The last two head coaches in the AHL got brought up as assistants under new hires. It's time to change that and go with Love.
Huska would be terrible like Playfair and Muller is hopefully fired.
I'm not sure what Brunette did in Florida but just marry on to cosch Q. His connection to Huberdeau isn't that big a deal since we will need to get more out of 15-16 other players.
Brunette?
He took over Florida in October and guided them to the Presidents trophy while Huberdeau had the best season of his career with 115 points.
He's been an assistant for many years now and basically a head coach for a year. Learned the game under Coach Q and emulates a lot of his strategies. Has familiarity with some key Flames from his Panthers days and got the single best season out of Huberdeau he's ever had. Just make sure he has a strong defensive systems guy to help him out (i.e. Huska).
I like Love a lot as a second option, but IMO (it's just my opinion) he's a little green. He's only coached in junior for 3 seasons and 2 seasons pro in the AHL. He's an ideal guy to promote to an assistant under Brunette and have him take over if Brunette can't get the job done. In short, he's a very good guy to groom long term, but he needs seasoning.
Basically my ideal staff would be
HC: Andrew Brunette
AC: Ryan Huska, Mitch Love
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I still don't think the 'inmates running the asylum' framing is what we're talking about here. Everyone from Friedman down to Ryan Pinder have pointed out it was Sutter not meshing with ANYONE including the assistants and other staff daily at the Dome.
I think picking up Rick Bell and Peter Maher's framing of the events is a little reductive.
Rick Bell is using it as front on the culture war. Peter is just old.
What?
I never suggested anything like that. Especially whatever you are saying wrt Rick Bell, snowflakes, and my comment.
You absolutely have a situation where player opinion had a huge impact on Sutter's firing which i think is warranted in this instance.
But you don't think this could be a particularly tough situation for Huska? It's known to be hard to move from asst to HC. Now add in the fact the inmates helped turf Sutter. They are going to feel chuffed. I think Love is a much better fit.
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"Fun must be always!" - Tomas Hertl
No to Huska, he's too much of a yes man. The guy didn't really go to bat for any of the young guys he coached in the AHL, specifically Kylington which we almost lost for nothing.
I'd like to see Hartley tbh. Seems like he might mesh well with Hubys style, while also not being a players coach
Bob hartley????
He was a horrible NHL outside of one season where he took over a stacked team that a donkey could have won with. Why would we want to bring back any failed coach let alone one of the worst head coaches we have ever had?
He was a horrible NHL outside of one season where he took over a stacked team that a donkey could have won with. Why would we want to bring back any failed coach let alone one of the worst head coaches we have ever had?
it's pretty funny how different fans perceive the same eras/seasons/coaches. I certainly don't view Bob Hartley as one of the worst head coaches we have ever had ... in the end, it was obviously right to can him and he has quite the reputation as a dick who is hard on players, to put it very mildly. But that one Cinderella season where they defied expectations, made the playoffs and beat the Canucks was one of the most fun seasons I've witnessed as a Flames fan. Just because it was so unexpected and it was fun to see young guys like Gaudreau and Monahan blossom, next to veterans like Hudler and Gio (who had a legitimate shot at the Norris before he went down injured). Obviously has a lot to do with expectations, but that one season was a lot more fun than I ever had when this team had the likes of Brent Sutter, Glen Gulutzan, Geoff Ward etc. behind the bench.
not that Bob Hartley's name should ever come up again when there's a coaching vacancy in the NHL, that ship has obviously sailed.
I'd say Huska deserves a chance at being the next Flames Head Coach, then bring up Mitch Love as the Assistant Coach. Hire Iggy as the new Wranglers bench boss in replace of Love.
He's been an assistant for many years now and basically a head coach for a year. Learned the game under Coach Q and emulates a lot of his strategies. Has familiarity with some key Flames from his Panthers days and got the single best season out of Huberdeau he's ever had. Just make sure he has a strong defensive systems guy to help him out (i.e. Huska).
I like Love a lot as a second option, but IMO (it's just my opinion) he's a little green. He's only coached in junior for 3 seasons and 2 seasons pro in the AHL. He's an ideal guy to promote to an assistant under Brunette and have him take over if Brunette can't get the job done. In short, he's a very good guy to groom long term, but he needs seasoning.
Basically my ideal staff would be
HC: Andrew Brunette
AC: Ryan Huska, Mitch Love
That makes sense to me. I like the long term prospects of Love, but I also wouldn’t want him thrown to the wolves and become a scapegoat. I am not saying he would be a pushover, but dealing with NHL player egos is probably a lot different than junior and AHL player egos. Bringing him in as an NHL assistant seems like a natural progression for Love and is likely a more stable route for career success. Either way, with a lot of Wranglers looking to make the step and the report he has with them, I think he would be a valuable member of the Flames coaching team.
I am not against Brunette. They talked about him on After Burner and both Rhett and Boomer said that players they have talked to who played with him and for him, all have great things to say about him. He also seems like the kind of ex-player that makes for being a great coach. He didn’t get by on skill when he was a player, but by being smart, having a high HQ, and working hard. I do have to wonder if Q was still responsible for the success when he took over in Florida though. He didn’t have a lot of time to put his own stamp on the team and they seemed to just carry on the same way. Only one way to find out I guess.
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I'm convinced they'll want to save a few bucks and a rookie HC is just the answer, so Mitch Love got my vote. But Brunette should be logical choice #1.
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I'm convinced they'll want to save a few bucks and a rookie HC is just the answer, so Mitch Love got my vote. But Brunette should be logical choice #1.
At some point this narrative has to end.
C'mon, the Flames are paying $8M over the next two years to a guy not to coach.
The owner isn't cheap. The hires have just been poor.
Hartley was outdated as a coach in 2014. Everything that is good about Sutter's system is his weakness. He has all the bad of Sutter without the good. His teams including if you go back to Atlanta Thrasher days were consistently the worst in shot metrics. His top lines consistently outchanced. Yes he was a bad coach and probably the worst since whichever dope you want from the young guns days. He coached a specific system that can't negate chances & relies on blocking shots. Yes that one season was fun - because it kept getting very lucky, due to a high shooting percentage.
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it's pretty funny how different fans perceive the same eras/seasons/coaches. I certainly don't view Bob Hartley as one of the worst head coaches we have ever had ... in the end, it was obviously right to can him and he has quite the reputation as a dick who is hard on players, to put it very mildly. But that one Cinderella season where they defied expectations, made the playoffs and beat the Canucks was one of the most fun seasons I've witnessed as a Flames fan. Just because it was so unexpected and it was fun to see young guys like Gaudreau and Monahan blossom, next to veterans like Hudler and Gio (who had a legitimate shot at the Norris before he went down injured). Obviously has a lot to do with expectations, but that one season was a lot more fun than I ever had when this team had the likes of Brent Sutter, Glen Gulutzan, Geoff Ward etc. behind the bench.
not that Bob Hartley's name should ever come up again when there's a coaching vacancy in the NHL, that ship has obviously sailed.
That team relied on so much luck and bounces that just isn't replicable it wasn't surprising that once they ran into a decent team, Anaheim, they got killed. His teams defensively were so poorly set up due to his coaching that is why I put him in the worst coaches list, his tactics made the team worse than they should have been.
The fact he is an absolutely unlikable prick doesn't really help him either.
