Mason Raymond v. Hartley

[Karl]

Originally Posted by curves2000

Sometimes players resurrect their careers for a variety of reasons. In the news article he mentioned Randy Carlyle and having a lot of confidence with him, that can be a positive.

I am not saying he will come in and become a sniper or anything but he may become a serviceable, 3rd line winger for the Ducks. It's a low risk and low value contract so it was worth it for them.

Players come and go and have good and bad experiences in their careers. It wasn't a very long time ago that WE brought him in to score a lot of goals so clearly management thought there was something there.

See what happens but crazier things have happened than a 30 year old with 500+ games having a 12 goal season on a talented team like the Ducks.

He's on a 2-way contract & he can't shoot the puck, nor pass it like he used to be able to. So he has to hope he still has enough in his tank to beat out enough promising youngsters and one way guys to get any significant playing time in the NHL.

This is also a different NHL now where former middling or middling guys who are middle-aged or aging no longer have a very good chance of sticking in the NHL and are given no where near the rope they used to get. So MayRay is going to be up against it just to stick in the NHL, to say the least.

[Vulcan]

I think there were more than the players mentioned, not happy playing for Bob. He had his pets and those in the dog house, which probably accounted for much of the breakup of the old locker room clique and that was good. I liked Bob as long as he produced but when that stopped, I wasn't upset that he was fired.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

I think there were more than the players mentioned, not happy playing for Bob. He had his pets and those in the dog house, which probably accounted for much of the breakup of the old locker room clique and that was good. I liked Bob as long as he produced but when that stopped, I wasn't upset that he was fired.

Although this is true, Raymond should have no reason for complaining that Bob didn't give HIM enough chances.

[PeteMoss]

Raymond should thank the Leafs everyday of his life for that contract he got from the Leafs. He was practically out of the sport, went to camp on a PTO and was able to get good ice time on a rebuilding team. The Flames were dumb and gave him a real contract afterward and now he's back where he belongs on a two-way contract.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Bingo

no coach in the circuit is going to give plum ice time or linemates to a guy that seemed to have almost every touch die on his stick.

he'd turn the puck over when skating with it on his own.

I've heard he's a great guy, and it was almost a great story but I don't blame Hartley for his failures.

His appearance list in his two years by minutes?
1. Colborne / Jooris 89minutes
2. Backlund / Frolik 59min (they make everyone better)
3. Colborne / Gralund 56min (bad combination)
4. Colborne / Backlund 50min
5. Granlund / Bennett 40min (poor Sam)

On a completely is it fair to say that Hartley's use of Bennett was his #1 downfall with Treliving?

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

On a completely is it fair to say that Hartley's use of Bennett was his #1 downfall with Treliving?

It'd be pure speculation since you can never confirm it. But I would guess his usage of Hamilton and Wideman last season was far more problematic than his usage of Bennett. Hamilton should've been relied upon more about halfway through the season and Wideman needed to be dialed back. Hamilton needed to be first unit PP and Wideman needed off the PP as Nakladal was outperforming him in that area too.

His management of Bennett was fine to me. The ice time of Hamilton and Wideman was badly mismanaged for most of the year and the powerplay pairings were terrible until the Wideman injury and suspension forced the coaches to change it.