The only elite coach the owners will pay for is Darryl and for whatever reason Tre doesn’t want to go there.
I can’t think of any one thing that would improve the Flames defensive play more than hiring Darryl.
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Calgary Flames, PLEASE GO TO THE NET! AND SHOOT THE PUCK! GENERATING OFFENSE IS NOT DIFFICULT! SKATE HARD, SHOOT HARD, CRASH THE NET HARD!
The Flames have not removed the interim tag from Ward have they? The circumstances were obviously very unique, but I suspect Treliving is assessing other candidates while also evaluating how they're playing under Ward.
I haven't seen enough of the team under Ward to have an opinion on him, one way or the other. The immediate bump can be attributed more to their hatred of Peters than anything else IMO.
I was mad when the Flames didn't even talk to Bruce Boudreau while he was available. The man is practically willing the Wild into the playoffs (maybe).
Please Brad, at least interview Laviolette, if you can.
I like Tree, but I've always had this feeling that he doesn't want a big-name coach with more NHL exp than he has. Someone like Sutter or Laviolette would be able to swing the owners on to their side if there was ever a power struggle over a roster decision. Gulutzan, Peters, Ward even... not so much.
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I like Tree, but I've always had this feeling that he doesn't want a big-name coach with more NHL exp than he has. Someone like Sutter or Laviolette would be able to swing the owners on to their side if there was ever a power struggle over a roster decision. Gulutzan, Peters, Ward even... not so much.
Do you think he feels the same way about his parade of mediocre/no-name goalies?
Fun fact: only two coaches have won Stanley Cups with multiple franchises (as coach):
Scotty Bowman and Dick Irvin.
I don't know much about the coaching carousel in the original 6 era, but it's pretty surprising that nobody else managed it. Irvin coached Leafs for 9 years (1-6 in finals) then Habs for 15 (3-5 finals). One other finals loss with Blackhawks for a 4-12 overall record in Stanley Cup Final series.
As coach, Toe Blake was 8-1 (all Habs). Bowman was 9-4.
*Lester Patrick won it as coach of the Victoria Cougars in 1925, then Rangers in '28 and '33...though in 1928 he also played one game in goal! Wiki page is well worth the read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_Patrick
Modern times, not super surprising, though there have been a fair number of coaches to win their first cup at a fairly young age and get multiple chances with other teams, but not always good teams.
Pretty sure Irvin and Bowman are the only other guys to coach 3 diff teams to Finals (Bowman 4 teams), so I wouldn't put it past Laviolette to join them on the winning half of that distinction, too.
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Isn’t Laviolette the one who instituted ‘dry island’ in Philly? Not sure something like that would go over well with our group - although maybe it’s what they need.
All things considered, I actually think they might hire him.
Treliving, despite is faults, is probably capable of learning from past mistakes.
Calgary has no playoff success, Laviolette does. He might be worth the extra money.
As for whether Laviolette wants to coach in Calgary, I doubt that's a real issue. He's a coach. Coaches want to win even more than players.
If he cuts into the refs that much (without crossing that line), this might honestly be the guy we need behind our bench.
Flames have gotten the short end of the stick in officiating in far too many games this season. Haven't seen much of Ward yet, but Peters and Gulutzan rarely demanded explanations for iffy calls.
All things considered, I actually think they might hire him.
Treliving, despite is faults, is probably capable of learning from past mistakes.
Calgary has no playoff success, Laviolette does. He might be worth the extra money.
As for whether Laviolette wants to coach in Calgary, I doubt that's a real issue. He's a coach. Coaches want to win even more than players.
When it comes to goaltending and coaching, he’s shown no such ability.
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Fun fact: only two coaches have won Stanley Cups with multiple franchises (as coach):
Scotty Bowman and Dick Irvin.
...
Modern times, not super surprising, though there have been a fair number of coaches to win their first cup at a fairly young age and get multiple chances with other teams, but not always good teams.
Pretty sure Irvin and Bowman are the only other guys to coach 3 diff teams to Finals (Bowman 4 teams), so I wouldn't put it past Laviolette to join them on the winning half of that distinction, too.
Yeah, the thing about Laviolette is his pretty decent record with different teams who were constructed differently. Even with guys like Q you always wonder if it's them or the team. Now, Laviolette's teams weren't bad, but Carolina wasn't star studded and they won the Cup (albeit against a no good team).
It always looks like he loses steam after three years, so he's been out of the POs or lost in round one 8 times, lost his job early 2 times, and gone further 6 times. As always, I guess, you need to look pretty deeply at each year to understand those stats. In Carolina he finished out of the POs with pretty decent team records considering the rosters.
Calgary would be interesting - he would have, IMO, more talent up front than in Nashville, maybe better goaltending given Rinne and Saros's year, and a D that can be worked with.
Elliot and Smith are not no-name goalies, and Rittich is not mediocre.
Rittich is the definition of mediocre. Plays great some games, other games the Flames are lucky to snatch a point after he lets in 2 or 3 bad goals. Among starting goaltenders he's 21st in SV%, and 23rd in GAA, hardly glowing
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Rittich is the definition of mediocre. Plays great some games, other games the Flames are lucky to snatch a point after he lets in 2 or 3 bad goals. Among starting goaltenders he's 21st in SV%, and 23rd in GAA, hardly glowing
Rittich is a backup goalie being played as a starter - like an elite starter at that. It seems the Flames were/are trying to use this year as a development year for him, and so far all he's done is exactly what he did last year - play pretty well, but struggle with load management when the starts pile up too high.
I think as fans we give Rittich too much credit for his on-ice abilities because we like the guy so much - and I'm fine with that, but he hasn't shown the ability to be anything above an average/below average starter.
The Athletic's recent poll of GMs/Coaches had Rittich as the 25th best starter in the league - and looking at the stats, that seems about bang on.
Back to Laviolette - I think it would be great to finally have a coach that is respected and established league wide, especially after the embarrassment that Bill Peters was. Tree has to nail this next head coach hire.
Last edited by ComixZone; 01-07-2020 at 08:39 AM.
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