Cory Sarich - Bob Hartley "was the worst coach I ever had"

[calf]

Isn't there a rumour that the players called him Robert - something along the lines of they didn't want to call him Bob because that's what he preferred being called?

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Hartley was a truly horrendous coach who the Flames are finally recovering from. Couldn't be happier that he and his horrible systems are gone.

Pretty much this. Other than some fluke comebacks in one year , his record as a flames coach was horrible. I have no doubt that if they kept Hartley on for last year that the team would have been bottom 5. Gully gets a lot of flack, but him trying to undo bad habbits from youngsters at beggingng of last year must have been tough.

[dammage79]

Haha, it was so well known Hartley was a harsh task master before he was even hired in Calgary. Why is anyone shocked by these tales of hardships ?

He was brought in to create structure and get the team pointed in the right way. He did that. I still contend he should have had at least one more season to finish the job.

If not for Hartley's tenure, I think the Flames would be a full season back of their window.

[stone hands]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

Pretty much this. Other than some fluke comebacks in one year , his record as a flames coach was horrible. I have no doubt that if they kept Hartley on for last year that the team would have been bottom 5. Gully gets a lot of flack, but him trying to undo bad habbits from youngsters at beggingng of last year must have been tough.

People seem to forget that you don’t need to make 11 come from behind victories if aren’t constantly trailing in games by playing bad

I’ll always remember and appreciate the playoff run, but that was a perfect storm of many factors, and they immediately regressed to picking Tkachuk the year after

As another poster said, maybe the best thing Hartley did here aside from hilarious one liners was put the flames in a position to draft high for 3 out of 4 years

[dammage79]

Some revisionist history happening in here too. Two of Hartley's three seasons he had historically bad goaltending. The only season he got mid to low end of the league goaltending, they went to round two of the playoffs. The team scored, a lot. and still lost games because of the wonderful tandem of Ramo and Hiller.

I say the Flames made come backs not due to goaltending, but played from behind so much because they couldn't buy a timely save.

[Tacoman]

You don't become the fastest coach in NHL history to be fired after winning a Stanley Cup without reason. Many stories out there of his borderline abusive treatment of players. There have also been well placed stories of Kipper retiring because of Hartley. Happy to be done with him and I agree that it'll be very tough for him to get another NHL gig.

[dammage79]

Also, I don't think it was a coincidence that Gio and Brodie and pretty much the rest of the D corps had their most productive points seasons under Hartley. Yeah the weren't the best defensively, but they countered that by putting up a ton of points.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Hartley was a truly horrendous coach who the Flames are finally recovering from. Couldn't be happier that he and his horrible systems are gone.

Gimme a break. Truly horrendous? He has an NHL Championship.

The teams he coached here were horrendous. Full of holes and bad contracts. He got the most out of the players. I credit him for deploying Monahan in a way that set him up for successful development. I doubt Monahan is the player he is today without Bob.

If he tried to employ more conventional systems, the team would have floundered even more than they did.

[Yrebmi]

Originally Posted by cannon7

As a fan, I don't really care if my team's players like their coach as long as he's getting results. You don't survive in the NHL by being everyone's friend. It's all about results. Sure you can make a case that the means don't justify the end, but "he was mean to me" is pretty tame, IMO.

With all the people fixated on running Baertschi out of town, which I think is dubious at best. Who here can argue that Hartley likely saved Ferland's career by helping him get on the wagon?

We're seriously oversimplifying the man here. It also sounds like Hartley's main issue with Sarich was his drinking, so maybe Sarich can take some personal responsibility there.

I should feel that way. I mean, it's only logical. I have never met any of the players and none of them know who I am.

As fans we become emotionally attached to a team. We learn their names, follow their progress, surge with their victories, and suffer from defeats. I find I do care. I want to believe they are all living the dream, not just being well compensated to suffer for my amusement. I want to think of the coach as a teacher or mentor and not a tormentor.

[Mister Yamoto]

Bob Hartley made being a Flames fan fun again. The brawl against the Canucks and Torterella meltdown was a turning point for both franchises.

[colbym72]

Originally Posted by Mister Yamoto

Bob Hartley made being a Flames fan fun again. The brawl against the Canucks and Torterella meltdown was a turning point for both franchises.

One of the years was actually fun

[fotiou22]

Originally Posted by Mister Yamoto

Bob Hartley made being a Flames fan fun again. The brawl against the Canucks and Torterella meltdown was a turning point for both franchises.

It was absolutely the right decision to move on from Hartley. But there's no denying that he gave us arguably the most entertaining season in a decade.

[Poe969]

Bob wasn't terrible but he wasn't great either. He did get the most from the roster and watching the team be coached was fun. He taught the team a lot and the team wouldn't be where they are now without him. That being said, I don't think the team would be this good if he was still here. He served a purpose and now he's gone.

I'm glad the was here and I'm glad he isn't here now.

[Huntingwhale]

It's funny how some claim Bob was such a horrendous coach...and yet fail to mention that those were the dog days of the rebuild. His first season here, we literally had Matt Stajan as our top C. Cervenka was brought in and wasn't even a C. Gio wasn't a #1 and just coming into his own. The Flames D had to be completely rebuilt. No top 4 Brodie. A slow Sarich on the roster. Derek Smith and Butler in the top 4. A pending Iggy trade. A declined Kipper. Stempniak in the top 6. Cammalleri our go-to forward. Scorpion's favorite player, stupid David Jones in the top 9.

I think some of you plain forgot how bad that roster was. Rebuilds are supposed to be exactly that; sucky seasons. The playoff run was epic, but then things quickly went back to the way they were supposed to be. Can anyone with a straight face say an 'elite' coach like Quennville or Sutter would have done better?

Hell, go read the fire GG thread and the first half is FULL of people missing Hartley and the work ethic he brought. Hartley squeezed blood from a Stone. He laid the foundation for hard work ethic, an ethic that hasn't always been there afterwards. He literally said he is there to build the rebuild. No one was expecting playoffs. And if you were, that is your own fault for putting those expectations on him.

IMO he was the perfect placeholder coach until the team was ready to take the next step. He was the coach in Burke's ''crawl'' phase. I think he did a fine job with what he was given.

If you give me crap tools at my job, I will do a crap job.

[joejoe3]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

It's funny how some claim Bob was such a horrendous coach...and yet fail to mention that those were the dog days of the rebuild. His first season here, we literally had Matt Stajan as our top C. Cervenka was brought in and wasn't even a C. Gio wasn't a #1 and just coming into his own. The Flames D had to be completely rebuilt. No top 4 Brodie. A slow Sarich on the roster. Derek Smith and Butler in the top 4. A pending Iggy trade. A declined Kipper. Stempniak in the top 6. Cammalleri our go-to forward. Scorpion's favorite player, stupid David Jones in the top 9.

I think some of you plain forgot how bad that roster was. Rebuilds are supposed to be exactly that; sucky seasons. The playoff run was epic, but then things quickly went back to the way they were supposed to be. Can anyone with a straight face say an 'elite' coach like Quennville or Sutter would have done better?

Hell, go read the fire GG thread and the first half is FULL of people missing Hartley and the work ethic he brought. Hartley squeezed blood from a Stone. He laid the foundation for hard work ethic, an ethic that hasn't always been there afterwards. He literally said he is there to build the rebuild. No one was expecting playoffs. And if you were, that is your own fault for putting those expectations on him.

IMO he was the perfect placeholder coach until the team was ready to take the next step. He was the coach in Burke's ''crawl'' phase. I think he did a fine job with what he was given.

If you give me crap tools at my job, I will do a crap job.

I read that all in my head in Hartley's voice for some reason.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

Sarich healthy scratch for 11 consecutive games, Hartley learns that he had a few beers the day before a game, so he dresses him to show him up

Might be harsh, but good on Bob for doing that. The more appropriate thing would have been to suspend Sarich for a game, but I guess this is the old school way of handling it.

Sarich is a professional and part of that responsibility involves not showing up to work drunk or with alcohol in your system. You don't know when someone might fall down the stairs or be in a last minute situation where they can't play and the guy who is a scratch might need to enter the line up. Maybe you've been a scratch for 11 games, but you're still expected to be ready to go a moment's notice.

[Otto-matic]

I mean Hartley did the best with what he had, lets not forget he got horrendous goaltending in his tenure here.

Checked out Kipper, Joey Mac, Berra, Irving, Ortio, Hiller, Ramo

[CsInMyBlood]

Originally Posted by blankall

Don't agree on the Baertschi stuff. Baertschi ran himself out of town. He'll always be a player with poor defensive play that hovers around .5 PPG. He'll have a hot streak here or there, but he would never have had a spot in Calgary.

He's not good enough for the first line. Too defensively irresponsible for the the second line. He doesn't succeed in a bottom 6 role.

Maybe the Flames could have showcased him and got a slightly better package back, but 25 year old Baertschi is not some superstar we missed out on. I wouldn't be surprised to see him back in Europe in a couple of years. He's realistically one bad season away from that.

Don't really want to turn this thread into a Sven debate but I don't think you've been watching him over the last couple of years if you believe he is a poor defensive player. He definitely holds his own in two way play.

Just looking at his +/- compared to others on his team over the last couple of seasons paints that picture. Last year he was -6. The twins were -19 and -27 respectively. Granlund was -19. Brandon Sutter was -20.

This year he is +1 so far. Only Bo Horvat has a better rating among forwards at +5. The Sedins are -10. Granlund is -10. Vanek is -14. Gagner is -15.

Since when is .5 PPG is a bad thing? Especially at his price tag of $1.85M. Last year he had 18 goals. That would have tied him with Johnny for 3rd on the Flames in four less games than Gaudreau played.

I know many Flames fans don't want to admit Sven is anything good but he actually is a pretty solid player for the Canucks now.

[Yoho]

How many veteran players in the twighlight of their career enjoyed the last NHL coach they played for?

[Erick Estrada]

Sven's a serviceable 2nd line winger but he was never going to get that chance with the Flames as Hartley didn't like him. Maybe Sven sulked a bit or was entitled but it wouldn't have mattered how hard he worked or what he did because Hartley had made his mind up about him. Simple as that as no player that got in his dog house got out. Blair Jones pretty well got exiled out of the organization for something happening at practice.