The Eating Crow Thread

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Well aren't we all blessed to have you here to teach it.

I'm not teaching anything. It was a simple observation about a select group.

The crow consumption should be the only lesson necessary.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

My signature.

Hot damn, you thought you had me didn't ya?

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by GGG

What's interesting is you probably shouldn't be eating Crow if you thought this team was done in January. 95/100 times you would have been right. If you were fire the coach trade Hamilton after the first 10 games then you have Crow to eat. But a reasonable Fan should not have expected this turn around...

I have to disagree. Even in the three bad games in January a lot of people could see that the team was much better than the results they were producing. I think reasonable fans were those who expected a lot better down the stretch from a team that was clearly not playing to its potential.

[Igottago]

I'll accept my plate full of crow as well, I was pretty hard on Gulutzan early on and thought the Flames made a mistake with hiring him. Glad I was wrong. However I always had high expectations of this team, I never thought this was a bad roster that needed way more development time, which was what made the early parts of the season so frustrating to me. I also didn't find the hockey very entertaining during those periods, even when the Flames strung together a few wins. Thankfully everything seems to have clicked in the last couple of months, the team looks completely different. Great job by GG and the players to get it going in the right direction.

[GreenLantern2814]

I wanted Gulutzan fired before Christmas. Never did I imagine he would turn this team into the 09 Blackhawks in his first season.

I also thought Elliott would be on waivers by February. Attach the stone of shame.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I have to disagree. Even in the three bad games in January a lot of people could see that the team was much better than the results they were producing. I think reasonable fans were those who expected a lot better down the stretch from a team that was clearly not playing to its potential.

Yeah, Flames went 9-4 in December and "Playoff positivity" thread was created early January, and by that time there were already plenty of converts like myself.

Originally Posted by Itse

I now feel relatively confident that we'll see playoff hockey in Calgary this season, barring something anomalous like a huge injury streak. Might even win a round.

That's me January 12th on that thread, and it's not like I was alone, just one of the lost lambs who had found faith again (Still happy to eat crow for my miserable attitude earlier.)

If you look at the playoff snake thread, there's stuff like this...

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

What's the playoff point cut off projection right now? 93-95 points?

So we need something like 30-20-3 over the next 53 games?

That's not unreasonable at all.

That's from early December, and I think is a good example of what the positivity was like a that point. The Flames had started to look better and very imprtantly, the division was looking weak. Lots of reasons to have faith for reasonable fans.

In any case, up and down season for sure.

[Mr.Coffee]

I accept my crow eating too, I was wrong. But you gotta admit, the way this season started, who honestly wasn't second guessing the coach?

If you were good on you, but I can't help but feel that the questions weren't off base. Like we are talking November / December heck even early January timeframe. It's not like it was 2 games in and people were calling for his head. Not to mention a lot of dubious decisions. I still question why Brouwer would ever appear on the power play.

[dissentowner]

I have to eat crow for a different reason than most in this thread. I defended Gully throughout the bad times and I believed we could turn the corner. My crow entree is for my comments on Michael Backlund and how I thought he was nothing more than a decent third liner when the season started. Guy is our MVP and a high end 2nd line C, so good at both ends of the ice.

[FlamesAddiction]

I had them out, so I will eat crow.

I did say back then though, that if they did manage to make the playoffs, they would be going in as a legit contender given the record they would need to make up for.

Hopefully I don't have to eat crow for that prediction!

[Travis Munroe]

Imagine if the flames get off to a poor start again next year. Reading members thoughts on GG over the course of 1.5 seasons would be hilarious.

[timbit]

Was upset at the horrible start of our most important players.

Liked what Gulutzan was doing system wise from the start.

They have become a close puck support team with speed and numbers at the opposition blueline

They also allow very few outnumber opportunities from the opposition.

Special teams have really improved.

I also believe that the players know he has their backs.

[djsFlames]

You'd have to have some kind of blind faith in the team if you didn't have doubts somewhere between games 1 (1st cold streak) and 50 (2nd cold streak).

Pretty sure absolutely everyone did. And good ####ing on them for proving each and every one of us wrong. Never thought I'd find myself completely backtracking on my opinion of Gulutzan and his coaching ways. Seeing now that he's a coach players really like to play for. Opposite end of the spectrum from a Sutter, but his methods (once the players submitted themselves to the system) appear to be effective.

Playoffs are huge though and the true test so we shouldn't be making definitive statements yet. A lot of coaches have had flash in the pan seasons in recent years that were heralded after the fact. Two of those guys are out of jobs at the moment, so we'll see how this new coaching style pans out over a couple seasons.

[greentree]

I wrote off Elliott. And wondered about Johhny's commitment.

[timbit]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

You'd have to have some kind of blind faith in the team if you didn't have doubts somewhere between games 1 (1st cold streak) and 50 (2nd cold streak).

Pretty sure absolutely everyone did. And good ####ing on them for proving each and every one of us wrong. Never thought I'd find myself completely backtracking on my opinion of Gulutzan and his coaching ways. Seeing now that he's a coach players really like to play for. Opposite end of the spectrum from a Sutter, but his methods (once the players submitted themselves to the system) appear to be effective.

Playoffs are huge though and the true test so we shouldn't be making definitive statements yet. A lot of coaches have had flash in the pan seasons in recent years that were heralded after the fact. Two of those guys are out of jobs at the moment, so we'll see how this new coaching style pans out over a couple seasons.

I have no idea what will happen in the playoffs.

However, they have the second best record in the NHL since Feb1.

Pretty damn good for a team that is in the 4th year of a rebuild.

[edn88]

I was 90% certain that their 5-10-1 record was indicative of how the rest of the season would go, and was pretty certain that they would miss the playoffs.

Happy to be wrong.

[djsFlames]

Still think Johnny isn't as effective this season, even with his recent resurgence.

Needs to shoot more. Less east-west/drop passes, those will cost the team in the playoffs. Still very dangerous though when he doesn't turn the puck over.

[Anduril]

Bit of a different one than most as I didn't have strong feelings on Gulutzan either way in the beginning and hoped that Elliott would turn it around (though not to the extent that he has).

Ferland has been bit a little revelation for me. Honestly thought he was basically a meaner Bouma who caught hearts of many with his dynamite performance against the Canucks. Didn't think he had the skill, speed or consistency to be more than a 4th line guy realistically. He's definitely going to be a love hate kind of player now that he's shown so much more in a wrecking ball forecheck, 'sneaky good' shot and speed. The hate will probably come from how he's so noticeable in his invisibility in gamss because he's becoming a player with expectations to make something happen.
Still, much better to have strong feelings over a potential top 6/9 guy than apathy over another grinder.

[Calgary4LIfe]

My biggest concern was Gulutzan 'killing' the creativity out of this team (Brent Sutter flashbacks) and also a general regression that encompassed most (if not all) of the 'young core' early on. I didn't think the Flames would make a knee-jerk reaction and fire Gulutzan, but I thought that Gulutzan would be a 'one and done' coach for sure.

Glad that it seems the core is doing well, and the team as a whole is playing effectively. It will be interesting to see what he does in the playoffs. I thought that Hartley did a good job of out-coaching Vancouver (and I thought he out-coached Torts the year before, but maybe because he got under Torts' skin so well). Gulutzan is still a less-experienced coach, but young inexperienced coaches have gone on to be successful right away.

I don't have any expectations for the Flames in the playoffs - good or bad. I don't expect them to make a deep run this year, but wouldn't shock me if they did. That is probably a good testament to Gulutzan this year really - he isn't Badger Bob, but he is DEFINITELY NOT Brent Sutter either.

Sure, some of the lineup decisions at times leave me scratching my head, but every fan of every team scratches their head as well. Read the Chicago boards enough, and they openly wonder what coach Q is thinking at times. That will never change. What coach hasn't had that effect to their fanbases? Darryl Sutter had that here in Calgary for sure as well.

All in all, I went from hoping Gulutzan had a 'one year show me' contract for this season to hoping he is signed for a multi-year deal. I am more than comfortable having him be retained as the coach for the next couple of seasons. Wheels might fall off, but should get he benefit of the doubt beyond one poor season now.

I felt the same way about Hartley, however. I still don't think he 'deserved' to get canned, and thought he did enough to warrant one more season - I still feel this way. This doesn't mean I think he is better than Gulutzan, but simply stating that he 'deserved' another shot with the moves this team made. That doesn't mean I have to be unhappy with Gulutzan - I can think that firing Hartley was a mistake, and at the same time be welcoming and appreciative of what Gulutzan is bringing this team as well. It isn't difficult to do that, really.

Can't wait for the playoffs and see how Gulutzan manages this team and makes adjustments depending on what the other teams do. I felt Darryl was really, really strong at it in the '04 cup run, Keenan didn't seem to make many adjustments I thought, and Hartley had 'mixed results' (I thought he seriously out-coached Vancouver, but was out-coached by Anaheim, though maybe you can build a case that it didn't matter what in the world he did, the Flames weren't going to get through Anaheim even if they had a healthy roster and Scotty Bowman himself behind the bench).

I like the fit with Gulutzan now. Team is having success under him. Goalies don't have to 'steal' games. The young core is doing well. Most importantly, he has the team playing his system. Coaches fail a lot because they are never able to have their teams play their 'system' consistently enough (like Brent Sutter), and the coaches that are able to get that buy-in usually have their teams experience success (like Darryl, like Johnson). That is what I have always thought. The actual system seems almost secondary to actually getting the players to play consistently.

The consistency is what matters the most to me, and that is what Gulutzan has been delivering. I didn't think he was able to pull it off, but he has pulled it off. Can't wait to see how he manages in the Playoffs. Should be interesting! Looking forward to it.

[Stupid]

No crow for me!

I reserved judgement.

[Otto-matic]

I'll take my dosage of Crow.

After the brutal start and almost everyone playing under their potential outside of a couple players. I thought we were in for a long long season. Glad to see GG pull the boys together and rally them into the post season. Couldn't be happier to be wrong.