Friedman's 31 thoughts - May 11

[jlh2640]

Gully coaching in Edmonton would be hard to see, however yes they should hire him haha

[Badgers Nose]

Originally Posted by New Era

We’ll know how good a hire Peters is this time next year. If he can’t do more with this team than Gulutzan, Treliving is looking for a new job, plain and simple. Treliving had one more swing to knock it out of the park, and he made contact. Now we have to watch to see if it gets out of the yard, or if a fielder is circling underneath it.

Nope. Ball is still on the way to the plate.

Sticking with the baseball analogy I think BT just switched bats before the pitch.

Seems likely to me it will be strike three. Because he has never got a coaching home run before. But let’s see.

[Mister Yamoto]

Treliving so far has been like Craig Button. Can't hit on coaches or goalies, but otherwise pretty good.

[VilleN]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

Nope. Ball is still on the way to the plate.

Sticking with the baseball analogy I think BT just switched bats before the pitch.

Seems likely to me it will be strike three. Because he has never got a coaching home run before. But let’s see.

He's only had one coaching hire. So strike 2? Although, in this case it will only take 2 strikes to be out.

[kukkudo]

If the Flames start the season off crappy Oct/Nov does Treliving get the axe by Christmas? Its gonna be an interesting year for sure, the Flames cannot afford to come out of the gate cold.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by kukkudo

If the Flames start the season off crappy Oct/Nov does Treliving get the axe by Christmas? Its gonna be an interesting year for sure, the Flames cannot afford to come out of the gate cold.

With Burke moving on I feel Treliving is likely safe for now and has a longer leash than you imply.

[Toonage]

I would imagine given that their contracts line up so well (and to avoid lame duck status) that this group will get 2 seasons, at the end of which they will both be extended or let go.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

With Burke moving on I feel Treliving is likely safe for now and has a longer leash than you imply.

Although I don't think there is any chance he gets fired in season, I don't believe Burke leaving necessarily strengthens Treliving's long term security.

And although I know exactly what you mean, Jiri would argue that your use of the term "longer leash" implies more autonomy, vs. more leeway to make a mistake without losing his job. Just a flashback to a pedantic debate from earlier in the off season.

[JD]

Originally Posted by Mister Yamoto

Treliving so far has been like Craig Button. Can't hit on coaches or goalies, but otherwise pretty good.

Well Treliving has yet to trade away a Conn Smythe winner and decline to re-sign a Hart and Art Ross winner who would later dagger in our hearts in Game 6 of the Cup Finals. But other than that pretty much the same.

Originally Posted by kukkudo

If the Flames start the season off crappy Oct/Nov does Treliving get the axe by Christmas? Its gonna be an interesting year for sure, the Flames cannot afford to come out of the gate cold.

Does that mean we get to overreact to every preseason goal against and most especially when we lose the first game of the season? The Flames can never afford to come out of the gate cold... they have mortgaged our emotional bank accounts!

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by JD

decline to re-sign a Hart and Art Ross winner who would later dagger in our hearts in Game 6 of the Cup Finals. But other than that pretty much the same.!

Hey, that's not fair. He didn't decline to re-sign him, he bought him out.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by JD

Well Treliving has yet to trade away a Conn Smythe winner and decline to re-sign a Hart and Art Ross winner who would later dagger in our hearts in Game 6 of the Cup Finals. But other than that pretty much the same.

Does that mean we get to overreact to every preseason goal against and most especially when we lose the first game of the season? The Flames can never afford to come out of the gate cold... they have mortgaged our emotional bank accounts!

Truthfully, the Flames can't afford to come out of the gate cold. No team with playoff and Stanley Cup aspirations can. It takes crazy things like 10 game win streaks to move up the standings 3-4 points thanks to the point system.

I hope the China trip also forces Tree to finalize his roster early in the summer, unlike previous years. We need to move beyond the discount bin signings at the very last moment before the season starts. Fix the team and get it in place early. Tree has struggled with his rosters to start the year every single year he's been here, and it has impacted the team.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Although I don't think there is any chance he gets fired in season, I don't believe Burke leaving necessarily strengthens Treliving's long term security.

And although I know exactly what you mean, Jiri would argue that your use of the term "longer leash" implies more autonomy, vs. more leeway to make a mistake without losing his job. Just a flashback to a pedantic debate from earlier in the off season.

Potentially not but if the ownership group was worried about the next phase then perhaps they would have kept Burke for another year or two to potentially hire he next GM if they feel Treliving may be replaced soon.

Having said that they could already have their minds made up that when Brad goes Conroy is taking over which wouldn’t require King trying to hire someone “off the street” again

[JD]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

I hope the China trip also forces Tree to finalize his roster early in the summer, unlike previous years. We need to move beyond the discount bin signings at the very last moment before the season starts. Fix the team and get it in place early. Tree has struggled with his rosters to start the year every single year he's been here, and it has impacted the team.

I agree with this. Even though bringing in Jagr and Versteeg turned out to be decent moves hockey-wise, I don't think they put the team in the right mindset. They're trying to build this culture of "earned never given" yet what is this? You could argue that nobody stepped up and "earned" the spots those guys took, but if you think about the mindset in the room, what did Jagr or Versteeg do to earn the spots? It totally undermines what Flames management claimed they were trying to do.

Team-building is important and I think that's what preseason should be for. For some reason the Flames use preseason as tryouts.

[activeStick]

The importance of getting off to a good start would seem to be logical but I don't think it really matters that much.

From this season, Washington was 5-7 after 12, Boston was 4-6 after 10, while the Islanders were 7-5 after 12.

Out west, St. Louis was 10-3 (!!), while Nashville was 5-6 and Winnipeg was 5-5.

St. Louis' drop off was pretty bad. Their fans must be pretty pissed off about how this season went, looking back at how it started.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by activeStick

The importance of getting off to a good start would seem to be logical but I don't think it really matters that much.

From this season, Washington was 5-7 after 12, Boston was 4-6 after 10, while the Islanders were 7-5 after 12.

Out west, St. Louis was 10-3 (!!), while Nashville was 5-6 and Winnipeg was 5-5.

St. Louis' drop off was pretty bad. Their fans must be pretty pissed off about how this season went, looking back at how it started.

I agree to an extent but Washington, Boston, and Nashville have a better track record of success so there's little reason to panic if they start slow. In the case of the Flames history is not on their side when they start seasons slow as they have missed the playoffs in 7 of the past 9 seasons and most of those seasons they started out slowly. Given it's Peters first season a .500 start wouldn't be a surprise but it would be a disappointment if they were still flirting with a mediocre record by December. Regardless even if the Flames miss the playoffs next season you would have to think nobody would be getting fired but if that was to happen I imagine Treliving's seat will be scorching hot and he wouldn't survive a 3rd straight season out of the playoffs.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by activeStick

The importance of getting off to a good start would seem to be logical but I don't think it really matters that much.

It seems to be more a matter of not having a really bad start. You can recover from 5-9, but you can't recover from 2-12 (or at least it's nearly impossible).

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I agree to an extent but Washington, Boston, and Nashville have a better track record of success so there's little reason to panic if they start slow. In the case of the Flames history is not on their side when they start seasons slow as they have missed the playoffs in 7 of the past 9 seasons and most of those seasons they started out slowly. Given it's Peters first season a .500 start wouldn't be a surprise but it would be a disappointment if they were still flirting with a mediocre record by December. Regardless even if the Flames miss the playoffs next season you would have to think nobody would be getting fired but if that was to happen I imagine Treliving's seat will be scorching hot and he wouldn't survive a 3rd straight season out of the playoffs.

Not sure what the last 7-9 seasons have to do with next season's group of players where nobody is still here from 7-9 years ago, so I don't the past achievements or lack thereof, means anything with respect to how the team will do or what may happen if the team doesn't come out guns blazing.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

It seems to be more a matter of not having a really bad start. You can recover from 5-9, but you can't recover from 2-12 (or at least it's nearly impossible).

Yup, this I agree with. Like some other greats have said before, "it's simple math"!

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

It seems to be more a matter of not having a really bad start. You can recover from 5-9, but you can't recover from 2-12 (or at least it's nearly impossible).

Flames were 5-5 after 10 and 8-7 after 15 (no loser points). Problem was they matched their nice winning streak with an equivalent losing streak right after. If they'd even gone at a normal pace, they'd have been in the hunt at the end of the year (the last losing streak was in non-PO mode).

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by activeStick

Not sure what the last 7-9 seasons have to do with next season's group of players where nobody is still here from 7-9 years ago, so I don't the past achievements or lack thereof, means anything with respect to how the team will do or what may happen if the team doesn't come out guns blazing.

It has everything to do with next season's group. Repeating the same mistakes over and over is not a recipe for improvement. Someone posted it before but this team has had a history of starting relatively poorly for a decade now. Coincidentally they have missed the playoffs the majority of those seasons. Last I checked this is largely the same roster that started last season off slowly is it not? They don't need to come out of the gates 14-5 but being .500 or under into November will probably not end well for this team.