Hitchcock fired

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by Monahan For Mayor

If Treliving doesn't atleast talk to Hitch, he should be fired. Hitch is a premier coach we need a guy like him to bring us to the next level in my eyes.

Hitchcock is 65 and planned to retire after this season

[Huntingwhale]

I've always wanted Hitchcock to coach here. He would immediately command respect in the room and could have the team playing a real solid structure. He also had the Blues top 10 in offence three times, so it's not like the team would sacrifice a lot of offence like seems to be happening now.

A shame he's retiring, but he'll go down as one of the all time great coaches and into the HHOF.

[Kavvy]

Since this thread is now about GG, should we hire Gerard Gallant?

[Canada 02]

Martin Brodeur and Ty Conklin will take over the goalie coach duties until the end of the season

[Toonage]

You could do worse for a part time goalie coach than Brodeur I suppose.

Also if Friedman is suggesting Vegas may court Hitch, I take that as while he might consider retirement he could be talked out of it.

[Ozy_Flame]

Haha . . . One of the best goalies in history and one of the worst in Oilers history.

[3rd Degree]

Flames had an impromptu management meeting this morning at around 7am. Maybe it had to do with Hitchcock?

[Toonage]

^ Wait, what?

[ernie]

Sort of sucks to see Hitchcock go into retirement after being fired. However, the Blues had to do something as they are in free fall and quite frankly while they have huge problems they didn't appear to buy into what Hitchcock was selling this year. Might have a lot to do with telling the entire world he was retiring at year end.

[burn_baby_burn]

The uproar to fire GG really baffles me. Who do these Flames fans think this franchise is? The Detroit Red Wings? In his first season he has the Flames in a playoff spot at the All Star Break. This is a franchise that has only made it to the second round twice in almost thirty years! Thirty years! This team has missed the playoffs six of the past seven years, including three of the four years under Bob Hartley. God forbid we give a coach who has us in a playoff spot in his first season with the team, a chance to finish the season.

[robaur]

Originally Posted by 3rd Degree

Flames had an impromptu management meeting this morning at around 7am. Maybe it had to do with Hitchcock?

green text ?

[3rd Degree]

Originally Posted by robaur

green text ?

What does green text mean? I was at the dome this morning and Ken King was supposed to meet with us but couldn't because of the management meeting.

[Gaskal]

I think Hitch wants to retire, but Brad should probably give him a ring at least. Not feeling this one though, he's getting up there in years.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by 3rd Degree

Flames had an impromptu management meeting this morning at around 7am. Maybe it had to do with Hitchcock?

CalgaryNEXT Plan B location will be announced as a new extension off of the International Space Station. Less remediation work to do.

[Locke]

Maybe we could trade them Brian "What do you mean 'I'm the goalie?'" Elliott?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by burn_baby_burn

The uproar to fire GG really baffles me. Who do these Flames fans think this franchise is? The Detroit Red Wings? In his first season he has the Flames in a playoff spot at the All Star Break. This is a franchise that has only made it to the second round twice in almost thirty years! Thirty years! This team has missed the playoffs six of the past seven years, including three of the four years under Bob Hartley. God forbid we give a coach who has us in a playoff spot in his first season with the team, a chance to finish the season.

How many times has this been brought up despite the fact the Flames have played more games than all the teams around them? This is a rare season where the West is terrible. You have the Blues, Kings, Predators, and Stars all underperforming and we are supposed to be happy with Gulutzan for having the team playing on a level with teams having down seasons? This is a season the Flames should have been like the Oilers taking advantage of all these Western power teams having down seasons. Instead the Flames are essentially as bad as they were last season under Hartley which simply looks a lot better in the standings because the majority of the Western conference is bad. They are one point out of being the 12th team in the Conference and two points away from drafting 5th overall. Hartley was fired because in Treliving's words missing the playoffs is failure and the team is on course for a similar finish to last season. If you are still baffled after this reality check then you are going to be baffled until the day this Gulutzan gets fired.

[GioforPM]

Maybe we should see if the Flames miss the playoffs before deciding that GG will be fired for missing the POs. They have been well out, fairly solidly in a wild card and then barely out. In half a season. Lots can happen.

[CSharp]

Please No Hitchcock as a Flames coach. I haven't watched a full Flames game this year yet. Hitchcock would:
1) Ruin Gaudreau
2) Will put you to sleep immediately after the first opening faceoff.

If goaltending is so bad with the Blues, we can ship Elliot back for a first or second round if they're desperate. But please NO Hitchcock!

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by CSharp

Please No Hitchcock as a Flames coach. I haven't watched a full Flames game this year yet. Hitchcock would:
1) Ruin Gaudreau
2) Will put you to sleep immediately after the first opening faceoff.

If goaltending is so bad with the Blues, we can ship Elliot back for a first or second round if they're desperate. But please NO Hitchcock!

Agreed. He'd be the one guy that would actually make the team more boring than they already are. I'd rather stick with Gulutzan until someone better comes along. I've never enjoyed watching Hitchcock teams.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

How many times has this been brought up despite the fact the Flames have played more games than all the teams around them? This is a rare season where the West is terrible. You have the Blues, Kings, Predators, and Stars all underperforming and we are supposed to be happy with Gulutzan for having the team playing on a level with teams having down seasons? This is a season the Flames should have been like the Oilers taking advantage of all these Western power teams having down seasons. Instead the Flames are essentially as bad as they were last season under Hartley which simply looks a lot better in the standings because the majority of the Western conference is bad. They are one point out of being the 12th team in the Conference and two points away from drafting 5th overall. Hartley was fired because in Treliving's words missing the playoffs is failure and the team is on course for a similar finish to last season. If you are still baffled after this reality check then you are going to be baffled until the day this Gulutzan gets fired.

While I agree the West is bad, this whole discounting of what's been done this year because the west is bad is such crap.

The west was just as bad last year, and it was just as bad the year we made the playoffs. We can't cherry pick our expectations and comparisons. Anyone who thought the Flames should be a playoff team this year, should have only be expecting this in a weak west. People going on about how we were a playoff team 2 years ago needed to realize that only happened because of how bad our division was. Winning a round 2 years ago was only because we got lucky because of our division and played the other worst team in the playoffs.

Point being, the west being bad is not a new revelation tainting the results this year. It was expected, and should have been well factored in to peoples expectations prior to the year. This whole "well we are in a playoff spot, but I didn't expect the West to be bad and that's the only reason" dialogue is such crap. It's not un-true, but the pretend surprise is simply what people are using to justify their over the top panic.