The trials and tribulations of Glen Gulutzan

[Lanny_McDonald]

Glen Gulutzan is not a good coach. His personnel decisions, his inability to make adjustments, and his inability to prepare the team are all clear indicators of this. Add in the systemic issues that are getting exposed left and right and it becomes worse. The talent level on this team should have them much higher in the standings, especially with the all star quality goaltending they got early. Poor personnel decisions and rigidity in his plan are hurting the team. If it weren't for Gaudreau and Smith, this team would be worse than the Oilers. Gulutzan needs to go.

[JerryUnderscore]

Originally Posted by New Era

Glen Gulutzan is not a good coach. His personnel decisions, his inability to make adjustments, and his inability to prepare the team are all clear indicators of this. Add in the systemic issues that are getting exposed left and right and it becomes worse. The talent level on this team should have them much higher in the standings, especially with the all star quality goaltending they got early. Poor personnel decisions and rigidity in his plan are hurting the team. If it weren't for Gaudreau and Smith, this team would be worse than the Oilers. Gulutzan needs to go.

Why? What makes you so sure this is actually a top tier team?

I keep hearing that Gulutzan isn't a good coach because he's not getting the most out of this team. Show me some figures to support that.

Smith is playing great. The first line is all having career years. 3M continues to be as steady as ever and they are all roughly on pace to match their points from last year.

[kukkudo]

I would give GG some new assistants to work with. Fire Cameron and Paul Jerrard. Bring in a new special teams/defence coach.

[Poe969]

and then give them a new head coach after that?

[kukkudo]

Originally Posted by Poe969

and then give them a new head coach after that?

Haha the issue is if Treliving fired GG, Cameron probably takes over as interim. Another possibility is Dave Tippett (No I do not want him). I have a feeling a lot of great options will be available this offseason.

[Flamenspiel]

Its quite obvious that the Flames 3rd and 4th lines are a victim of the salary cap, the 7.5 spent million on Brower and Stajan is irrevocable. Until next year only AHLers or projects can fill the bottom two lines and the GM will have to keep plugging in prospects until one or two fit.

The strength or weakness of the farm system will be in full view this year. Hopefully Mangiapane or one of the other prospects works out.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

If the rationale is that the penguins and Hawks aren't panicking because they have had success in previous years, shouldn't that doubly apply to the flames who have not made the playoffs for the bulk of the last decade and find themselves looking at the potential of back to back playoff appearances for the first time since 2008?

Just what franchise are you all watching here? Things could be considerably worse for this current roster.

Sure, they could be worse. But they should be better. You seem to be satisfied with mediocrity. That's your choice, of course, but that does not mean the rest of us should be sharing your complacency.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Sure, they could be worse. But they should be better. You seem to be satisfied with mediocrity. That's your choice, of course, but that does not mean the rest of us should be sharing your complacency.

I think fans have been patient but when we see our GM go all-in in the offseason it's reasonable to expect that the organizations expectations are of higher than mediocrity fans are justified to follow suit. I can guarantee that Treliving and Burke expected a mid to high conference finish and at least a playoff series win after trading away most of the 2018 draft. As of today just after US Thanksgiving they sit outside the playoffs and while it's still early we are in season two of Gulutzan and this team still hasn't shown any semblance of consistency or prolonged strong play and that's with the benefit of being one of the healthiest teams in the league to start the season. I'm starting to get a little impatient hoping that he will get the team going as sooner or later as we are year one into a three year window where this team as we see it today will be dismantled. An expansion team is leading the division for crying out loud and the division is ripe for a team to step up and take it. Unfortunately there's no indication this team can rise to the occasion and unlike others here I simply refuse to patiently hope for improvements especially when the head coach is so inflexible and rigid in his beliefs. When a coach does everything the same all the time and the results are always mediocrity how are fans supposed to see light at the end of the tunnel? We know he's not going to change as he's going to keep with his left/right handed defensive pairings. He's going to keep Brodie and Hamonic together. He's going to keep rolling all four lines deep into games. Etc, etc, etc. What are you optimists really expecting that's going to change?

Glen Gulutzan is not the worst coach to ever lead this team. Far from it but my god he's by far the most frustrating head coach I have ever seen in any sport. He doesn't want to win at any cost. He wants to win his way and only that way and it's just going to lead to failed expectations and constant frustartion for the fans.

[Toonage]

Look on the bright side as its really a no lose situation for everyone (given that yes, management clearly has high expectations for the season).

If the team underachieves this year its most likely that Gulutzan gets fired.

If he isn't fired its because they achieved a modest amount of success (or more)

[Machiavelli]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Look on the bright side as its really a no lose situation for everyone (given that yes, management clearly has high expectations for the season).

If the team underachieves this year its most likely that Gulutzan gets fired.

If he isn't fired its because they achieved a modest amount of success (or more)

Your first scenario certainly sounds like a "lose" situation.

[Toonage]

How? People that want Gulutzan fired get their wish. Sure a season is burned in doing so...

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Toonage

How? People that want Gulutzan fired get their wish. Sure a season is burned in doing so...

First, that is an awful false dichotomy. Second, you make an incredibly foolish assumption that we want the team to fail just so the coach can get canned.

Glen Gulutzan is already a loser. Adding unnecessary failure for the team on top of that just to get rid of him does not make this a win by any honest stretch of the imagination. It just compounds the loss by completely throwing away a season.

[icecube]

Originally Posted by Toonage

How? People that want Gulutzan fired get their wish. Sure a season is burned in doing so...

Flames don't have any picks in the first three rounds this year. It would be a disaster.

[Toonage]

I see what you're saying and recognize how I presented that (not well).

That being said, in no way did I say anyone here wants the team to fail.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by JerryUnderscore

I keep hearing that Gulutzan isn't a good coach because he's not getting the most out of this team. Show me some figures to support that.

Hmmmm, start with the standings. Middling result there in the worst division in hockey. Then move on to the goals against. Even with Smith standing on his head we suck in goals against. Then look at goal differential. Can't be a successful playoff team with a negative differential. Then maybe go and look at shots against, and then quality of shots. Our goaltenders get shelled on most nights, and a lot of those are from great scoring areas. Then go and look at the production from the bottom of the lineup and efficacy of the lineup. Pretty damning numbers there. Then go and check out our "top defensive unit in the league" and see their numbers. We live and die on essentially one line and a goaltender. The Flames are starting to smell very much like a team up the QEII. I don't think it's the talent, I think its the mediocre to bad coaching that is leading to that result. The sum of the parts are way better than the team is producing. Gulutzan is no good.

[Stanley]

Originally Posted by New Era

Hmmmm, start with the standings. Middling result there in the worst division in hockey. Then move on to the goals against. Even with Smith standing on his head we suck in goals against. Then look at goal differential. Can't be a successful playoff team with a negative differential. Then maybe go and look at shots against, and then quality of shots. Our goaltenders get shelled on most nights, and a lot of those are from great scoring areas. Then go and look at the production from the bottom of the lineup and efficacy of the lineup. Pretty damning numbers there. Then go and check out our "top defensive unit in the league" and see their numbers. We live and die on essentially one line and a goaltender. The Flames are starting to smell very much like a team up the QEII. I don't think it's the talent, I think its the mediocre to bad coaching that is leading to that result. The sum of the parts are way better than the team is producing. Gulutzan is no good.

Ugh...I'm not sold yet on the "GG is no good" argument but dang, it's really hard to argue with all those points...

[bax]

The bottom half of our roster just hasn’t been very good. The bottom two lines are a disaster and Hamonic and Brodie have not been very reliable

[Red]

Originally Posted by bax

The bottom half of our roster just hasn’t been very good. The bottom two lines are a disaster and Hamonic and Brodie have not been very reliable

Agreed. They have not been reliable on Gulutzan team.

Same for the bottom 6. Most have down years here. Coincidence?

[JT96912]

Originally Posted by New Era

Hmmmm, start with the standings. Middling result there in the worst division in hockey. Then move on to the goals against. Even with Smith standing on his head we suck in goals against. Then look at goal differential. Can't be a successful playoff team with a negative differential. Then maybe go and look at shots against, and then quality of shots. Our goaltenders get shelled on most nights, and a lot of those are from great scoring areas. Then go and look at the production from the bottom of the lineup and efficacy of the lineup. Pretty damning numbers there. Then go and check out our "top defensive unit in the league" and see their numbers. We live and die on essentially one line and a goaltender. The Flames are starting to smell very much like a team up the QEII. I don't think it's the talent, I think its the mediocre to bad coaching that is leading to that result. The sum of the parts are way better than the team is producing. Gulutzan is no good.

I think this is one of the best, thoughtful and correct posts made on the GG situation. Anyone who watches a Flames game or two can see the talent and compete of this team. I have been in Nashville for every Flames game for the past 5 years. The game in Nashville this year I had enough. These players spent the first 2 periods gliding around. They started skating and trying 100% in the 3rd. My wife looked at me after the 2nd and asked "why aren't they skating and trying?" I did not have and answer. In the 3rd they looked like a whole new team, tied the score up, and won in a shootout. What would this team look like if they played 100% effort for every game, every period? I think they would be pretty good. These players are not playing to their max level under GG. THAT is the problem.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Toonage

How? People that want Gulutzan fired get their wish. Sure a season is burned in doing so...

He's not likely to get fired mid-season so I would rather he figure this out than waste a season. I get there are some fans that decide they hate certain players and/or coaches and want them off the team so bad that they actively hope for them to fail. The ones that gleefully post if say Bennett, Hamilton, Brouwer, etc makes a key turnover in a game or the coach makes a bad personnel call. I'm not one of those fans that cheers for failure of anyone integral to the organization I cheer for. I want the team to succeed and if Gulutzan gets fired that means this season will be a failure and a waste. I just want the guy to make some adjustments as his system and player utilization isn't leading to a consistent team effort on a nightly basis and it's not putting some players in positions to play their best hockey. If he can't deviate from his square peg in round hole insistence he's undoubtedly going to get fired but that just sucks for all the fans invested in this team. It results in a wasted season and then rebooting all over again with a new head coach next season. I like Gulutzan the person and want him to be part of the solution but ultimately it's on him to figure things out and he hasn't yet and time is running out as he's not going to get a 3rd season if things continue down this path.