The trials and tribulations of Glen Gulutzan

[nemanja2306]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Like Chad Johnston was going to get it done. When you're in the POs, if your number one goalie doesn't play well, you lose.

He wouldn't have been any worse.

Sent from my WAS-LX1A using Tapatalk

[Flamenspiel]

Who is Boudreau even coaching?? I did not see him anywhere near the finals last year.

GG will get this year to prove himself. If he is not successful, I am sure the Flames will move on to another coach for next season. Clearly there will be no goalie excuse this year.

[Toonage]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

Who is Boudreau even coaching?? I did not see him anywhere near the finals last year.

GG will get this year to prove himself, if not I am sure the Flames will move on to another coach.

Minnesota. Finished last year with 106 points, 2nd in the Central. Lost out in the 1st round.

So yeah, only 1 game more in the playoffs than the Flames despite the impressive regular season.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Robbob

-The 5-5 start is tied for one of the best starts this team has had going back 7 seasons (you have to go back to 2010-11 (6-4) for the last time this team was above .500 after the 10 game mark).

Given the quality of opposition in our first ten games, this is nothing more than a completely worthless "moral victory".

How we did last year or any year before has no relevance to how we have utterly failed to take advantage of an easy schedule in the first ten games this year.

[Cactus Jack]

I am on the fence about Gulutzen. He definitely deserve more time though to see what kind of results he can achieve.

What irks me is his insistance on having the proper handedness. I understand it in the defensive zone but not on the pp. I am not saying you should base your PP strategy on MacInnis and Suter passing it back and forth to each other on their off wings but even if Versteeg, Hamilton and Brodie had slappers (they have good wrist shots), they receive the puck with their blades towards the boards and have no angle to shoot at. It seems like all our shots from the point wait for traffic and hope to get a lucky bounce. It´s very predictable and teams play the pass because no one is afraid of our shots.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by nemanja2306

You're right. Elliott sucked.

Yet our young,brilliant coach kept putting him in until it was too late.

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Like Chad Johnston was going to get it done. When you're in the POs, if your number one goalie doesn't play well, you lose.

Yeah the same Chad Johnson that hadn't played in a couple weeks because he had a lower body injury. Johnson was far from 100% and the next option was Gillies a rookie.

You really do have to look at things in context.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Given the quality of opposition in our first ten games, this is nothing more than a completely worthless "moral victory".

How we did last year or any year before has no relevance to how we have utterly failed to take advantage of an easy schedule in the first ten games this year.

The moral victory from my point is that as bad as people make it seem, we are still farther ahead than previous seasons. If there is a hill to climb it is very manageable.

As I mentioned it is a marathon and not a sprint. Doing a postmortem after 10 games of an 82 game season doesn't make any sense to me.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Robbob

Yeah the same Chad Johnson that hadn't played in a couple weeks because he had a lower body injury. Johnson was far from 100% and the next option was Gillies a rookie.

You really do have to look at things in context.

And before the injury had played badly. Two losses in a row, sub. 900 sv%. Following his five game win streak, he went four losses in a row, and then lost 9 of 13.

[Toonage]

Played badly since his glove was exposed against (want to say the Panthers) and he joked that it wasn't an issue in an interview the next day. From that point on, Johnson never regained his early season form.

[18YrOldSamBennett]

It was his first year as head coach and the team had a slow start. Hartley was more vocal and better with the media but his coaching was really lackluster and I have no idea why people think his system was better than GG's. Would I prefer it if GG showed some emotion? Absolutely. Do I think his coaching will lead to more tram offence and less defensive breakdowns? Yes, and with that comes wins which is all I care about. People can gripe about last year in Anahiem all they want, I put more blame in Eliotts hands than GG's. If we get beat in anything less than 7 games in the first round or miss the playoffs this year my attitude towards him will be more like yours. Until then I will sit back and wait. We are .500 to start the year and people are calling for his head. I will never understand some people.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Toonage

(My opinion/stream of consciousness) Regardless of whether or not we think he is or isn't a good coach, this is likely his make or break year with the team. The Flames have gone all in, giving up picks and making moves (which I don't believe are done yet) to get this team deep into the playoffs. If they falter during the season for an extended period or come up short even if they do make the playoffs (bounced in round one, swept etc) then that's it. He's likely done.

I agree with this. With all the picks the Flames have traded away, it's clear the team is in Win Now mode. The brass won't tolerate three or four years of GG without results. If the Flames don't see some post-season success this season, he's gone.

[Wyguy]

I didnt know where to post this, so I will try to tie it into GG being a good or bad coach.

So, regardless of paycheck or waivers or any of that Jazz, what would be the best lines we could possibly put together for the flames?

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Wyguy

I didnt know where to post this, so I will try to tie it into GG being a good or bad coach.

So, regardless of paycheck or waivers or any of that Jazz, what would be the best lines we could possibly put together for the flames?

5-on-5 since Gulutzan rolls 4 lines evenly anyways, I really hope we go with something like:

Jagr-Monahan-Versteeg - get Versteeg going. Also has Monahan with two playmakers setting him up for feeds. Double shift Gaudreau onto here at times.
Frolik-Backlund-Brouwer - get Brouwer going and offset Brouwer doing Brouwer things with the other two doing other two things
Tkachuk-Jankowski-Hamilton - just have them cycle against soft comp
Gaudreau-Bennett-Ferland - get Bennett going at this line showed insane chemistry every rare time we have seen them and unlike Lazar, Ferland can finish.

[---Hatrick---]

Honest question. How much of the power play strategy is formed by GG? Do we not have a special teams coach who is in charge of this or does GG still oversee it?

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by ---Hatrick---

Honest question. How much of the power play strategy is formed by GG? Do we not have a special teams coach who is in charge of this or does GG still oversee it?

It is not entirely clear, but the consensus seems to be that it is Dave Cameron.

The power play is an issue right now, but I am not concerned about it. The Flames had the League’s top special teams in the second half of last season with basically the same personnel. Special teams for every team will very often tend to run hot and cold, and for teams with talented players they usually do fine over the course of a full season.

This will sort itself out in due course.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

It is not entirely clear, but the consensus seems to be that it is Dave Cameron.

The power play is an issue right now, but I am not concerned about it. The Flames had the League’s top special teams in the second half of last season with basically the same personnel. Special teams for every team will very often tend to run hot and cold, and for teams with talented players they usually do fine over the course of a full season.

This will sort itself out in due course.

This early in the season it's really too soon to get fussed about the PP. The issue on special teams usually comes down to work rate and goaltending anyway.

[bubbsy]

I've always been on the fence with Gulutzan. Naturally, he's terrible when the team's losing and just fine when they're winning.

The management has put their chips in this year. They've traded away their 1st/2nd rounder, they went out and got a 45 year old jagr, all 'win-now' type moves. If they aren't winning more now than they were last year, then he should be gone.

Looking at this team on paper, the offense should be scoring more, and the defense should be much tigher, or at least one of those two things. None of those things have transpired, and if that continues, then there's ample evidence that for whatever reason, this coach and coaching staff has failed to muster a team that is not equal, let alone greater than, the sum of their parts.

Not bashing the coach. Just stating that if the bubble , 0.500 team result continues deep into the season, i'm sure even he will figure his days are numbered.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

I've always been on the fence with Gulutzan. Naturally, he's terrible when the team's losing and just fine when they're winning.

The management has put their chips in this year. They've traded away their 1st/2nd rounder, they went out and got a 45 year old jagr, all 'win-now' type moves. If they aren't winning more now than they were last year, then he should be gone.

Looking at this team on paper, the offense should be scoring more, and the defense should be much tigher, or at least one of those two things. None of those things have transpired, and if that continues, then there's ample evidence that for whatever reason, this coach and coaching staff has failed to muster a team that is not equal, let alone greater than, the sum of their parts.

Not bashing the coach. Just stating that if the bubble , 0.500 team result continues deep into the season, i'm sure even he will figure his days are numbered.

I'm not so sure. The team has gone all-in with this three year window so expectations are certainly higher than last season. However I feel Treliving will stick with Gulutzan even if disaster happens and the team misses the playoffs this season. He hasn't fired any coach that he's brought in to date and the fact that Sigalet survived back to back seasons of arguably the worst goaltending in the history of the organization it appears he's willing to give his guys a lot of rope. I get the feeling he would probably make a big trade (Bennett, etc) before firing the coach if things get really bad.

[EldrickOnIce]

I disagree.
If the Flames miss the playoffs, I expect Gulutzan gone, and replaced by a hard ass old school coach. I don't know what gives with 5his team, and while I'm not sure the problem is at the top, that would be the first casualty.
Management clearly believes in this group and if Gulutzan can't get that out of them, they will try to see if someone else can.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I'm not so sure. The team has gone all-in with this three year window so expectations are certainly higher than last season. However I feel Treliving will stick with Gulutzan even if disaster happens and the team misses the playoffs this season. He hasn't fired any coach that he's brought in to date and the fact that Sigalet survived back to back seasons of arguably the worst goaltending in the history of the organization it appears he's willing to give his guys a lot of rope. I get the feeling he would probably make a big trade (Bennett, etc) before firing the coach if things get really bad.

I agree that management feels they are entering the success window (but not in the midst of it). GG's contract is three years IIRC. So I'd expect him to be fired at the end of this year, with one year left, if the team isn't heading towards a big year next year. Which to me would mean if they miss the POs or barely get in and are eliminated in short order. If they started losing consistently now, however, a December firing might be possible in an attempt to salvage the season. I don't really see that happening though.