[News] UPD: Geoff Ward officially named the franchise's 20th head coach (2 year deal)

[Bunk]

Flames have tried this approach about 7 times before, bargain hunting on a coach without a winning track record. Let’s see if #8 is somehow different.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by activeStick

Does that apply to DeBoer if he beats Vegas and then Jon Cooper if he goes on to win the cup?

For me, just like how a single player can't win a team a cup on his own, neither can a coach.

To me coaches are kind of like goalies. A really good one can win you some extra games which can be the difference until you inevitably meet a team who can match you in that area, then it's up to the rest of the team.

A bad one can however totally sink you.

Ward is like Talbot: they're both okay. Not what anyone would consider the best possible option, but okay.

[keenan87]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Flames have tried this approach about 7 times before, bargain hunting on a coach without a winning track record. Let’s see if #8 is somehow different.

What is funny is the last few times, they have gotten a coach who has won (Hartley and Keenan) - they actually did well.

Keenan wasn't great but I remember that one year when the team had a ton of potential but ran into salary cap issues due to injuries.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by keenan87

What is funny is the last few times, they have gotten a coach who has won (Hartley and Keenan) - they actually did well.

Keenan wasn't great but I remember that one year when the team had a ton of potential but ran into salary cap issues due to injuries.

The summer of 2009 was the biggest, most damaging overreaction to a season getting ruined by injuries that I've seen. Sutter followed it up with his horrid Phaneuf trade in early 2010.

That 2008/2009 team was great, and playing pretty well, and got entirely destroyed by injuries in the last 1/4 of the season and leading into the playoffs.

Really, from Summer 2009 to trade deadline 2010, Sutter undid years of good work out of what must have been pure frustration.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Some quotes from the media availability, from Steinberg's feed:

https://twitter.com/Fan960Steinberg

GM Brad Treliving wouldn’t get into specifics of process leading up to today’s coaching decision, understandably.

“I’m not going to get into the other people part. There was a process I wanted to go through. I felt Geoff was the absolute best person to carry us forward.”

“Geoff’s not the coach here because it’s the path of least resistance. Or because he was here.”

[mile]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1305590675740581888

https://twitter.com/user/status/1305588481398247425

[dammage79]

The word "Process" has lost its shine, Tree. Change it up!

"I won't go into my process but there was a process of processes that processed my decision on how to process our info."

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by dammage79

The word "Process" has lost its shine, Tree. Change it up!

"I won't go into my process but there was a process of processes that processed my decision on how to process our info."

The 2nd tweet quote is Ward saying "process" not Treliving.

[Azhouse]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Funny this talk about Brent Sutter made me realize he was the last Flames coach I was excited about when they hired him eleven years ago. Since then:

Hartley - GM hires his best friend, not a great sign
Gulutzan - WTF, but hey the new GM is smart and it was an exhaustive process
Peters - missed playoffs all 4 years previous and reputation as an #######
Ward - I might like this the best of these, just wish he'd shown a little more against the Stars

Good god. What a list.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

The 2nd tweet quote is Ward saying "process" not Treliving.

Look at Jiris post.

[Super-Rye]

This is very much a Flames move. Watch them sign a reclamation project goaltender too. Mediocre moves are mediocre.

That's probably not fair to Ward. He seems like a good man and he really is a decent coach, he is certainly better than Gulutzan. But there was a real opportunity here to go and sign a real top end coach with a proven track record and they either couldn't or wouldn't do it.

I think my biggest concern is that after the playoffs ended for Calgary both Ward and Treliving came out and said that they felt the Flames were a really good defensive team. I just don't see it. This teams defensive game is way too passive in an NHL that's all about speed and aggression.

But I guess we will hope for the best and see how it goes, even if I feel like this team is headed straight for another season in the mushy middle.

[bubbsy]

I do find it interesting that Bill Peters "was the best possible coach" based on Treliving large net look for a new coach (or lack thereof). And magically, one of that hire's assistant coaches has now become the "best coach for our team".

I'm sure there was a lot of due diligence on the other big name coaches that are available at the moment.....

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

The summer of 2009 was the biggest, most damaging overreaction to a season getting ruined by injuries that I've seen. Sutter followed it up with his horrid Phaneuf trade in early 2010.

That 2008/2009 team was great, and playing pretty well, and got entirely destroyed by injuries in the last 1/4 of the season and leading into the playoffs.

Really, from Summer 2009 to trade deadline 2010, Sutter undid years of good work out of what must have been pure frustration.

The 2009 team should’ve won the division and would’ve if not for the Jokinen acquisition capping them out and rendering them unable to ice a full lineup.

Gio also got injured right around the deadline, and this was the year I think he asserted himself as a core player.

Bourque also wasn’t healthy, and though we are more prone to remember his disinterested conclusion, Rene Bourque was a damn good player his first couple seasons in Calgary - his loss was not nothing.

That summer, Sutter should have:

A) traded Phaneuf - Keenan relied on Dion way too much, and he had never shown himself an effective playoff performer in three successive years.

B) not fired Keenan

C) re-signed Cammalleri - Mike Cammalleri is the single best line mate Jarome Iginla ever got to play with in a Flaming C, and Jokinen/Iggy/Cammy would’ve had a huge year had they been given a full off season to prepare for playing with one another.

D) still acquired Bouwmeester

E) spent money on a backup goalie who was legitimately capable of starting 30 games.

What might have been...

[mile]

Process everywhere.

I was all for a new coach, but just gotta hope for the best now. Maybe Ward uses the time in the offseason to implement a different system, or they switch up the personnel to fit the current one.

I don't think this hurts our chances of signing Hall either, with the history there.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Some quotes from the media availability, from Steinberg's feed:

https://twitter.com/Fan960Steinberg

GM Brad Treliving wouldn’t get into specifics of process leading up to today’s coaching decision, understandably.

“I’m not going to get into the other people part. There was a process I wanted to go through. I felt Geoff was the absolute best person to carry us forward.”

“Geoff’s not the coach here because it’s the path of least resistance. Or because he was here.”

He is lying through his teeth.

I get it though. The League has to deal with the Real World consequences.

But pink slips have been signed today.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by flamesfan1297

That's actually a cool fact. I would have never guessed it was that low, I wonder what the record looks like for GMs?

I believe Jim Rutherford is the only GM to win a championship with multiple teams in the last 40 or 50 years.

[Sylvanfan]

My hot take on Laviolette is that he has his eyes on the Rangers job and it will open up for him before or just after the 20-21 season ends. When teams go into a planned rebuild the guy hired to start it often gets fired when the team should be ready to come out of it and become a contender again.

Boudreau has had a lot of success...but again, do the Flames have Ovechkin and Backstrom, or a Getzlaf. No they don't, when was the last time they went into a series where the expectation was that the best player on either team was a Flame? You have to go back to younger Iginla.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

The 2009 team should’ve won the division and would’ve if not for the Jokinen acquisition capping them out and rendering them unable to ice a full lineup.

Gio also got injured right around the deadline, and this was the year I think he asserted himself as a core player.

Bourque also wasn’t healthy, and though we are more prone to remember his disinterested conclusion, Rene Bourque was a damn good player his first couple seasons in Calgary - his loss was not nothing.

That summer, Sutter should have:

A) traded Phaneuf - Keenan relied on Dion way too much, and he had never shown himself an effective playoff performer in three successive years.

B) not fired Keenan

C) re-signed Cammalleri - Mike Cammalleri is the single best line mate Jarome Iginla ever got to play with in a Flaming C, and Jokinen/Iggy/Cammy would’ve had a huge year had they been given a full off season to prepare for playing with one another.

D) still acquired Bouwmeester

E) spent money on a backup goalie who was legitimately capable of starting 30 games.

What might have been...

Darryl didn't fire Keenan, the owners did.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

“I’m not going to get into the other people part. There was a process I wanted to go through. I felt Geoff was the absolute best person to carry us forward.”

And there it is. If this was the Treliving drinking game you would be expected to intravenously down a quart of Everclear. Can't wait until this clown gets processed out the door.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Darryl didn't fire Keenan, the owners did.

What’s the story there? They didn’t like not practicing the power play?