A small thing I'm hoping Gulutzan also works on is his relationship management with the referees. Melrose made a good point in his book, saying that if he's calm most of the time then it's more effective when you do lose your marbles entirely. In his words of what the ref's thinking at the time: "Wow. Barry is very steamed. He never screams at me like this. Maybe my call there was a real bad one."
Now this isn't me hoping that he flies off the handle, Playfair style. Establishing a relationship as a coach between refs, especially ones you encounter on a regular basis, means more than some might think, and this passage from
Kerry Fraser's PT article strikes me particularly deeply:
Quote:
I went right to the visiting team’s coaches room to talk to Joel Quenneville, who was coaching the Blues at the time. I told him we had a little problem. I told him what was said. And I’ll never forget Joel’s face. He’s such a solid guy.
He said, “Do you want me to have Tyson take his gear off?”
I said, “No, I want him to apologize.”
Joel said, “Great idea,” and he went right into the locker room to talk to Tyson.
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What I'd like to see, every time he sees a call he doesn't agree with (which happens all the time) all he needs to do is to lean over the bench, put his foot up on the boards and wave the ref over.
It could just be a really brief 10-15 second conversation, but establishing dialogue is important. Refs are still people, after all. Glen can make his case like Trotz did there, let them know he's not pleased with the decision without abusing them verbally, and then that's the end of it.
Every time I see him look down at the monitors I think to myself, dammit Glen you're going into "assistant coach" mode again.
Once in a while have a Playfair moment just so we can all immortalize it on Streamable. The phantom 5-min majors that were handed out vs the Red Wings and Flyers would have been great times to just go bonkers screaming at the top of your lungs while having Gerrard and Cameron pretend to hold you back.
