[News Roundup] Garbage bag day: Monahan had 4 surgeries!

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by Rtown

Does anyone have an idea how typical player exit interviews go? I imagine it's reviews of individual seasons, what were you happy with, what could you improve on, etc. I can't imagine that a player will throw coaches and teammates under the bus?

However what are the odds that say, Stajan, who in all likelihood won't be back next year, opens up to management about possible problem players in the room, or maybe potential reasons why the players tuned out the coaches (if that is indeed the case) that management is not aware of?

I have zero idea, but I imagine it might be similar to objective setting and then the subsequent year end reviews in the professional working world that managers have with their team members.

So potentially, you review with the individual, the goals that were set at the start of the evaluation year and some are likely measurable, while others are more qualitative. A candid discussion is had on each one and why they felt they were able to achieve them and why they didn't achieve other ones. They then very likely set a date in the near future to review and agree on some summer goals for the player.

And then finally, very likely some time is set aside for the player to provide candid feedback on anything else on their mind, which could include their own personal feedback on anyone else in the organization if they choose.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Insufficient Funds

It was mentioned on The Fan that Dougie wasn't made available for any press today. I find this to be very disappointing and completely out of step with what I would expect from a young star player on the team.

You are not Kipper. You don't get to decide when you feel like facing the music or not. You are not infallible in this crap of a season, even with your goals by a defenceman lead. Baring a personal reason that would excuse him, this kind of behaviour (I believe) is an indicator of an individual that does not put the team first.

Maybe I'm off base, maybe he has a legit reason. Or maybe he's just that introverted and can't deal. Dougie is an NHL star defenceman though and he needs to stand with his teammates though it all. Just grinds my gears is all.

Mr Photo Bomb introverted?

[vanisleflamesfan]

Originally Posted by MissTeeks

Smith wearing a Sage hat... awesome.

[Pizza]

Originally Posted by GoJetsGo

lol, that's quite the grudge you have there.

I didn't argue with you. I informed you that you were leaping to a dramatic conclusion that Gaudreau's diet is flawed when you have next to no empirical evidence. You posted a link to an interview where he cracked a joke and some hearsay, but absolutely nothing substantive whatsoever.

You were extremely upset your flawed viewpoint was challenged and as a result seem to still carry a grudge over it.

But that has nothing to do with this thread, so please do feel free to pm me if you'd like to go over it again. I'm sure there's no more "reason" to it now then there was then.

lol "extremely upset" indeed

if a video recording of an admission from Johnny doesn't convince you, nothing will.

Stubbornness and holding grudges goes hand in hand and it's no coincidence that pretty much everyone here is calling you out on that and getting a good laugh

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by Pizza

lol "extremely upset" indeed

if a video recording of an admission from Johnny doesn't convince you, nothing will.

Stubbornness and holding grudges goes hand in hand and it's no coincidence that pretty much everyone here is calling you out on that and getting a good laugh

You're the one who's felt the need to come into this thread and post multiple times ignoring the topic to air your feeling slighted as a result of a previous conversation.

Again, Johnny making a candid comment while laughing doesn't equate to you having anywhere near enough data to make an informed opinion on his diet on a daily basis. Especially when there are paid nutritionists involved. You had zero factual evidence to support your claim and I pointed that out. It wasn't an argument, because you didn't have any facts to support your anecdotal conclusion. I realize that was upsetting for you, and that's why you're in this thread.

If you'd like to continue with this completely off topic venting, feel free to send me a PM.

[GullFoss]

If all our core players are solid - and they are - then the team has only four possibilities to improve emotional engagement.

1) Find periphery players that can increase emotional engagement- they tried this and it failed. Glass, Bartowski, Stajan, Stewart. The only way to do this right is to find emotionally engaged young players that are internally developed - Lomberg, Hathaway, Foo. So there will be some of this, but probably not enough to tip the scales.

2) Bring in an undisputed leader who can bring a team to battle - too bad this is hard to do. The only UFA that could do this is Tavares.

3) Trade a core player - seems unlikely. All of the core players came to play this year.

4) Bring in a coach that improve emotional engagement either through his presence or via cultivating a playing style that improves engagement. This is what Sutter did in two ways - play hard and Sutter aura. This is what Keenan did - play hard and Keenan aura. This is what Hartley did - play fast and Hartley demeanor. This is the easiest way out. Gully seemingly did neither.

[Dajazz]

This place.

Now when apparently Monahan is the winningest winner of them all the next one at the stake is Hamilton. Or Gaudreau and his diet.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Interesting listening to all the interviews. I find it even more interesting to hear a couple of players saying that although the team generated a lot of shots and out-shot and out-chanced the other teams, that there weren't enough high-quality chances.

At any rate, I can't fathom that Gulutzan is retained. He didn't want to share in public some of the reasons as to why he thinks the season didn't go well, and will share it with Treliving tomorrow, but for the rest of his interview he seemed to not have enough answers, and on some occasions, showed how he failed.

The last item he was talking about was centered around team-building - ensuring that you have a good team regardless of the players, and that perhaps the coaching staff didn't do enough to make them a team.

I also found his take on the not scoring aspect a bit confusing. If your team is not scoring, then you better start playing better defensively.

How about you start playing better defensively starting in game one of the season? They were terrible defensively this season for the most part - even when they were winning games I posted how I see too many quality chances being given up. For all the flack that Hartley took for running a 'river hockey' system, Gulutzan's seemed less defensive, which is outrageous given the quality of defencemen on this team.

Also, I love how open and honest Brodie was about his game, stating that in the last 2 seasons, he has regressed. He didn't once come out and say that the system was wrong, or that Gulutzan is utilizing him wrong. He simply stated that he needs to get back to his game, which is being aggressive offensively. I couldn't agree more.

I think that all the defencemen on the Flames' roster need to be more aggressive offensively, and a system has to be implemented to help them get there. That's why these Flames can't score. The Flames are built from the Defence to Center. They can't score because their depth scoring is on D, and the D can create a tonne of offence for this club.

Instead, they neither created offence, nor did they play stifling defence. That's what makes Gulutzan's statement so... terrible. Yeah, of course you need to concentrate on good D during the tough times, but it was such a regular theme with this team all season. They were neither offensive enough nor defensive enough.

Unless Gulutzan has some really, really strong points as to why this season went sideways, I can't see Treliving just accepting those answers. To me, they are not insightful and speak as to why this team wasn't able to rise above adversity - there appears to be no real answers, and there appears to be a lack of leadership.

Not getting this team to ever play proper defence or make use of the D and speedy forwards speaks to a lack of answers. Not getting this team to become a better 'team' speaks to a lack of leadership.

I feel bad for Gulutzan - I am sure he is a great guy and a really good human being, but I think he is out of his league at this level, or just needs more experience under different head coaches and on different teams. The Flames didn't seem to have many answers this year, and I think it comes from the coaching.

[gargamel]

Originally Posted by Glen Gulutzan

Last year’s team was the epitome of (what we want.) We did a good job of putting a team together

The team that sputtered into the playoffs and then was promptly swept in the first round is the epitome of what we want?

Edit: After seeing the interview with Gulutzan, that quote from the Haynes article seems misleading. Still, Gulutzan was talking about that team like it was a huge success, which was only the case in comparison to this year’s disaster.

[Geeoff]

So if Gulutzan thinks the Flames are somewhere between this year's team and last year's team, he thinks they are not a playoff team...

[Huntingwhale]

I'm ready to eat my crow; I was one of the posters who commented that Monahan might not be the type of player who hates to lose enough. I'm a huge fan of his, but also commented that he's pretty one-dimensional and he was mailing it in in the last 1/3 of the season. I also commented how he was on a 50 goal/PPG pace for most of 2017...then was on a 40 goal pace...and was 'disappointed' he only ended up with 30.

Hearing BT comment how he had so many injuries and battled through them. How he hadn't seen anyone play through something like that. 4 surgeries. Goddamn I feel like an idiot for questioning him or criticising him not finishing the season strong. If anything he showed how much he DOES care and wants to help this team win.

Here's hoping he can come back and continue where he left off before he got injured. I think he proved this season that his ceiling is in fact higher then a 30/30 centerman. I think he can flirt a bit closer with being a PPG centerman if they find him a legit top 6 RW this off season.

And LOL @ the criticism for Hamilton not giving an interview. For all we know he had a dentist appointment or perhaps some charity event. Not at all concerned about his 'character' simply because he didn't have a mic shoved in his face on a day no player likes to partake in.

[PugnaciousIntern]

Not that it particularly matters...but I'd be surprised if the two hernia repairs were separate surgeries. Cruel and unusual to put somebody through the recovery process twice unnecessarily!

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

And LOL @ the criticism for Hamilton not giving an interview. For all we know he had a dentist appointment or perhaps some charity event. Not at all concerned about his 'character' simply because he didn't have a mic shoved in his face on a day no player likes to partake in.

He also didn't play the 2nd half of the game Saturday night.

So leaving the game injured, and now being injured, might have had something to do with it.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

I feel bad for Gulutzan - I am sure he is a great guy and a really good human being, but I think he is out of his league at this level, or just needs more experience under different head coaches and on different teams. The Flames didn't seem to have many answers this year, and I think it comes from the coaching.

Just wanted to comment on this last point. As much as this falls on Gulutzan, I think he also needed more help from his assistant coaches, and he simply didn't get it (to what extent he is culpable for this, we don't know). In any event, I'm curious to see if Gulutzan ever gets another chance at a HC job at the NHL level; if it happens I'm guessing it won't be for awhile...

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by nik-

Except no one said that, which is what I'm addressing with suggesting you're pushing a narrative.

You so badly want that to have happened, but it didn't. Move on, it's ok.

I'm convinced you are on the Oilers payroll

[Otto-matic]

Originally Posted by gargamel

The team that sputtered into the playoffs and then was promptly swept in the first round is the epitome of what we want?

Edit: After seeing the interview with Gulutzan, that quote from the Haynes article seems misleading. Still, Gulutzan was talking about that team like it was a huge success, which was only the case in comparison to this year’s disaster.

So a team that needs a season saving 8+ game winning streak every year is a team that GG wants? No thanks.

[stone hands]

Originally Posted by gargamel

The team that sputtered into the playoffs and then was promptly swept in the first round is the epitome of what we want?

Edit: After seeing the interview with Gulutzan, that quote from the Haynes article seems misleading. Still, Gulutzan was talking about that team like it was a huge success, which was only the case in comparison to this year’s disaster.

To be fair they were one of the top teams in the nhl from january-ish and on until the end of the regular season last year(though definitely failed badly in the playoffs)

[Otto-matic]

https://twitter.com/user/status/983766567539412993

Love Smitty.

Tried to be the hero and knew he should have just played his part. Not making the big saves when he needed to.

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

Interesting listening to all the interviews. I find it even more interesting to hear a couple of players saying that although the team generated a lot of shots and out-shot and out-chanced the other teams, that there weren't enough high-quality chances.

Someone needs to put together a slide package explaining to them how they’re wrong and just unlucky?

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

Unless Gulutzan has some really, really strong points as to why this season went sideways, I can't see Treliving just accepting those answers. To me, they are not insightful and speak as to why this team wasn't able to rise above adversity - there appears to be no real answers, and there appears to be a lack of leadership.

I worry that Treliving might the type of manager who is more prone to believe in middle-management explanations than worker complaints.