Coaching Changes?

[DeluxeMoustache]

^ One or so more levels in question. Does Kinger think Burke is doing as great here as he did in Toronto?

[IgiTang]

All the talk about systems.. am I still the only one who doesn't understand what system is being implemented?

The D is expected to be tightened from last year, that's a fundamental necessity, that's not a system. So what exactly has been the change since Hartley in terms of defensive system? I don't see it..

On the break out, less having a guy streak out early for the stretch pass and more moving as a 5 man unit, ok but again these are standard things that can change shift to shift, opponent to opponent. It's not a fundamental change or something that only certain coaches implement. It is standard operating procedures.

On the PP... we are all aware that whatever system is being poorly executed and should never be the "go to" system when things aren't clicking and should be used sparingly when you can catch a team off guard (Johnny vs 4 then attempt to dish upon zone entry).

The PP mishmash of personnel and where they've been positioned says to me, they're throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Aside from Backlund and Frolik being amazing on the PK (which isn't a system), where is the system that was said to be better than Hartleys?

What is GG and Co. doing that was better than Hartley? The improvements this team has made are not systems oriented, they are hockey fundamentals that at this stage is should be second nature. If players aren't doing them, they're either being lazy or over thinking it.
The latter is in the Flames case except for the 2 goals by Dallas when Bennett made a really lazy backcheck on Benn and then make a lazy "around the boards" play and got caught in the corner and turned over the puck. But those are young player mistakes..

Where is this system that is supposed to be better than what Hartley had offered?

Atleast Hartleys system was entertaining..

[bucksmasher]

Originally Posted by mrdonkey

They had their big chance with Boudreau. Brad dun goofed by trying to outsmart everyone else, John Weisbrod style, and now it's all unravelling. Highly unlikely the owners are willing to pay multiple people not to coach this team, just months after they cleaned house with the last group.

Ride out this tire fire, pray that the lottery gods are kind, and hope someone competent becomes available in the summer. That's all we have to bank on - hopes and prayers.

Yup. You can't always operate at 2 kph. Sometimes you need to jump on opportunities like BB.

[devo22]

Gulutzans interviews irk me. Excuses, empty words, no emotion. Maybe he's a completely different guy in the locker room, but he really doesn't strike me as someone that can go in, wake up that group and instill a winning mentality. Even when he's talking about positive stuff, he looks and sounds defeated.

The Flames are probably stuck with Gulutzan for a while, as right now there's nobody out there who could come in and do a better job. The list of recently fired coaches is a horror show (Torchetti, Yeo, Johnston, Roy, Richards, Cameron lol). I really liked what Krueger did at the World Cup, but he has a pretty good gig in Southampton and I doubt he leaves that to be a mid-season replacement in the NHL. Even if Treliving realizes his error and puts his personal job safety behind team success, he probably can't fire Gulutzan any time soon.

Dave Cameron, on the other hand, can be fired into the sun as soon as possible, as far as I'm concerned.

[Gord_Wappel]

I think the new system simply doesn't work with the group of players that we have. We have succeeded in being a better possession team but the way our team is built this style doesn't compliment our best players or play to their strengths which are speed and transition vs holding onto the puck, protecting it down low and grinding it out. Say what you will about Hartleys tactics and the analytics, but his system was built on counter attacking and utilizing our teams strengths of speed and transition to create chances. It was far more enjoyable to watch and i would argue if we had even average goaltending last year we would have been in the mix for a playoff spot.

I dont think it is any coincidence that some of our best players this year have been guys like Engelland and Ferland who have the physical tools to play this type of system. I think we need to take a good look at the players we have a build a system around the strengths of our best players vs trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. I think if we had a team built like the Kings or Ducks the system would look alot better but its not the right one for this team. The coaching staff needs to realize this or it will be a lost season.

[chummer]

Was at both the Flames and Ranger's practice today.
The Ranger's practice was closed so can't get into too much.

What a difference. The Flames practice lacked energy and showed little emotion. Gulutzan seemed like more an observer, barely heard him.

The Rangers on the other hand showed lots of jump and had some impressive drills.
Vigneault was barking at his team the whole time, there was no doubt who was in charge.

Was pretty apparent why one team was at the top of the standings and the other near the bottom.

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by chummer

Was at both the Flames and Ranger's practice today.
The Ranger's practice was closed so can't get into too much.

What a difference. The Flames practice lacked energy and showed little emotion. Gulutzan seemed like more an observer, barely heard him.

The Rangers on the other hand showed lots of jump and had some impressive drills.
Vigneault was barking at his team the whole time, there was no doubt who was in charge.

Was pretty apparent why one team was at the top of the standings and the other near the bottom.

this is the most depressing post in the thread

[tkflames]

Originally Posted by chummer

Was at both the Flames and Ranger's practice today.
The Ranger's practice was closed so can't get into too much.

What a difference. The Flames practice lacked energy and showed little emotion. Gulutzan seemed like more an observer, barely heard him.

The Rangers on the other hand showed lots of jump and had some impressive drills.
Vigneault was barking at his team the whole time, there was no doubt who was in charge.

Was pretty apparent why one team was at the top of the standings and the other near the bottom.

Thank you for this insight.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by chummer

Was at both the Flames and Ranger's practice today.
The Ranger's practice was closed so can't get into too much.

What a difference. The Flames practice lacked energy and showed little emotion. Gulutzan seemed like more an observer, barely heard him.

The Rangers on the other hand showed lots of jump and had some impressive drills.
Vigneault was barking at his team the whole time, there was no doubt who was in charge.

Was pretty apparent why one team was at the top of the standings and the other near the bottom.

Not surprised. You can see the same thing behind the bench. You would get more life from an inflate-a-mate.

[jayswin]

That's really disheartening to read. It seems to becoming more and more clear that we didn't hire a great coach.

[JiriHrdina]

No chance of confirmation bias in that? With all due respect it seems like folks or looking for any reason to prove that he's a bad coach.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Not surprised. You can see the same thing behind the bench. You would get more life from an inflate-a-mate.

That's one thing that really irritates me. When the other team scores he just looks down and writes something in notepad. When the ref makes a bad call he just stands there stone-faced. Show some emotion.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

No chance of confirmation bias in that? With all due respect it seems like folks or looking for any reason to prove that he's a bad coach.

Likely some on my end, that's fair. Frustration has played a part in me looking to find answers and it keeps coming back to coaching for me.

[IgiTang]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

No chance of confirmation bias in that? With all due respect it seems like folks or looking for any reason to prove that he's a bad coach.

Are you... ? Naw...

Really? Glue gun? Is that you?

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

No chance of confirmation bias in that? With all due respect it seems like folks or looking for any reason to prove that he's a bad coach.

or looking for positive signs that he is a good one

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by goodyear

Fire Glue and bring up Huska?

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

I would have liked to see Gulutzan's system at work with better special teams coaches. Hard to run a ship if the supporting cast doesn't do their jobs. To top it off the season started with "very" few players putting in a good effort.

That said if the Flames consider an early coaching change; Huska could come in on the short term with an opportunity to prove himself. He knows his players strengths which could be an asset if we are looking for someone to fit on the top line, or other lines for that matter. The players already know and seem to be responding well to his coaching so that may aid in a smoother transition. If it works it could save the season or BT's job. At worst it would be a stopgap. I think the longer BT holds onto the current coaching staff while in a nose dive won't bode well for him in the long run. At the very least he should step in and encourage Gulutzan to find some new special teams coaches with a better track record so he can give his system a chance.

[MBates]

All the talk about 'systems' - I just can't take it anymore.

Hockey is a basic game. There are only so many different ways you can move a piece of rubber a couple hundred feet along a sheet of ice with five guys sharing the tasks.

If you have the skills to play in the NHL you can adapt to any system quite easily. The adaptation time where mistakes happen for a bit is really only due to the fact that they play at such high speed in today's game. You don't have time to think the play up when you get the puck...you already have to have a pretty good idea which of two, possibly three, things you are going to do. And then you have to execute it - fast and pretty accurate most of the time.

Performance at the NHL level is massively dependent on mental preparedness and confidence. If you lack either of those two things, it doesn't matter how brilliant your system is supposed to be or how skilled your players are. They will under-perform.

Hartley won coach of the year because he was able to get mostly high end performance out of the team by setting a tone of mental preparedness and confidence. Part of that came from him being demanding of a work ethic but a huge part came from not clamping down on young players for making mistakes or micromanaging (i.e. suffocating) game play.

It's a balance - a mixture of physical and mental practicing.

I never came close to the show, but I played with and against guys that made it and I have coached a couple that did as well. I have some clue of what I speak.

What I see in GG is a coach with no credibility in the eyes of the players. He tried to come in with some mind-blowing game-reinventing system built around the concept of increasing statistical metrics. If you build the numbers the wins will come I guess was the idea. (In fairness, it appears it is what he was asked to do when he was hired).

Monitoring stats can be your plan for your late night coaching staff blab-fests. Get off on stats all bloody night long.

For practice, for the room, for game time - you need a General. Commanding the troops with confidence. Getting them to lay it all on the line because they decided they want to...not because you ordered them to.

Sometimes that is in the form of yelling and flailing your arms. Others can just quietly stare. Every coach can have their own ways of doing it. But if you don't command the troops, then you lose games. Plain and simple.

In my view, GG is completely forgetting to do that part of the job. Be a 'players coach' whatever that really means. But lead them for crying out loud.

Don't tell your star players how to play hockey - wtf makes you qualified to do that? The only real reason to have a 'system' at all is so that your team is working together on the same page when they are out there.

It is not about you coach. It is not about showing the hockey world how insightful and smart you are about the game and your freaking 'system'.

It is NOT supposed to be dictating where everyone goes at exactly what time and how to pass and how to shoot. News flash - these guys all made it to the show without you GG. Your job is not to teach them hockey.

The first hint of leadership I've seen was him saying they have to find ways to win...stop making excuses and playing the victim. A start I guess, but to say it was uninspiring at this point of the season is a Trump-sized 'yuge' understatement.

I bet GG can score 100% in a coaching theory exam...but most of the players would not even come close to that. And that is exactly why we are seeing a terrible on-ice product. We are trying to ice a group of coaching theory experts instead of hockey players.

Unless Burke comes down and screams this in their faces I do not see a turn around happening under this coaching staff.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by edslunch

or looking for positive signs that he is a good one

Where have I done that?

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Where have I done that?

That's not what I meant. Your comment was about people looking for negative things as confirmation bias. I was countering that some of us are looking for positive signs but just not seeing enough of them.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by edslunch

That's not what I meant. Your comment was about people looking for negative things as confirmation bias. I was countering that some of us are looking for positive signs but just not seeing enough of them.

Ah got it.