the time that it sounded like the end was near for the coach. But I am very surprised that it was this near.

[troutman]

If the players pushed for this, I worry about the return of The Country Club.

[domenichelly]

The wrong man lost his job. Last season failure was most on GM and not coaches.

[darthma]

I wouldn't be surprised if Crawford was in the running. Yes, I know it's against CPs group think, and he has the Canucks taint on him, but he is known to be good with young players. Remember that he wants to come back to North America too.

[iggypop]

I was a big fan of Bob's, but if Boudreau is a better fit I'm all for it. That said, AC's post for the Boudreau firing thread has me a bit concerned:

Originally Posted by AC

Absolutely, Boudreau's 9 seasons in the NHL have ended this way:

2008 WSH: Game 7 home loss to Philadelphia
2009 WSH: Game 7 home loss to Pittsburgh
2010 WSH: Game 7 home loss to Montreal
2011 WSH: Swept by Tampa Bay as the higher seed
2012: Fired midseason by Washington, hired by Anaheim and missed playoffs
2013 ANA: Game 7 home loss to Detroit
2014 ANA: Game 7 home loss to Los Angeles
2015 ANA: Game 7 home loss to Chicago
2016 ANA: Game 7 home loss to Nashville

[DiracSpike]

I really liked Hartley, good guy who had time for a lot of people. My friends and I ran into him at Joey's in Eau Claire last year and talked some puck and took a picture with us, we totally interrupted the meal he was having with his friend.

But I heard earlier in the year from two Flames players that they thought he was an idiot. Both of them used that word, and it indicated to me that the team didn't respect him very much which probably came across in exit interviews or throughout the season. We should probably all get used to snap firings from now on too, because it's clear the Brian Burke school of management mantra is once you've identified someone as a weak link there's no point keeping them around.

[psyang]

If Boudreau can get us a win in Anaheim, we'll make sure we win him a game 7.

[Drak]

I wasn't expecting this. I'd have given him another year.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by domenichelly

The wrong man lost his job. Last season failure was most on GM and not coaches.

Are you kidding me?

What would you have done better than Brad Treliving?

The man's had two seasons under his belt. He's a very shrewd, intelligent man.

Hartley's been here long enough. His tenure had run its course. It's time to move on.