[POLL] Calgary Flames coaching change mega-thread—with poll

[Sylvanfan]

I wanted to vote for Wanamaker.

[GranteedEV]

Someone voted For Peters.

Well, at least we hit 100+ first.




....Tre's totally going to hire Peters, isn't he?

Originally Posted by dammage79

Whhhhoooo wow. I wanted Housley or Muller. I feel like I dodged a couple of bullets right into another bullet.

Looks like I voted for Leaman. I still think he might have been a good coach. But the timing made more sense then than it does now for a rookie HC.

[N-E-B]

I voted Sutter but would be equally happy with AV.

I wouldn't be angry if they go with Peters but I would be pretty disappointed if they went with him while two elite coaches are unemployed.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by getbak

Flashback to two years ago: https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=154570

Gulutzan & Cameron with a combined 0 votes.

Wow. I don't look at that list and scream "wish we'd hired that guy!". Sutter the exception as he wasn't really available.

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

Didn't Dustin Brown and Mike Richards fall off the map under Darryl? I mean Darryl's a good coach but I don't know if that's a valid claim. Darryl's teams generally don't score a lot. In 2006 he said we lost because of offense. In 2015 he said the Kings missed the playoffs because of offense. In 2017 he said the Kings missed the playoffs because of offense.

I think Robyn Regehr was quoted as saying that not everyone could handle, Darryl Sutter hockey; However I think even if his stay with the Flames is a short on, he will create some very focused mentally tough players.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

And we were right.

Of the top 6 choices, 3 still don’t have NHL jobs, 2 coach teams that missed the playoffs, and 1 coaches a team that might get swept tonight.

I wouldn’t pat ourselves on the back for our outstanding taste in coaches.

[Roof-Daddy]

I don't know how you guys can be so sure what players would or wouldn't flourish with Sutter.

Dustin Brown is a hard nosed physical player and his career nearly went down the toilet with Sutter coaching.



Look at that. I can't believe how blatant it is.

[Jimdon]

Honestly there were so many poor/stubborn deployment issues last year that it's hard to decide if the team needs a coach with a completely different philosophy or just one who can make logical choices.

Leaving Brouwer on the PP. Never once even attempting to tinker with a second pair that was a giant black hole. Continually underplaying Hamilton in all situations and then having him lead the league in goals seemingly just to spite them. Overplaying Smith early despite everyone on the planet knowing an older goalie can't handle that many starts.

There were way too many gaps in the "common sense" decisions that the coaching staff made.

I imagine I'm not alone in feeling like GG and the rest of the coaching staff were constantly trying to prove than they were smarter than everyone else despite the lack of results on the ice.

[Roof-Daddy]

If they don't end up hiring AV or Sutter, the most frustrating thing will be not knowing for sure if they even offered them the job.

[cral12]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

60+ votes so far and 0 for Peters haha

We all know where this going don't we?

Peters utilized Jeff Skinner mostly on the 3rd line this season, so really hoping it's not him...

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Of the top 6 choices, 3 still don’t have NHL jobs, 2 coach teams that missed the playoffs, and 1 coaches a team that might get swept tonight.

I wouldn’t pat ourselves on the back for our outstanding taste in coaches.

I'd pat ourselves on the back for knowing two years ago the answer to the question was not "Glen Gulutzan/Dave Cameron".

[robbie111]

Ted Nolan. If he could extricate himself from coaching Polands national team.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by cral12

Peters utilized Jeff Skinner mostly on the 3rd line this season, so really hoping it's not him...

What was Carolinas top six? Aho-Lindholm-TT
Staal-Rask-Williams?

Who would you swap out Skinner for?

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

I don't know how you guys can be so sure what players would or wouldn't flourish with Sutter.

Dustin Brown is a hard nosed physical player and his career nearly went down the toilet with Sutter coaching.



Look at that. I can't believe how blatant it is.

That's my position.

Now maybe Darryl can work wonders with Bennett but it doesn't mean 'Bennett is made for Darryl's style'. You have 27 point Dustin Brown on the Darryl end of the spectrum (2014) and 61 point Dustin Brown the first yeazr away from Darrytl. What if that's Bennett right now - a 60 point player playing 26 point hockey under Gulutzan (and maybe it isn't, but my eyes tell me it's a possibility). We need to find a solution to his woes and I am of the opinion that needs to be priority number one in the coaching search. That doesn't mean I'm not a huge fan of Darryl Sutter. In fact Darryl pretty much wrote the book on awesome coaching and he's far more adaptive than people give him credit for - but to me this team was lacking a coach that would push the individuals to flourish for the good of the team.

An individual breakout for Bennett, especially as a center, would go a long way for this team. Even if Bennett was only average as a two-way player, his ability to impact the game down the middle when on his game is unparalleled even by Monahan, Backlund, or Jankowski. There's some things - reads, dynamism, etc that only Bennett possesses in our center group and the coach who can successfully harness will mean a lot for the long term future of the team - even if said coach can't immediately take the team to the next level the way Darryl could. I don't think you can always have your cake and eat it too - some players' development paths need to have years of learning offense from some coaches (as Monahan and Gaudreau did for two years under Hartley) and learning the full game under others. I've seen it elsewhere too - Kadri in Toronto, Seguin under his three coaches. I felt Backlund needed the switch to Hartley even if Hartley had toxic qualities.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I would have been worried about Darryl Sutter instituting a grinding style game, but I am actually not so worried about it.

I honestly believe the coach that said: "The Flames are scary with how they can score" was Darryl Sutter a few years ago when Hartley was the coach. The Flames, IIRC, had a pretty good year against those Kings and scored some quick goals on them. That's my (albeit weak) evidence A.

Evidence B is a bit better. Darryl had a tidbit about how important it is to be a quick transitioning team in today's NHL. Just like people liked to yap about Sutter being a 'dinosaur' when he left Calgary to join LA, I believe there is still some (strange) inkling to feel the same way again. I don't buy it. Based on his insight - and the fact that he himself stated that the 'Backlund line' should be the 'best 3rd line in the league', leads me to conclude that offence is something he actually thinks about.

Ruff is actually my second choice, followed by AV. I think the whole "always having an elite goalie" thing with AV has me second guessing, as does his insistent use of role players playing too much with both the Canucks' and Rangers' fanbases making somewhat of a meme out of it.

Ruff is probably a more 'player friendly' and experienced Bob Hartley, and that sounds pretty decent on its' own.

I just hope it isn't someone like Peters. The lack of offence (especially from the defence) and the special teams makes me skeptical about him. I think this team needs to play more like the Nasvhille Predators and VGK than what we have tuned-in for the last 2 years.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

I'd pat ourselves on the back for knowing two years ago the answer to the question was not "Glen Gulutzan/Dave Cameron".

“None of my guesses were correct, but I knew it wasn’t ‘Gulutzan’!”
“I’m going to guess, Gulutzan!”

What do these have in common? Congratulations, that’s right, both get zero points and an F.

Please retake the class, Johnny.

[dissentowner]

No surprise where Stang's vote went, well played.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Of the top 6 choices, 3 still don’t have NHL jobs, 2 coach teams that missed the playoffs, and 1 coaches a team that might get swept tonight.

I wouldn’t pat ourselves on the back for our outstanding taste in coaches.

[djsFlames]

So nice of the poller to include a candidate for the Oiler lurkers.

I feel like AV would make them a perennial shoo in for the playoffs, but I can't shake the feeling that Darryl would lead them the furthest. He has a knack for magical runs. And him and the Flames go way back, so it would be real sweet to see him redeem '04.

[Husky]

Sutter is not the answer. He has a shelf like where teams typically tune him out after a couple years. Plus, in both Calgary and LA he had kipper and quick who masked a bunch of issues.