The trials and tribulations of Glen Gulutzan

[Flamenspiel]

^^is that putting the egg before the chicken though, they may be bad because they keep hiring bad coaches. Where are Hartley, Keenan, Brent Sutter, and all right now? Darryl was fired as GM, not for the coaching role. He is the only one who has had any kind of success since leaving Calgary.

I am not saying that the Flames do not have organizational problems(certainly they do), but hiring mediocre coaches is one of them. I think GG is done, but they have put the right guy in as a replacement.

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

More drama around here than a Taylor Swift sleepover.
I'm really uninterested in anything anyone except season ticket holders have to say. They are the ones who have to pay for this brand of hockey, win or lose. Winning is better though.

What about all the people who aren't season ticket holders but still buy tickets second hand? Or still buy all the merchandise, spend the time watching the game on TV (that they pay for either through Gamecentre or their cable company)? Their opinions don't count because they can't afford season tickets? They're still paying to watch it.

What a ridiculous and asinine comment. Buying season tickets is just one way of paying to watch this brand of hockey. Every fan who invests time and energy into this team has a valid opinion. Every fan pays in some way.

[Da_Chief]

You guys realize he has a former NHL head coach as one of his assistants. If they fire GG, Cameron will be the head coach at least for this year.

I don't think the Flames are going to pay GG his salary to sit at home and bring in someone like Sutter who will want a hefty salary.

This is the team and the coach. In the end they will still make the playoffs but get bounced quickly like last year. They're simply not as good as people thought they would be. Treiliving has to take a lot of blame here too. 1/3 of the roster is garbage.

How Hamilton, Glass, Stajan, Brouwer, Bartowski, Lazar, Versteeg have played this much already this year is beyond me. None of these players would be claimed if they were on waiver wire.

Tkachuk is being wasted on a defensive line. He has so much more to give and should be playing with Gaudreau and Monahan, instead he's stuck playing against other top lines and play prevent instead of attack.

Ferland has shown what he is, inconsistent bottom 6 forward. He has literally shown 2 good runs, once vs Canucks in playoffs and one last years late stretch. He needs to be told he's a bottom liner and play like his job is on the line.

Bennett? ya that's beating a dead horse.

The funny thing is the team can't score yet there is no adjustment. They bring in Glass instead of Lazar, f'n bartowski over Kulak and expect things to fix themselves.

Anyways if GG goes, expect Cameron to be the new coach, that's not any better.

[jlh2640]

I am not as impatient but they look brutal and no where near what most expected. Mike Smith is being wasted at this point.

[tsquared1967]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Says the guy who believes bringing in a slow over the hill Iginla was going to push us to SC contender. It was obviously over the top on my part to make a point.

Iginla is slow but this team has Brouwer and Stajan that is totally putting it over the top. Iginla has heart and battles... And a leader on the ice,

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by tsquared1967

Iginla is slow but this team has Brouwer and Stajan that is totally putting it over the top. Iginla has heart and battles... And a leader on the ice,

Then how come he doesn't have a contract?

[Corral]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

^^is that putting the egg before the chicken though, they may be bad because they keep hiring bad coaches. Where are Hartley, Keenan, Brent Sutter, and all right now? Darryl was fired as GM, not for the coaching role. He is the only one who has had any kind of success since leaving Calgary.

I am not saying that the Flames do not have organizational problems(certainly they do), but hiring mediocre coaches is one of them. I think GG is done, but they have put the right guy in as a replacement.

Darryl did wonders here - no doubt.

But coaching is rarely as a big a problem as people make it out to be. This team has 5 top notch players (JG, SM, MTK, MG, TJB) with no superstar - the rest are generally mediocre with flashes of brilliance - your just not going to win like that.

[Pointman]

Originally Posted by Dion

His teams were big and played a physical style of game that wore down it's opponents into making mistakes where his team capitalised on them. Both with the Flames and then the Kings. Sutter gained his fame (righfully so) for the way his teams played and had the respect of his players. Winning can do that for a coach.

Dispite all the above he's sitting at home without a coaching job. You would think a coach of his credibility would be in high demand and teams would have done what it took to hire him. Maybe someone could answer that for me.

This is exactly the same situation and the same argument as it was when LA Kings hired Sutter. He had been sitting at home without a coaching job. People also used to say that he was a dinosaur and the game had passed him by. Apparantly it doesn't mean much.

[tsquared1967]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

You guys realize he has a former NHL head coach as one of his assistants. If they fire GG, Cameron will be the head coach at least for this year.

I don't think the Flames are going to pay GG his salary to sit at home and bring in someone like Sutter who will want a hefty salary.

This is the team and the coach. In the end they will still make the playoffs but get bounced quickly like last year. They're simply not as good as people thought they would be. Treiliving has to take a lot of blame here too. 1/3 of the roster is garbage.

How Hamilton, Glass, Stajan, Brouwer, Bartowski, Lazar, Versteeg have played this much already this year is beyond me. None of these players would be claimed if they were on waiver wire.

Tkachuk is being wasted on a defensive line. He has so much more to give and should be playing with Gaudreau and Monahan, instead he's stuck playing against other top lines and play prevent instead of attack.

Ferland has shown what he is, inconsistent bottom 6 forward. He has literally shown 2 good runs, once vs Canucks in playoffs and one last years late stretch. He needs to be told he's a bottom liner and play like his job is on the line.

Bennett? ya that's beating a dead horse.

The funny thing is the team can't score yet there is no adjustment. They bring in Glass instead of Lazar, f'n bartowski over Kulak and expect things to fix themselves.

Anyways if GG goes, expect Cameron to be the new coach, that's not any better.

I think the Flames have a salary cap with coaches since they are still paying a salary to Hartley.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

What is the systems issues? Be specific, because I hear this a lot from arm chair coaches but most of us couldn't coach our way out of a paper bag.

His player usage is questionable, otherwise the team systems seem to working fine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What about the systems is working fine? Please be specific because I hear this a lot from arm chair coaches.

[EVERLAST]

I'd say this teams players have to cut out the cute fancy pretty passes.

This team needs to get ugly and mean in the hard areas and start skating ffs.
Move your feet. Hit someone. Be accountable. I see no where in that that Glen has failed.
When the players fail at their jobs and the coach gets called out I gotta wonder.
We have had way too many coaches, goalies and this revolving door has to f in stop.

[tsquared1967]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Then how come he doesn't have a contract?

Totally agree that Iginla is useless and that is why he doesn't have a contract. Flames have the right veteran presence like Brouwer and Stajan who deserve their contract because they are way better players and leaders then Iginla.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

More drama around here than a Taylor Swift sleepover.
I'm really uninterested in anything anyone except season ticket holders have to say. They are the ones who have to pay for this brand of hockey, win or lose. Winning is better though.

Well, as a STH, I have been to 4 of the 5 games so far.

In those four games, the Flames are 0-4 and have been outscored 14-4. Four goals in 4 games.

It's sports, I understand that you lose sometimes. But when you drop $10k a year for a pair of tickets, I expect exciting, entertaining hockey, and I expect inspired efforts.

The Flames have a ton of talent, but they aren't utilizing it at all. They are far from firing on all cylinders, or getting the most out of their players.

What scares me, as a STH for the last 14 years, is that, after sitting through the frustrations of a team that just couldn't put it all together, then having the god-awful Brent Sutter era, and then a rebuild (which I was all for), we now have the most talented team we have had since I have been here, but it is starting to look like we might be wasting it.

The talent is there, without question: Gaudreau, Monahan, Tkachuk, Backlund, Bennett, Giordano, Hamilton, Brodie, Hamonic. That is plenty of talent to build a solid (and presumably exciting) team around.

And yet it's not.

I was patient last year with the coaching staff. And it got better as the season went on. Yet here we are with all of the same issues in year 2. So as a STH, I have to say that I am starting to get pretty frustrated.

I would much rather watch Jankowski and Bennett and Lazar fail (because there is hope and expectation that they will improve), than watch Brouwer and Stajan and Versteeg fail.

/r

[Bourque's Twin]

Originally Posted by tsquared1967

Totally agree that Iginla is useless and that is why he doesn't have a contract. Flames have the right veteran presence like Brouwer and Stajan who deserve their contract because they are way better players and leaders then Iginla.

Definitely, they've combined for 2 points this year. They look really fast out there, they're finishing checks, intimidating guys, pushing the young guys to play really hard out there. They're shutting down opponents top lines.

Ideal veteran presence.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

You guys realize he has a former NHL head coach as one of his assistants. If they fire GG, Cameron will be the head coach at least for this year.

Dave Cameron is a terrible systems coach, but at least that part you describe isn't unprecedented to have results, since he seems to be a decent talent evaluator.

Here were the ice times for some of the players on the 2014-15 Senators before Paul MacLean was fired on Dec 08 2014:

Chris Niel - 10:36
Zach Smith - 13:21
Colin Greening - 11:51
David Legwand - 16:18
Alex Chiasson - 15:48
Mark Stone - 14:20
Mike Hoffman - 13:28
Mika Zibanejad - 15:37
Eric Condra - 12:59
JG Pageau - 0:00

Their record was 11-11-5

Here were the ice times for those same players after that when Cameron took over

Chris Niel - 7:36
Zach Smith - 9:16
Colin Greening - 8:55
David Legwand - 12:57
Alex Chiasson - 12:15
Mark Stone - 18:14
Mike Hoffman - 15:01
Mika Zibanejad - 16:48
Eric Condra - 14:47
JG Pageau - 14:11

The latter ice time distribution seems to make much more sense to me. Like, more common sense. Their record under Cameron was 32-15-8

If Cameron does literally nothing else but get Kulak, Bennett, Jankowski, Mangiapane, Hrivik, Kylington et al some ice time, and cut down on the fourth line shenanigans, at least the regular season could be salvaged in a year we don't have a 1st round pick.

[taxbuster]

Originally Posted by Mike F

I've been a strong critic of Gulutzen's since early ...

My personal eyeball test has rarely liked the way the Flames have played under Gulutzen, and outside of a few partial games....

Something needs to change, though. Gulutzen .....

It might be a thought to either refer to him as GG or spell his name correctly: Gulutzan.

(I personally tend to ignore otherwise well-thought out posts when I see what appears to be a deliberate misuse/spelling of a name.)

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by tsquared1967

I think the Flames have a salary cap with coaches since they are still paying a salary to Hartley.

Are they? I thought his last extension was two years so wouldn’t it have expired after last season?

http://www.tsn.ca/flames-sign-head-c...nsion-1.162327


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[spuzzum]

Originally Posted by Corral

Darryl did wonders here - no doubt.

But coaching is rarely as a big a problem as people make it out to be. This team has 5 top notch players (JG, SM, MTK, MG, TJB) with no superstar - the rest are generally mediocre with flashes of brilliance - your just not going to win like that.

I think there are cycles with any sports team - good or bad. LVK is off to an 8-1 start with a group of cast offs and a third string goalie. MTL is off to their worst start in decades and Price is close to dead last in key stats. Stanley Cup Champion favorites, aka Dump of the North, are off to an awful beginning with one players being part of 60% of their goal production.

Calgary several years back made the playoffs and a run into the 2nd second. Go figure.

While the coach plays a big part, there is only so much they can do. If the players don't have the will to win, all of the X's and O's mean nothing. All the motivation techniques mean nothing unless the players buy in.

I think this is why bringing in a dictator type coach does wonders for the team in the short term which might be what this team need. I don't know what's wrong with the team - but they've had a boring uninspired stretch that needs something.

Perhaps not a big jolt but a small one. Send Bennett to the AHL for 1, 2, or 5 games. Bring up one or two kids for bottom six roles - and if one of the vets get waiver claimed, so much the better. Doing the same thing over and over is like sticking your head in the sand and hoping Oil pops out.

[Harry Lime]

The biggest problem I have with some coaches is that they want a team to fit into a strict system that is designed to raise the game of the average player. This also stifles the gifted players.

I see this happening a bit here, with Gaudreau, Bennett, and I'm worried about Jagr. If a system integrates the abilities of a great player, most of the frustration that fans are having with the on ice product will go away.

GG needs to bend a little, and he will be a great coach.

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by EVERLAST

I'd say this teams players have to cut out the cute fancy pretty passes.

This team needs to get ugly and mean in the hard areas and start skating ffs.
Move your feet. Hit someone. Be accountable. I see no where in that that Glen has failed.
When the players fail at their jobs and the coach gets called out I gotta wonder.
We have had way too many coaches, goalies and this revolving door has to f in stop.

You do know that all of professional sports is a revolving door right? Its a constant rotation of players, coaches, GM's until you get the formula right. The Flames are no different than any other team in having changed coaches over the years.