[News] Ryan Huska named HC. 12:30 PM MT presser

[Paulie Walnuts]

Wait what was Tanguay blocked for the assistant job or the HC?

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

All but one of Love's seasons HCing he oversaw .700 hockey teams.

This wasn't a spectacular group before he came along.

I think he did a lot of good with the team, and he made them the top team. Not sure that can completely attributed to Wolf in net.

If Wolf is really inflating Love's success like some on the inside believe then why are we wasting our time keeping him out of the NHL?

Obviously that means hockey minds think Wolf lives up to the hype and is an absolute phenom.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by Sec214

He is calling this a cheap excuse to run it back with adjustments.

wonderful franchise

[Major Major]

Should have just kept Sutter

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Wait what was Tanguay blocked for the assistant job or the HC?

Sounds like Detroit only would've let him walk for a promotion (HC job).

They weren't down for a lateral move.

I'd say that's fair.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Wait what was Tanguay blocked for the assistant job or the HC?

I am not 100% sure, but I think if the job being offered or interviewed for is a higher rank, then they are free to pursue it without needing permission. This is one of the reasons why some teams use associate coach positions to poach an assistant from another team, as it is technically a higher rank.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

All but one of Love's seasons HCing he oversaw .700 hockey teams.

This wasn't a spectacular group before he came along.

I think he did a lot of good with the team, and he made them the top team. Not sure that can completely attributed to Wolf in net.

If Wolf is really inflating Love's success like some on the inside believe then why are we wasting our time keeping him out of the NHL?

Obviously that means hockey minds think Wolf lives up to the hype and is an absolute phenom.

I’ve always wondered how much coaches actually matter. First line gets hot and Markstrom is playing Vezina level and Sutter wins the Jack Adams. Then he is gone lol. Show me a good goalie and I’ll show you a good coach etc

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Major Major

Simply an initial assessment based on what these 2 candidates have shown in terms of having head coaching potential at the pro level.

It's not that complicated. Love is a top coaching prospect based on what he's done with the Heat/Wranglers. Huska is replacement level may not have been offered another job in the NHL had he not been given the top gig. It's like opting to take take Stone over Valimaki. And we'll get to see that play out again. Nothing getting more familiar as a flames fan than watching top talent leave the team for greener pastures.

Everything we've heard so far is that this is a loyalty hire of some kind. I think that's dumb. It will be framed like this guy is an incredible communicator and intelligent hockey mind. That's probably true and I hope it pays off, but this comes off as exactly the type of mistake Sutter made. Go with the guy you know and trust no matter what the younger guy is showing.

I don't know how anyone can safely assert that Huska is "replacement level". And if the test is whether or not he would have gotten a gig elsewhere, I definitely don't foresee Love heading a head coaching gig elsewhere, so on the same basis do we call him "replacement level"?

At the pro level as HC? You have to look at who they were given to coach.
Huska had somewhat less success but OTOH, had a lot of goalie issues (as in 7 goalies in his last season) and the top talent given to him by the franchise was Andrew Mangiapane (for 1.5 seasons).

[AndyM]

Originally Posted by Sec214

. Some of the senior team member feel Love is highly inflated by Dustin Wolf and struggled to make adjustments in the AHL PO.

This is a massive point, and I'm glad you brought it up.

Even during the series versus Abbotsford, something was off with the Wranglers. That bled into the series versus Coachella, and very few adjustments were made besides a depth tweak on the blueline and moving Schwindt up the lineup. Zary was a no-show, minus his end-to-end goal, yet he kept getting big minutes. Jones was a non-factor after a career regular season. The playoffs were a faceplant, including that barnburner loss in Game 5. You have to wonder what the Wranglers were/are without Wolf.

[Calgary4LIfe]

If Love walks, so be it. You can't hire a guy just because you fear that he may go elsewhere. Conroy needed to figure out who he feels is the best coach AND the best fit for this team. The entire process led him to believe that Huska is the guy.



Love had Wolf for the past two seasons. He also had Darryl's system too, no? I am not saying that Love is terrible, or even not a strong candidate. For all we know, Wolf has been good in large measure because of Love, and Love had the same mindset as Sutter for how the game should be played and things just aligned. We don't know.


What we do know is that Huska was the selection after a long process. I wasn't even a fan of Huska over the years. I preferred Troy Ward at the time years ago and felt Treliving was making an unnecessary change just to get 'his guy' in over someone who I thought was a better coach in Troy Ward at the time. However, since then (2013-14), Huska has been groomed for the role of head coach, and some of the current players on the team (Mangiapane, Andersson) really do like him.



If Love does decide to leave, then I wish him well. Conroy made the choice he felt was the right choice, and that's all there is to it. I imagine that since today's announcement won't include assistant coaches, then it is up to Huska to hire his own staff (as it should be), and if Love is extended an offer, then great. If he finds better offers elsewhere, good for him. I assume MacLean will be retained. That's all I am 'fairly sure' about. Will be interesting to see the other names as they get announced sometime this off-season.


I wonder how Linholm feel about this.

[Flamesfan05]

Love had problems with the AHL playoffs

So we go with the guy that never made past the 1st round in the AHL.

Make total sense

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Not acting on either of Wolf or Love to get one to the NHL after the Wranglers great season would be so Flames.

If you pass up Love because of Wolf then don't drag your feet on that Vladar trade boys.

Would be very like this team to sour both guys while promoting an assistant who isn't cut out to be a winning HC in the big show.

But we'll see.

[1qqaaz]

Originally Posted by howard_the_duck

If this is the case, the organization must have a ton of faith and expectations behind Wolf.

Love had success with Wolf and helped him develop.

Gillies won both the NCAA and the World Juniors, and Huska saw him regress into the ground. Albeit, Gillies had a major injury. But Mason McDonald and Parsons, among the highest goalie picks in their drafts, didn't develop either.

If anything, I think it's an argument for Love and against Huska.

[bax]

Originally Posted by Major Major

Simply an initial assessment based on what these 2 candidates have shown in terms of having head coaching potential at the pro level.

It's not that complicated. Love is a top coaching prospect based on what he's done with the Heat/Wranglers. Huska is replacement level may not have been offered another job in the NHL had he not been given the top gig. It's like opting to take take Stone over Valimaki. And we'll get to see that play out again. Nothing getting more familiar as a flames fan than watching top talent leave the team for greener pastures.

Everything we've heard so far is that this is a loyalty hire of some kind. I think that's dumb. It will be framed like this guy is an incredible communicator and intelligent hockey mind. That's probably true and I hope it pays off, but this comes off as exactly the type of mistake Sutter made. Go with the guy you know and trust no matter what the younger guy is showing.

Comparing Stone and Valimaki to Love and Huska is so not fair lol.

Huska has been an “up and coming” name ever since he joined the Flames. He’s interviewed for head jobs around the league as recent as last off season and now that the Flames have hired him you think he was on the verge of never coaching in the NHL again?

His record in the AHL is irrelevant. When he took that job Treliving even gave a quote that he would not be evaluated on wins and losses. The only objective was to produce future Calgary Flames which he did a very good job at.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Love too, but he’s never coached in the NHL and literally has half of the experience that Huska does. He would be well served to spend some time as an assistant.

The Flames still have a veteran roster, it shouldn’t be a surprise that they wanted someone with more experience than Love. It will be interesting to hear what the players think.

[Bubba17]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Lets see what the staff looks like. Mitch Love is not coming as a assistant coach.

Where is he going as an assistant then? He doesn't seem to be too high on the other teams that have hired head coaches.

[liamenator]

Originally Posted by Major Major

Simply an initial assessment based on what these 2 candidates have shown in terms of having head coaching potential at the pro level.

It's not that complicated. Love is a top coaching prospect based on what he's done with the Heat/Wranglers. Huska is replacement level may not have been offered another job in the NHL had he not been given the top gig. It's like opting to take take Stone over Valimaki. And we'll get to see that play out again. Nothing getting more familiar as a flames fan than watching top talent leave the team for greener pastures.

Everything we've heard so far is that this is a loyalty hire of some kind. I think that's dumb. It will be framed like this guy is an incredible communicator and intelligent hockey mind. That's probably true and I hope it pays off, but this comes off as exactly the type of mistake Sutter made. Go with the guy you know and trust no matter what the younger guy is showing.

Two pretty big claims here that I'm not sure are backed up by reports and evidence.

Love is constantly described as a top candidate, but, as far as I know, there were no reports that he interviewed for any NHL HC positions other than in Calgary, nor that any teams asked for permission to interview him.

Whereas we know that Huska got very close in the Detroit HC search last year, and that he also interviewed well with Chicago. Along with the the Calgary job he just got, that's three NHL HC interviews in the last two off-seasons. To me, that suggests he'd be in extremely high demand as an Assistant Coach if he hit the open market.

Love was a more appealing candidate to Flames fans because he's young and fresh and has had great recent results in the AHL. But almost all reporting we have suggests that Huska is a more appealing candidate to other teams, and has been for some time.

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by Royle9

I think its a major fail letting Love walk and not having him be apart of anything NHL related, the amount of respect Love had in the AHL room is absurd, the guy knew how to get our farm team fired up and in the game.

How this was not factored in scares me.

Maybe Love didn’t say what they wanted to hear during the interview process. Huska would likely have a stronger edge on a plan going forward because he knows the players and of course they have seen his work. Love could be the best coach for the job but you still have to demonstrate that through the interview process. That is a solid process at work.

Have to be happy to see the Flames do a very thorough coaching search and turning every stone. I wasn't as confident during the Treliving coaching hire and said as much at the time but, I have less issues when the organization looks at all the avenues and determines the best steps I. The process. If Huska doesn't pan out it is going to be very hard to blame Conroy for not doing a thorough job, and even then he is going to want to get it right.

Good on the Flames, they are putting some trust I the internal hires. Now let's see if they can build a team to be reckoned with.

[bax]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

Love had success with Wolf and helped him develop.

Gillies won both the NCAA and the World Juniors, and Huska saw him regress into the ground. Albeit, Gillies had a major injury. But Mason McDonald and Parsons, among the highest goalie picks in their drafts, didn't develop either.

If anything, I think it's an argument for Love and against Huska.

McDonald played 5 games total in the AHL while Huska was there. Parsons played 7. He did have David Rittich down there though for 43 games.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by mile

https://twitter.com/user/status/1668286673766187009

Welp...kiss 'em goodbye.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by t0rrent98

43 years in Calgary not including Atlanta.
and on already on their 24th head Coach. Sounds like we fire coaches after 2 seasons almost ��

The 24 coaches includes Atlanta.

Also, it's only 24 if you count the 16 games Guy Charron coached in 1992 as an interim HC, the 11 games Al MacNeil coached in 2003 between Gilbert's firing and Sutter's hiring, and the 2 games Huska coached in 2021 while Sutter was going through the COVID protocol.

So, he's really only the 19th "permanent" HC since they moved to Calgary, which, I would guess, is pretty close to the league average.


Some people want the Flames to be more ruthless like Vegas... They're in their 6th season in the league and already on their 3rd HC... and that's with a team that has gone to at least the final four in 4 of its 6 seasons, and the Final twice.