First Impressions of Bill Peters

[Robbob]

Peters has been awesome. Not quite the keys to city awesome, maybe keys to Peters Drive in awesome. Only been 6 games, but hard not to like what I have been watching. Also for the record we have won the first of 11 7 game segments (still have a game to get bonus points).

[sa226]

I like the bench management. I like how the right players and the right lines are put on the ice in the right situations.

I don't know how many times last year I was scratching my head at who would come over the boards. The Flames would be hemmed in with a few forced icings and tired players, then they would finally get a goalie freeze or something. Who would come over the boards for a fresh shift? The fourth line and the Bartkowski pairing.

I think it was the Nashville game where it was mid game and both teams were were rolling all 4 lines and the Flames 4th line had a great shift with a ton of won battles and zone time, Rinne froze the puck. With a big momentum push, who comes out for an O zone faceoff? the Monahan line. And it wasn't even their turn!

[Hey Connor, It's Mess]

Win or lose, the Flames are back to playing exciting hockey again for the most part. Hartley didnt always have the best results but that was a fun team to watch. The Glue Gun era we shall never speak of again. It now feels like we're back to using our players to their full potential.

[pepper24]

I like what I see so far but also too small of a sample size. We were 4-2 last season but with a much weaker lineup. Weak bottom 6 finally caught up to them. I think that was more on GM than coach.

That said I like how he doesn't hesitate to mix up lines or bench regulars even this early in the season. Depth helps with this. GG seemed to stick with his system and tried to keep even keel which is fine after 6 games but not good when it is not working half way through the season and he is the last to figure out.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Toonage

He writes on his note pad a bunch but not sure if I've seen him stare at the iPad, though I expect he would look at it for sure. Just that Gully always seemed to be caught by TV cameras looking, likely because he took such long looks.

Likely because he could not follow the play on the ice((

[GranteedEV]

I've watched a few pressers with Peters now and I've noticed a very positive messaging and no ageism that a certain other guy was ironically guilty of.

Also love his Always Earned Never Given type meritocracy, what a breath of fresh air. Ryan was supposed to be his pet and I think he has used Ryan perfectly fine based on effectiveness. He is an enabler and this is going to pay dividends when the team play tightens up heading into December and beyond. He really reminds me of Quennville in a lot of ways.

Systems-wise he is an offensive coach, every D has green lights to walk the line, pinch, and generally trust their instincts. He and Huska have clearly been working with Valimaki and Andersson in the video room and I think this will also help the vets wipe up their GG-PTSD.

His forecheck is a revelation, we haven't looked this good on the forecheck since Darryl Sutter. Hartley and Keenan did unleash guys at times, but not with this commitment. Linematching seems on-point too.

Fancy stats are not there yet but you just get the sense they will tighten up. What I do wonser is whether we will start making one-by-one line changes of forward in the offensive zone. Teams that do that generally are the upper echelon and that's the area we could stand to add.

Gotta fix the PP though, PP2 has yet to score and PP1 is underwhelming. And get Bennett in here...

[dustygoon]

Interesting take on Carolina and flames via some Brindamour comments.

https://www.thepointhockey.com/thats...od-brindamour/

Last season, the Hurricanes ranked first in even-strength shot attempts, top 5 in shots on goal, top 10 in slot shots and top 15 in inner slot shots. However, they only scored on 3.7% of their shot attempts, 28th in the league and as a result ranked 19th in even-strength goals.

[Otto-matic]

So we're 1 month into Peter's tenure as a Flames coach. So far the results are very promising. If we'd have some more steady goal tending this team could very well be 1st overall in the league right now.

I'm impressed how quickly he can get the team regrouped. No way in hell GG's version of the team would have been able to mount a 5 goal period after trailing going into the 3rd.

His ingame adjustments are also impressive, making those tweaks to the scoring lines last night paid off in spades.

[Huntingwhale]

I have a man crush on Bill Peters. Smart guy, and there's no mistake who's the boss. It's still early, but it's starting to look like BT was correct. Bill Peters is the right guy to coach this team.

I was disappointed when Vigneault or Sutter wasn't hired, but was willing to give Peters a chance. Still need to clean up defensively, and I'm not a fan of how he's flat out said Mike Smith is the #1G. But anyone can see just how differently the team plays vs GG style.

Entertaining, hardworking, skilled and fast.

I like Bill Peters hockey!

[redforever]

He's grown on me a lot. He reminds me of Sarge.

[iloveicedhockey]

As others have said, small sample size so far but systems aside, the mindset is so very different from the previous two years. Last year it felt like if we conceded first and early, the game was over. There was no drive, no comeback and no urgency. Peters has set the bar and if you're a vet and not impacting the game and showing a will to get back in, there are kids he'll throw in because they want it and don't know any better. That in turn seems to be influencing the vets attitude too. There's a buy in.

It's refreshing.

[kukkudo]

Players are buying into Peters Philosophy, its refreshing when the Flames were down 4-1 going into the 3rd last night I still believed they would come out with a W. With GG it was shut the TV off and go to bed after the 2nd.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by kukkudo

Players are buying into Peters Philosophy, its refreshing when the Flames were down 4-1 going into the 3rd last night I still believed they would come out with a W. With GG it was shut the TV off and go to bed after the 2nd.

It's actually amazing how much Peters' line blending can kick start a team. We arguably had some weak X's and O's under Hartley but when we or the goalie were playing like total crap he got out the blender the team got exciting to watch again. Watching Peters, Hartley, Quennville, etc play Line Randomizer is a thing of beauty. Who, entering last night's game, would have thought a Dube-Ryan-Monahan line would have got the snowball rolling down the hill?

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Last spring I was chatting with a fellow Flames fan friend of mine. We were talking about the hiring of Peters and he wanted my thoughts.

I was skeptical. Carolina wasn't that great, we just traded for a few of their key pieces and hired their coach? If it isn't work there, why would it work for us?

I openly admited (and still do) that I'm no scout or great assessor of talent (honestly I truly thought Druin >>> MacKinnon). So I put faith in Treliving, as he's smarter than I.

I'm happy I took a reserved approach. I'm also happy with how things have been shaping up.

So far so good.

If he could get Smith to play a little better, we'd be all set.

[Ryan Coke]

They play a more aggressive forecheck, far more active D offensively, a faster transition and speed game, and an overall higher level of intensity and emotional investment than under GG. Peters has also shown he isn’t afraid to make an ‘unsafe’ personnel decision to reinforce the meritocracy philosophy.

The team is profoundly different than GG’s teams, and I’m not even talking about the changes to the roster.

[keenan87]

I like it so far. Need to tighten up defensively a bit more though.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by keenan87

I like it so far. Need to tighten up defensively a bit more though.

The Flames have actually been excellent defensively in their last four. I have no complaints in that regard.

[PepsiFree]

It’s entertaining. It’s not perfect, but we’re nearing that point where teams generally “get it” under a new coach and I’ve liked the general trend of improvement in play.

Most exciting hockey (level of talent + style of hockey) since Darryl.

[ForeverFlameFan]

When you have one of the 3 categories struggling, you have to have the other two rolling (Offense/Defense/Goaltending).

I too was about to leave, but seeing how Calgary pretty much dominated Colorado and were down 4-1, I decided to keep watching to see a comeback. This was a team that had to help out Smith last night just like Smith in the past had done a solid for them.

Peters is the perfect coach for this team. He allows rookies to play, the vets get their ice time when playing well, and isn’t afraid to bench someone that isn’t playing too well. Ward and Huska look to be meshing well with Peters too. I think all 3 of them have different ideas and mindsets which help us carry out the game plans better.

Regardless, every team has their weaknesses. Ours appear to be special teams more than goaltending. Hopefully we can clean that up a bit and can get rolling.

[Split98]

We finally have a coach that's winning games again! There's no question that if he's not outright changing the game's narrative himself, he's frequently opening opportunities for someone to do it on the ice.

The only real knock so far is how he's handling the goalies. Everything else (PP and defence) I can chalk up to 'wait until game 20', and I hesitated to bring this in here. This isn't a comment on whether or not Smith is bad, and how bad he is... but rather, what is holding him back from starting Rittich against Colorado? He's played much better in front of the same defence, so even if you argue that the defence hasn't given Smith much of a chance... Rittich has been saving a lot of these. He locked the door after a rough start against these same Avs, so it seemed like a great start schedule-wise as well. But Peters is definitely into 'benefit of the doubt' territory for me, so I'm curious as to what it is we're not seeing.

Is this an adjustment to the new padding Peters knows Smith will flip a switch on (but has been looking promising in practice)? Does he want to give Smith every opportunity now, so it's clear when they have to make the switch? Is there something that Peters still sees that leads him to believe more starts for Rittich will immediately result in losses? I don't know what it is, but I'm more sure that it's something we're not seeing than I normally am with coaches. Optics aside, it's tough to make a case that we have a better chance winning with Smith in net isn't it?

At the same time, I also like his patience with guys like Dube. He hasn't hit the scoresheet yet, but he's having a positive impact. I feel like under some coaches though, his failure to score would have led to a demotion already. I can't feel that it's too far off still, but I appreciate the long rope he's being given to get the monkey off his back up here.

Peters' confidence with Neal was refreshing as well. You really get the feeling that the Brouwerplay wasn't going to be an issue here even if he was still a Flame. He saw something clicking with Lindholm on the 1st line, and despite the headlines - he made a decision that went against the grain. I don't know how Neal is feeling with it, but I'm sure Peters has a lot to do with that as well. So far, it seems like the right decision. Lindholm has been amazing, and Neal has struggled out of the gate. You can't blame his linemates too much either as...

Bennett has been incredible. Funny that the year we didn't get pre-season Bennett was the year he seems to be graduating. I just wish it was beard Bennett... beard Bennett was awesome. I wonder what it is about this year that's doing it for him. I would imagine that we'll think year-end that it was Neal that clicked for Bennett, but we know today that that'll be revisionist history. He really has been able to drive the play himself, and he's been the spark on that line quite often. Great to see, and if last night was the Neal coming online, we're in for a year from Bennett.

So far so good with Bill Peters!