Huberdeau's agent: "Negativity sucks the joy right out of players"

[madmike]

Originally Posted by Weitz

In general context Friedman mentioned that Sutters comments on Pelletier after his first game was taken note of by every under 25 player in the league. Thought that was interesting.

My worry after what’s gone on this season is how Sutter may affect Coronato’s decision to sign. If the Flames can’t get Coronato under contract I think this franchise is in store for some very dark years. The narrative of no one wanting to come to Calgary is going to continue.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by keenan87

Anymore fuel to this fire yet by reporters? I want to see chaos - then changes.

It was the top topic on Mareks show this morning.
I didn't hear all of it but 2 things of note:

1) Walsh doesn't make these tweets without consent of his client so we can take this as Huberdeau approved

2) Marek attributed the insanity quote to Einstein

[Hockey_Ninja]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1626634237112614916

[Manhattanboy]

Huberdeau can get the #### out of town as far as I’m concerned. Let him take his oh poor poor me act somewhere else.

Elite. Ya entitled baby.

[Royle9]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

Huberdeau can get the #### out of town as far as I’m concerned. Let him take his oh poor poor me act somewhere else.

Elite. Ya entitled baby.

LOL ok.

[memphusk]

Originally Posted by Weitz

In general context Friedman mentioned that Sutters comments on Pelletier after his first game was taken note of by every under 25 player in the league. Thought that was interesting.

The hurt feelings crowd?

[Manhattanboy]

Originally Posted by memphusk

The hurt feelings crowd?

Better send Sutter to sensitivity training. Flames locker room is not a safe space.

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

Huberdeau can get the #### out of town as far as I’m concerned. Let him take his oh poor poor me act somewhere else.

Elite. Ya entitled baby.

Charming.

[Toonage]

League average age is 27

He managed to alienate a massive number of people with that act.

We talk about the game passing him by. Times have changed. It would benefit Darryl to try and keep up.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Friedman said on Marek’s podcast that Walsh doesn’t tweet stuff out like that unless his client is ok with it and he thinks it’s an indirect shot at Sutter from Huby

[Bingo]

There is so much room for interpretation.

I think it's quite likely that Walsh doesn't say things without direction from his players. What agent would last going off without approval.

However a sign off isn't an idea either ... guessing Walsh sold Huberdeau on shaking things up, not the other way around given the agent's history.

Pretty bold move, and honestly one that I don't see a positive outcome from. They may want to get more thinkers in their war room.

[Brick]

Darryl Sutter did not construct this roster. There is a lack of high end talent.

[Royle9]

Originally Posted by Brick

Darryl Sutter did not construct this roster. There is a lack of high end talent.

If you don't think Darryl helped construct some of this roster then you're very naive.

[Manhattanboy]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

Charming.

It was a dick move. We can agree on that I’m sure.

[Burning Beard]

What's Ward up to these days? We need a nice guy coach and some beach ball soccer ASAP!!!

Honestly looking at the team most look fine under Sutter. Tofolli and his line, Backlund and that line and the Dmen all look good. It's just the Huberdeau line and Markstrom that aren't up to snuff. If they want to whine then fine, but that seems to be on them when everyone is doing ok.

[HighLifeMan]

It's blatantly obvious that Jonathan Huberdeau has been vastly underutilized here since his arrival. This is a player who would routinely play 20+ minutes a night last year - yet despite that has only hit that mark twice this season (3.8% of his games). This is a player who was brimming with confidence during the off-season and displayed immense signs of creativity and skill early in the preseason. The coach has gone out of his way to consistently drag his top players through the media by pounding the narrative that this team lacks high end talent. You don't think they hear this stuff? You don't think that has an effect on a players mental state? I do. I see a player that has absolutely tried to cater his style of play to the coaches demands - but what I don't see is the same give and take from Darryl. This is an elite talent that has less five on five icetime than the likes of Blake Coleman, Dillon Dube, Andrew Mangiapane, Nazem Kadri, and Mikael Backlund. That's inexcusable.

Also for all this talk about how Gaudreau and Tkachuk were able to produce in a Darryl led system - where is the acknowledgment that their production was virtually non-existent until the three big guns were put together? Johhny had his least productive stretch as a professional under Darryl prior to that line being thrown together out of necessity, and it wasn't due to an "acclimation" period. I have said it before - but Darryl hadn't had a player produce over a point per game in his system in over two decades prior to those three last season - and he's had some HOF level talent to work with. That speaks volumes about his inability to get the most out of his top end talent (atleast from an offensive standpoint).

From a statistical perspective this team is an almost carbon copy of his teams in LA during the last last three years there where they missed the playoffs twice during that span. Much like this years roster - those kings teams were analytically elite teams that struggled heavily with finishing. It's a reflection of the system that prioritizes getting shots towards the net instead of holding onto the puck and trying to setup more quality. Defensively we play a very aggressive man on man style which is absolutely great for suppressing shots and chances - but when a breakdown does occur it creates an immense amount of open space and room for the best players on the planet. While it all looks very nice on paper - there is legitimate reason to believe it's no longer a viable strategy in todays game.

Does Huberdeau also deserve some criticism? Yes, but to flat out ignore Darryl's complete inability to integrate his skillset into the lineup that allowed him to produce 115 points last year is ridiculous. History largely suggests that his lack of production can be directly tied to the our head coach.

This team is having no fun, and we can all attest to just how much that can limit your output and productivity.

[Flamesfan05]

The dmen running around like fools and missing coverage is also an obvious problem

[All In Good Time]

No matter how I slice this, no matter what the issue is. I keep coming back to the thought that this is a horribly unprofessional, disrespectful way to handle things. No matter what, I don’t see how you can go forward at all without clearing everything out.

[Brick]

Originally Posted by Royle9

If you don't think Darryl helped construct some of this roster then you're very naive.

Obviously he had a say in a few players since he came but the bulk of the roster was already in place. There is a lack of high end talent. Name one player that can put this team on their back and get things done when they need it the most. Who is their game changer?

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by All In Good Time

No matter how I slice this, no matter what the issue is. I keep coming back to the thought that this is a horribly unprofessional, disrespectful way to handle things. No matter what, I don’t see how you can go forward at all without clearing everything out.

Well, you've got a coach who showed disrespect to his players this season - and the players can't really punch back, so an Agent does.

As Friedman mentioned today, he said that when Darryl did the "what number did he wear?" stuff on Pelletier he heard that "every player under the age of 25 in the league heard that".

If we're going to be dismissive of a coach being disrespectful of his players, then why do we roast a player for doing it back the other way?

This whole situation is garbage, much like this season and the general state of this organization.