[GT] GM Craig Conroy Live in Studio with Robb Kerr

[Locke]

Originally Posted by PuckSlap

Because not everyone sees things black or white.

Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

Yeah, I mean...sure, his record wasnt great but I do think he instilled a lot of competitive values into the team and players.

Sometimes in the NHL there are 'sacrificial lambs.'

Feaster was brought in to be 'The Guy who trades Iginla, Bouwmeester, Regehr and Tanguay.' He was never a long-term solution.

Similarly Hartley was brought in to do the best he could with what he was given. I dont think he was ever expected to go far with it, some might say that he even exceeded expectations of the moment.

Some people are brought in to do the unpopular things and then you cut ties with them and move forward.

As for Hartley...again...he won the Jack Adams as Coach of the Calgary Flames.

Besides, that brawl against Vancouver lingers as one of my favourite Flames memories.

I remember sitting at the pub with my buddies and seeing that opening lineup and thinking "this is going to be a blood bath" and then watching Torts lose his mind and essentially seeing Big 'Ern basically taunt him to "F### around and find out" in the tunnel?

Thing. Of. Beauty.

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

Flames traded their 4th round pick that year for TJ Galiardi otherwise they could have taken Kaprizov in the 4th round.

Kaprizov and Kucherov would have definitely been nice to have.

[CliffFletcher]

The Hartley hate only came with hindsight. At the time, Flames fans loved him. Go back and read the CP threads from the 2014-15 season. It was the funnest season to be a Flames fans for years - before or after.

[Spurs]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

The Hartley hate only came with hindsight. At the time, Flames fans loved him. Go back and read the CP threads from the 2014-15 season. It was the funnest season to be a Flames fans for years - before or after.

While I agree many fans did like and badly overrate Hartley it certainly was not a fun time to be a flames fan.

Hartley is and was an awful coach, worst coach in Flames history and that is a very competitive group for that title.

[The Original FFIV]

Originally Posted by Spurs

While I agree many fans did like and badly overrate Hartley it certainly was not a fun time to be a flames fan.

Hartley is and was an awful coach, worst coach in Flames history and that is a very competitive group for that title.

Ooof. See Gilbert, Greg and you will find the worst flames coach of all time. How many Jack adams did he win? Hartley never ran a number 1C out of town either like Gilbert did.

[TOfan]

Originally Posted by Rutuu

Flames actively tried to move up to get Draisatl, so yeah, don't believe anything ever from an oiler fan or Edmonton based writer.

Also Conroy has spoken about just missing out on Kucherov in the past.

They did? I’ve never read the Flames tried to move up to get Draisatl before.

I think it’s well known the Flames had their sights on Kucherov though.

[dustygoon]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Kaprizov and Kucherov would have definitely been nice to have.

I recall the story where they had their draft list then set Gaudreau and Kucherov on a special side list as players they liked but not sure where to take them. We ended up with one of them.

Our scouts are good when left to their own devices.

[Steve Bozek]

Originally Posted by TOfan

Perhaps, but I do think the Flames wanted Bennett.

Can’t recall who exactly wrote the article but an Edmonton based writer for the Athletic wrote a piece about the Oilers taking Draisaitl over Bennett and it was a huge internal debate. One scout said after they made the pick he looked over at the Flames table and a number of Flames guys couldn’t hide their excitement. Guys were high giving one another.

I suspect the same debate was going on at the Flames table. The concerns about Bennett that came out of the fitness testing probably dropped his stature among the top 4 from 3 to 4 - and there was a lot of pre-draft positive talk about Draisaitl in Calgary.

[Calgary4LIfe]

One thing that Conroy specifically mentioned about Hartley was how Hartley liked having everyone in the room after a game. He wanted other people's thoughts and ideas about what they saw, and wanted to see if they saw anything differently from their vantage point.


Hartley and Sutter were of the same type of coach, but it sounds like Hartley was at least a much easier person to work with. Also, the flack that he gets about being a bad coach is so over-exaggerated. He was the coach that brought 1.5 season's worth of surpassing expectations, and that 'fluke season' as people like to call it was full of injuries on top of having a lousy roster. You can't even point at riding a goalie to the ground either.



Why did they win? All you had to do was listen to the other team's broadcasts that season, and listen to how much they complimented Hartley. They would say things like "I attended the morning skate, and it looked like a full-blown practice. Hartley was also giving one-on-one instruction to players often, pulling them aside and showing them things." That team worked hard too.


Hartley was an abrasive, overly-hard-ass coach who reached his shelf-life. However, he was far from a terrible coach, and his trophies won in every single league he has ever coached in kind of proves that more to me than anything. Conroy didn't speak about him much, but when he did, he seemed positive about him.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Also found it interesting that Conroy talked glowingly of Keenan, but last week Regehr couldn't say enough bad things about Keenan. Just goes to show that last season in Calgary wasn't that completely crazy with a segment of the team really loving Darryl, and a segment of the team apparently disliking him (or not liking him, or however strong they were).

[PuckSlap]

I'm not dismissing the fact that Bob could be a real pos. But that 2014 flames team was exiting and never gave up. Reminds me of the 21/22 flames. Sometimes players need a coach or boss that lights a fire under their ass. Not always tho

Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Kaprizov and Kucherov would have definitely been nice to have.

They would have asked for a trade or left as UFA anyway.

[rollie619]

My argument for Bob doing a great job here comes down to that only three coaches have ever gotten a contract extension in Flames history and one is going to the Hall of Fame. I probably believe in absolutes more than I should, but the 2012-16 Flames teams were not good. The fact that he treaded .500 and won a Jack Adams award and won a round means he did a great job in my books.

[Rutuu]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

They would have asked for a trade or left as UFA anyway.

After 7yrs of service minimum and zero acquisition cost.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Rutuu

After 7yrs of service minimum and zero acquisition cost.

Just like the seven we got out of Fox?

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

One thing that Conroy specifically mentioned about Hartley was how Hartley liked having everyone in the room after a game. He wanted other people's thoughts and ideas about what they saw, and wanted to see if they saw anything differently from their vantage point.


Hartley and Sutter were of the same type of coach, but it sounds like Hartley was at least a much easier person to work with. Also, the flack that he gets about being a bad coach is so over-exaggerated. He was the coach that brought 1.5 season's worth of surpassing expectations, and that 'fluke season' as people like to call it was full of injuries on top of having a lousy roster. You can't even point at riding a goalie to the ground either.



Why did they win? All you had to do was listen to the other team's broadcasts that season, and listen to how much they complimented Hartley. They would say things like "I attended the morning skate, and it looked like a full-blown practice. Hartley was also giving one-on-one instruction to players often, pulling them aside and showing them things." That team worked hard too.


Hartley was an abrasive, overly-hard-ass coach who reached his shelf-life. However, he was far from a terrible coach, and his trophies won in every single league he has ever coached in kind of proves that more to me than anything. Conroy didn't speak about him much, but when he did, he seemed positive about him.

It’s just what it is in the CP world

There are a couple of former players that didn’t like him. We know Sarich didn’t like him. And there was the guy that didn’t like the mention of chocolate fumes, talking about demotion to Hershey.

On the flip side, you hear about former players who still called him after he was no longer coaching them

From what I can tell, though, there are way more CPers in their own little echo chamber sagely nodding and agreeing what he was like, behind closed doors where they couldn’t see.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by TOfan

Perhaps, but I do think the Flames wanted Bennett.

Can’t recall who exactly wrote the article but an Edmonton based writer for the Athletic wrote a piece about the Oilers taking Draisaitl over Bennett and it was a huge internal debate. One scout said after they made the pick he looked over at the Flames table and a number of Flames guys couldn’t hide their excitement. Guys were high giving one another.

It an alternate timeline the Flames trade their 4th overall pick to the Oilers for their unprotected 2015 1st + something else. Oilers could have had Draisaitl and Bennett while the Flames would still have the find a way Flames season and then get to pick McDavid with the Oilers pick.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Locke

Yeah, I mean...sure, his record wasnt great but I do think he instilled a lot of competitive values into the team and players.

Sometimes in the NHL there are 'sacrificial lambs.'

Feaster was brought in to be 'The Guy who trades Iginla, Bouwmeester, Regehr and Tanguay.' He was never a long-term solution.

Similarly Hartley was brought in to do the best he could with what he was given. I dont think he was ever expected to go far with it, some might say that he even exceeded expectations of the moment.

Some people are brought in to do the unpopular things and then you cut ties with them and move forward.

As for Hartley...again...he won the Jack Adams as Coach of the Calgary Flames.

Besides, that brawl against Vancouver lingers as one of my favourite Flames memories.

I remember sitting at the pub with my buddies and seeing that opening lineup and thinking "this is going to be a blood bath" and then watching Torts lose his mind and essentially seeing Big 'Ern basically taunt him to "F### around and find out" in the tunnel?

Thing. Of. Beauty.

Hartley was brought in to blow up the country club and instill work ethic.

I really enjoyed that ‘find a way Flames’ season where they were never out of a game


Totally agree, that brawl was epic. Torts played right in to it, as well. Definitely up there in top Flames moments of the post 2004 run

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by FormerPresJamesTaylor

The Flames need to be careful, if they go woke, they're certainly going to go broke. We dodged a bullet with that gay stuff

[flamesgod]

Originally Posted by Spurs

While I agree many fans did like and badly overrate Hartley it certainly was not a fun time to be a flames fan.

Hartley is and was an awful coach, worst coach in Flames history and that is a very competitive group for that title.

The list of Calgary Flames coaches with a Jack Adams isn’t very long. We’ve had way worse coaches.