[News] Flames and Coach Marc Savard part ways

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Number 39

I’m probably misremembering as I’m getting old I guess. I remember him pouting after losing his top line spot to Conroy and the obvious clashes with the coach and I thought he had requested a trade. I must have been mistaken.

I actually had a bit of an inside view at the time. My girlfriend at the time (now my wife), her mom's partner had a son who was drafted by the Flames and knew people in the organization. He was also a lawyer who knew Savard's agent and worked with him on some things. My view was definitely skewed a little towards Savard's perspective on the situation, but my take on in it was that Gilbert was a bit of a ######, but Savard knew how to push his buttons as well.

It's true, Savard got injured and Conroy ended up being a good fit, but it was more about the constant benchings that made him disgruntled. There was one stretch of games where he was scratched, then had a 4 point night the next game (against Detroit IIRC, the Flames won), then scratched the following game. The Flames lost the following game and Savard said something in the dressing room that embarrassed Gilbert in front of the other players. Gilbert then tried to get other players to fight Savard in practice, hit him hard, and discouraged other players from interacting with him. It was just a bad situation that got way too personal. Then when Savard was asked in the media about what he had to do in order to get back in the line-up, Savard said he didn't know because the coach doesn't talk to him. As for him being lazy, I just don't think he knew what to do playing on a 3rd or 4th line. It wasn't his game and he didn't have those types of skills, so he was lost. From what I heard, the players were mostly on Savard's side which is why Gilbert ended up getting canned right after. The fact that Conroy wanted to work with him this year kind of speaks to him being well liked and popular on the team.

I am sure Savard was pretty cocky and that didn't sit well with Gilbert. As they say, it takes two to tango, but I also think the way Gilbert operated at the time, probably would have got him cancelled like Daryl Sutter in today's NHL.

I also know that wen Savard was traded from New York to Calgary, he was thrilled about it. It was a rare circumstance where a young player didn't want to be in a place like New York and wanted to play in Canada. That kind of makes it a double whammy that it didn't work out.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

People are probably being too harsh.
It could have been more a personel issue than coaching, the success with Kuzmenko actually validates that.

We'll see how it plays out, but our PP will probably still suck aside from Kuzmenko and Toronto's will probably be great with Savard.

Lets be honest I could be their PP coach and it would be decent...

"get the puck to Matthews"
"shoot"

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

If Jarome ushers in the return of one timers on the PP I'm all for it.

Watching how slow we are to get a shot off has been a chore.

It's pretty simple. If the goalie can't see the puck he can't stop it. I have no idea when our PP sucked you wouldn't put Zadorov in front of the net... It's just mind boggling and not very hard to do...

[KootenayFlamesFan]

I think the brutal PP last year was probably a combination of a lack of elite talent combined with a poor job of executing what the Flames had by Savard.

If your team is not very good, the PP is the one chance you get in a game to remain competitive. If you have a poor PP along with a below average roster you get......the Flames last season.

Not blaming it all on Savard but certainly not sad to see him go at all.

[Mr.Coffee]

I think Andersson is a HUGE issue with the PP and a coach should have recognized that.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

I think Andersson is a HUGE issue with the PP and a coach should have recognized that.

He was terrible but by the end of the year he was no longer on PP1.
actually didn't it improve a whole bunch by the end of the year? lol

[St. Pats]

I wish this was a move that was some offseason excitement. You know they get rid of the guy holding back our elite PP talent. But reality sets in quickly and you realize it is a whole lot of whatever.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by BigThief

He was an insanely lazy player at the time. That's not excusing the terrible coach or the insanely poor value Burton gotgot for him but plenty of blame to go around.

No he wasn't, he was a skill player that didn't want to play like a meathead which is what Greg Gilbert wanted. He didn't change a thing about his game and went on to be the #1C we were missing during Iginla's prime years. The blame falls on Gilbert and Button, not Savard.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Why would Alex Tanguay come here? We are rebuilding, its not like he needs a job.

[Ba'alzamon]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

Promoting internally/based on familiarity when the organization has been mired in mediocrity seems counter-productive but also par for the course.

I think the organization needs some fresh perspectives in these roles.

Sure. Maybe they should stop trying to develop players internally too and just get players from outside the organization.

Why are people always so on board with developing players, but the concept of developing coaches is so alien?

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Ba'alzamon

Sure. Maybe they should stop trying to develop players internally too and just get players from outside the organization.

Why are people always so on board with developing players, but the concept of developing coaches is so alien?

Flames have developed their head coach. They've also developed their own GM too. I don't think it's alien to anybody.

[Ba'alzamon]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Flames have developed their head coach. They've also developed their own GM too. I don't think it's alien to anybody.

People were calling for Savard's head a month into the season. Some already want Huska gone.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Ba'alzamon

People were calling for Savard's head a month into the season. Some already want Huska gone.

As with all things in life, you can't make everyone happy.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

Promoting internally/based on familiarity when the organization has been mired in mediocrity seems counter-productive but also par for the course.

I think the organization needs some fresh perspectives in these roles.

I see it 180 degrees the other way.

Talent on the market won't be picking Calgary. So you either deal with the 5th or 6th or 10th best candidate every time you have an opening, or develop your own that may actually be the best internally.

[Leeman4Gilmour]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I see it 180 degrees the other way.

Talent on the market won't be picking Calgary. So you either deal with the 5th or 6th or 10th best candidate every time you have an opening, or develop your own that may actually be the best internally.

Pourquoi?

[BigThief]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

No he wasn't, he was a skill player that didn't want to play like a meathead which is what Greg Gilbert wanted. He didn't change a thing about his game and went on to be the #1C we were missing during Iginla's prime years. The blame falls on Gilbert and Button, not Savard.

Yes he was lazy and disinterested. This is hardly new information, his game changed and he evolved as a player after leaving Calgary. He credit's that to Bob Hartley in Atlanta.

The game changed after the 2005 lockout that favoured smaller skilled guys like Savard. Learning how to play and the game opening up helped him immensely.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...rticle1343981/

"There were some tough times for sure," Marc Savard says, "especially when I felt I could play in the league at the time. I had some tough situations there, you know, obviously the coach ..."

Calgary dealt him to the Thrashers in 2002, where a new coach, Bob Hartley, soon arrived and immediately had a profound effect on Savard.

Player and coach lived on a golf course only five houses apart, and Hartley used "idle time" - pitching golf balls (Savard is a scratch player) and playing bubble hockey in Hartley's basement - to get through to the player no one else had been able to penetrate.

"If he would listen," Hartley says, "I told him I would be willing to trade quite a bit of ice time."

What Savard listened to was a series of lectures on how good he could be if he wanted to be.

"You're going to waste quite a talent," Hartley told him. "Your talent is a given, but the rest of it is not a gift, you have to make a choice. You have the talent to be a star, but your worst enemy is you.

"In Marc's mind, it was everybody's fault, but I give him credit. He took the plan and went with it."

The plan was simple. Work harder, check harder, be a team player. In return for a new work ethic, Hartley gave him ice time with rising stars Ilya Kovalchuk, Dany Heatley and Marian Hossa. It paid off handsomely for all.

"[Hartley]was like a father figure to me," Savard says. "He really helped me out."

The idea that Savard's game stayed exactly the same after leaving Calgary is insanely stupid. He's acknowledged the work he put in, you should too.

[midniteowl]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

No he wasn't, he was a skill player that didn't want to play like a meathead which is what Greg Gilbert wanted. He didn't change a thing about his game and went on to be the #1C we were missing during Iginla's prime years. The blame falls on Gilbert and Button, not Savard.

What really pissed me off was that stupid Button traded Savard for peanuts instead of firing Gilbert, a little bit later, he FIRED Gilbert! Effing Button was just a terrible, terrible GM!

[Reggie Dunlop]

Jay Woodcroft is available.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Jay Woodcroft is available.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him end up in Seattle.

[Locke]

What is Kristian Huselius up to these days?