The Deal With Geoff Ward

[DazzlinDino]

As pointed out in the OP, even a core shakeup won't do much if the coaching issues are not addressed. Personally I think we need a solid coaching hire who knows what to do and what he wants, before we start moving core pieces.

[Jiri Hrdina]

My view is you need both
- A new coach will fail without changes to the roster
- A new roster will fail without the right coach.

I want both.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

My view is you need both
- A new coach will fail without changes to the roster
- A new roster will fail without the right coach.

I want both.

That's where I'm at as well. I really don't like the idea of getting a new coach and giving this roster another chance to see if it works.......I think that would end up being a gigantic waste of time.

There's something rotten with this team as is, and I think this summer will be the time to change the identity of the club. New coach, trade Johnny and Monahan among others and get a consistently hungry hockey team with a new identity. What we have ain't working, and just getting a new coach won't turn this team into a Cup contender, which is kind of the whole point, IMO.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

My view is you need both
- A new coach will fail without changes to the roster
- A new roster will fail without the right coach.

I want both.

So you are saying last season was just crap luck? It is essentially the same roster. Actually it is a better roster. The current group is fine, the coaching is not.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

My view is you need both
- A new coach will fail without changes to the roster
- A new roster will fail without the right coach.

I want both.

IMO they need to move Gaudreau at the very least and I still think goaltending isn't good enough for a true contender so the search for a franchise goaltender must continue. This next coaching hire will be critical though as Ward has done an admirable job filling in but he's not the answer as this team needs an experienced coach that can work with a core that's on the fragile side.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

So you are saying last season was just crap luck? It is essentially the same roster. Actually it is a better roster. The current group is fine, the coaching is not.

This is an easy one for me, do the Flames look like they are trying to play a good system but failing at it, or playing a bad system successfully.

[Infinit47]

Originally Posted by 2ArmBands

Tired of blaming coaching when it comes to this team. All failed coaching is doing to this point is proving that this core is unable to get the job done. Time for a shakeup with the core... bottom line.

Well, Ward interviewed with trelieving when we hired Gulutzen and was not hired. So we now have a head coach who was at that point second (or 3rd or 4th) to Gulutzen, who himself was one of the worst coaches the Flames have ever had. Before that we had Bargain Bin Hartley, and after that we had "we can hire him once he's fired by the Canes" Peters.

There are three successful coaches sitting at home right now. Other than money I don't see what the Flames have to lose by trying one of them out.

If the coach comes in and says this team can't cut it you have an additional outside view of how to retool the team this summer.

[zamler]

We need a legit coach either way regardless of the lineup, there are several excellent coaches sitting at home are we at least trying to land one of them?

[GranteedEV]

Of course you always need to improve the roster. That goes without saying. But when we're talking about this core, we're talking about a team that has been

2014-15 - 6th in goal scoring, 1st in penalty differential
2015-16 - 10th in goal scoring, 5th in penalty differential
2016-17 - 10th in PP%, 12th in PK%
2017-18 - 8th in PK%, 4th in FF% (score adjusted)
2018-19 - 3rd in goal scoring, 9th in goals against despite subpar goaltending, 6th in in FF% (score adjusted), 2nd in penalty differential

These are all things THIS core group has accomplished with different assortments of supporting casts.

Where are we in those categories this year?

20th in goal scoring
24th in goals against
20th in penalty differential
17th in FF% (score adjusted)
12th in PP%
11th in PK%

It's not as simple as "this team quits on coaches". It's not as simple as "this team lacks a GAF". The reality is that this team has done under other coaches things like maintain a positive penalty differential, score goals, dominate puck possession. The team's shown it's able to do those things. The other stuff, for instance finally getting the powerplay reliably into the top 10, is where you might need to look at core changes. Even then, it's not like the PP is what's killing us this year.

This team has established that under a good coach they should

- be a top 5 team in penalty differential
- be a top ten goal scoring team.

That's what they've done in all three complete years under Hartley/Peters. You can leave some leeway for goal scoring considering how random it can be at times, but it's still a testament to the talent level.

They've also established that they're able to:

- be a top ten possession team
- be a competent penalty killing team

Which are things that they showed in the past handful of years

They're not an elite roster but they should at least be able to do things they've shown they're able to do. Puck possession and penalty differentials are two of those things that a coach can instill.

Right now the same core is doing literally nothing that has made them successful outside of special teams. But the special teams success is a sign that the mix isn't all so awful either. The tactics and adjustments just aren't getting the players to maximize their potential.

[Manhattanboy]

Dumb idea but maybe a number of long time season ticket holders like myself need to write the owners demanding changes starting with the hiring of a proven NHL head coach.

[cannon7]

I'll be shocked if Treliving makes a coaching change this season.

[2ArmBands]

Originally Posted by Infinit47

Well, Ward interviewed with trelieving when we hired Gulutzen and was not hired. So we now have a head coach who was at that point second (or 3rd or 4th) to Gulutzen, who himself was one of the worst coaches the Flames have ever had. Before that we had Bargain Bin Hartley, and after that we had "we can hire him once he's fired by the Canes" Peters.

There are three successful coaches sitting at home right now. Other than money I don't see what the Flames have to lose by trying one of them out.

If the coach comes in and says this team can't cut it you have an additional outside view of how to retool the team this summer.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for a new coach. Ward has an interim tag for a reason and it’s pretty much inevitable that he will be replaced. However, I have seen enough from this core to know that something is missing. I want change in this regard.

A lot of people look at last year in a positive light. Sure the season they had last year was great but ultimately it ended as a major disappointment. As a long time Flames I’m still bitter about it and hold a fair bit of resentment to some of the top end talent on this team that lack killer instinct and struggle to elevate their game.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

So you are saying last season was just crap luck? It is essentially the same roster. Actually it is a better roster. The current group is fine, the coaching is not.

The roster has show that when on a roll, having zero adversity to overcome, when their confidence is at a peak that they can be a top team.

They have also shown that when they aren’t on a roll, face a little adversity, and lack a little confidence that they play mediocre. They don’t show up to start games, they don’t work hard consistently. A coach can demand hard work, he can try to motivate but at some point the players have to take a share of the blame too.

It’s clearly a combination of both coaching and a fundamental problem with some of the core players. Anyone who thinks it’s only one or the other is being shortsighted imo. Just because the players have the skill required when things are going well doesn’t mean they have the winning attitude and mentality to stick to the coach’s system when things start to go poorly. Sometimes a coach can’t magically turn a bunch of inconsistent players into a hard working team that plays the right way the majority of the time.

Anyone blaming the coaching while absolving the players completely is doing it wrong. That said clearly coaching is an area that could be upgraded as well.

[Red_Baron]

Oilers have a trash roster and a good coach and are winning. We have a much deeper roster and a rookie NHL head coach and we are sinking.


We need a real coach, no more bargain bin shopping. This season sucks to watch.

[Psytic]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

Dumb idea but maybe a number of long time season ticket holders like myself need to write the owners demanding changes starting with the hiring of a proven NHL head coach.

Cant hurt.

[Yobbo]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

You know, it would be a great story if Ward was the man to right the ship and take this team further than expectations. A guy who's been an assistant coach in the NHL for over a decade finally getting his shot in the driver's seat and bringing a group of so-called underperformers together as more than a sum of their pieces. It would be a charming plot.



Is it?



I'm going to preface this with this - Ward isn't the entire coaching staff. Others on the staff - Ryan Huska, Ray Edwards, and Martin Gelinas shouldn't escape this criticism as the four of them are a team. But since Ward has the final say in decisions, he should still take the brunt of the criticism.



Isn't Ward a solution for the Calgary Flames now that he's built a decent body of work to evaluate? I mean, at 18 - 11 - 2 he's basically got this team playing 100 point hockey ... right? And the team's struggles are a result of their own indifference as players... right?



In my opinion - No. That record is essentially so despite Geoff Ward. And while a thorough autopsy of Peters' coaching early on may be needed to make that claim, that's a variable I am electing not to discuss in this post. I'll generalize it to the following though - the Peters wasn't the same coach from the 2019 ASB onwards that he was prior to then, and this year was subpar himself and despite that his record was also a function of shooting percentages bottoming out. But overall Peters stopped being a solution before the beginning of the season.



Anyways - Wards makes a lot of errors. I'm not talking about those rookie mistakes that a budding coach will grow out of. I am talking about deliberate errors on a fundamental level that are causing his impact to be a net negative. What are they?



Veteran Favouritism

Do you remember when Bob Hartley posted "Always Earned, Never Given" on the walls of the locker room? Yeah, it was a bit of a cheesy motto for a team, but there was one thing about it that worked. The fact that Hartley followed through with it. He rewarded players who earned more opportunity. And he was unafraid to butt heads with those whom the game was passing by. He saw the potential and work ethic in then-kids like Paul Byron, Michael Ferland, and Josh Jooris and contrasted that with established veteran players like Matt Stajan, Dennis Wideman, and Curtis Glencross.



Ward does no such thing. Whether it's Milan Lucic dogging it, Travis Hamonic overplayed in the top 4, Mark Giordano getting exhausted on the powerplay, Michael Stone being overwhelmed, or Mikael Backlund looking lost on right wing - he operates on the base assumption that experience indicates performance. Veterans are given every opportunity to work through stretches of subpar play at the expense of the team, while younger players like Sam Bennett, Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington, Andrew Mangiapane, and Dillon Dube were playing well in limited roles. Those roles remained limited even as those veterans were costing the team wins in a league that's built around speed through the middle and short shifts. Yes, Lucic did eventually turn it around - credit to him - but that was after the media called him out to such an extent where he needed to elevate his play to remain prideful. It should have never gotten to that point given the opportunity Lucic was given.



On this team, it is Always Given, Never Earned. There is a fear of inexperience or a fear of the unknown that causes the "Devil You Know" to impact us negatively in the standings.



Inability to read the flow of the game and adjust accordingly

Anyone remember that game about a week or two ago tied after the first period with some new look lines, but the Flames were dominating and Ward randomly busted out the blender and we lost? It was a personification of his poor feel for what a game is calling for. He suffers a lot of these similarities with our old pal Glen Gulutzan, although I'd wager he's got a more talented group that the lack of proper adjustments in-game are not magnified so much. But still - a coach needs to know who's going in a game, who's struggling, what strategies are working, what strategies are struggling - and tweak. It's what got guys like Sullivan and Quennville all the way to the promised land. Bill Peters possessed this ability although he stopped going to it as often after the 2019 All Star Break. Bob Hartley possessed this ability and it was primarily what allowed us to come back in Game 6 down multiple goals to take that series at home. It's a coach imposing his will on the game. Double shifting a guy who's really going. Mixing up the lines when there's something missing. Keeping lines rogether when the only thing missing is finish. Getting a guy with two goals a few extra minutes in special teams to get a hat trick. Shortening the bench when down a goal. All these little things... Geoff Ward either doesn't have the feel for them, or is philosophically opposed to them. And it costs the team more than points in the standing. It costs them in morale.



Inability to evaluate, then make sensible and timely adjustments

As an extension of the in-game adjustments, Ward doesn't implement out-of-game adjustments very well. Brodie has been our best defenseman on the right side and yet got moved to the left while barely logging 20 a night (when he's shown to be capavle of 25+). Hanifin-Hamonic as a defense pair were not working for so long, and nothing was done about it (to the point where by January, Hamonic had the worst expected goals on the team by dar) until an injury forced his hand. Backlund as a right winger wasn't working in any way whatsoever given his skillset and this was only adjusted when the player went into the coach's office and stated the obvious. Jankowksi, after being profoundly snakebitten all season, finally breaks the dam and scores a goal and is benched the very next game. Giordano wasn't doing well on the powerplay. Kylington is proving game-by-game that he can do so much more than Stone every single shift. Bennett's probably been our best and most consistent player since the all star break and there's very little doubt that his usage will continue to suffer until he loses his confidence yet again, instead of being harnessed. There's a stubbornness to stick with things that aren't working far beyond their expiration date that not only affects this team in the regular season, but bodes poorly for the playoffs when game-by-game adjustments are needed to take control of a series - the same issue Bill Peters ran into.



Poor line change strategy

Whether it's "Chip & Change" or "D to D", this has to be the worst team in the league with respect to offensive zone line changes. This team has lines capable of hemming opponents into the offensive zone but there is no wave of one-by-one line changes that are the staple of true puck possession teams. Instead players take long offensive zone shifts deep in the zone and the moment there is a turnover are exhausted and cannot backcheck properly. One-by-one line changes is something you have to practice and preach for it to begin to manifest. Our line changes are the opposite, dump the puck in to the other team, and let them begin their rush by the time the next line is onto the ice. It doesn't work. It breaks the defensive structure, it reduces offensive zone time... and it reduces actual goal scoring out of the cycle.



Poor neutral zone strategy

You know what Glen Gulutzan actually was good at? His teams were pretty suffocating in terms of positioning and gap control. Getting past them was no easy task. I'm not sure what Ward's strategy in the neutral zone is because from what I have seen - there is none. This is one third of the game we might be the worst team in the NHL at. I don't know the numbers but I find it difficult to believe the players simply aren't executing - even when they win 6-2 there isn't much by ways of neutral zone suffocation.



Poor zone entry strategy

I'm mostly talking 5 on 5 here, but I'm sure there could be a breakdown of powerplay entries that doesn't do the coach too well. But 5 on 5 our entries are too often performed by wingers who are outnumbered and they dump the puck in. Mangiapane, Gaudreau, Bennett, Tkachuk.. these guys enter and then just throw the puck away. There is no speed to attack the opponent because they are usually pinched in along the boards.Our forecheck is too often our only option to take control of the puck in the offensive zone, and usually it's late because the team was performing a line change. This team isn't the worst at forechecking, but they're not the best either. The team doesn't carry the puck in enough. They've shown to be an elite possession team when they carry the puck, and their puck possession has fallen to average-at-best since they became a dump and chase team. It is insanity.



In my opinion, unless the goal is to tank, Geoff Ward must be replaced by a strong head coach ASAP.

His record is a mirage.

Great post! Very impressive, and in-depth. Thanks for sharing!

[CSharp]

I can summarized this team with one conjunction:

This team is a coach killer and a goalie killer.

[Manhattanboy]

Originally Posted by CSharp

I can summarized this team with one conjunction:

This team is a coach killer and a goalie killer.

And a fan killer. Sigh.

[Elkyiv]

Originally Posted by Jiggy

That's not true, and I don't know where this comes from. Brent Sutter was one of the highest paid coaches when he was in Calgary. Bob Hartley at the time was probably top 10 in the league in $ for coaches.

A great indication that it is true is the fact that none of the ex-Flames coaches have head coaching jobs in the NHL today.

The last coach to have a job after leaving the team is Sutter and that was .. 14 years ago.

[DropIt]

Ward probably isnt the answer. This team needs a much more experienced coach.

That being said, the coach blame needs to stop. Start putting the weight in the shoulders of our top players and it's easy to see the Monahan and Gaudreau just csnt carry teams, and if Gio is declined ing he seems to be taking the team down with him.