[News Roundup] Flames head coach search. Friedman: Huska is the leading contender

[Flames_F.T.W]

After the boring season we just suffered through, I just want a coach who plays an exciting style of hockey. I want a high scoring team to be excited about and entertained by

[1qqaaz]

Didn't Frank Seravalli basically hint that this was a two horse race between Love and Brunette?

I'd be pretty happy with either of them. Love is a back to back coach of the year. Brunette has a recent Presidents Trophy and has worked with Huberdeau.

[PepsiFree]

I like Love for head coach because I feel like he got a lot more out of the Wranglers than that team on paper should have given you. Tanguay and Savard are interesting. Brunette I don’t know about because it seems like he just deployed JQ’s systems in Florida and didn’t adapt in the playoffs, but he could be great.

Everyone else is nah.

[Roof-Daddy]

The Flames org currently has an opening for head coach and the Flames org also has the back to back AHL coach of the year coaching their farm team. The Flames also plan to give more of a chance to their young players on the farm who have coincidentally been coached by this same coach for the past two seasons.

Seems like a no brainer to me.

But hey, what do I know? He could end up being anything between the next Dallas Eakins to the next John Cooper for alli know.

[Roof-Daddy]

And when it comes to Love you have to decide whether he's a great coach or is he an OK coach who had an unbelievably good goalie.

I'd have to look but I don't think the Wranglers/Heat win percentage was very good in games that weren't started by Dustin Wolf.

I'm sure glad it's not me who has to make the hire lol

[transplant99]

I cant see it being anyone other than Love.

Conny already hired him once, and that worked out well. NHL execs almost always go with what's worked in the past.

They will interview others for sure, as they must. However in my opinion it is fait accompli.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

And when it comes to Love you have to decide whether he's a great coach or is he an OK coach who had an unbelievably good goalie.

I'd have to look but I don't think the Wranglers/Heat win percentage was very good in games that weren't started by Dustin Wolf.

I'm sure glad it's not me who has to make the hire lol

Wolf..........42-10-2 2.09 .932

Dansk....... 8-6-2 2.75 .905

[boogerz]

Is Love ready for an NHL head coach role though...?

Besides the question of whether his success was reliant on the Dustin Wolf factor, Love also was guilty of mishandling Valimaki and seems to favor grit more than pure skill (e.g. Pettersen, Poirier, and Rubins were all regular scratches during the season), which doesn't really align with the makeup of the Flames roster. He made the unforced error of foregoing home ice advantage in the playoffs. Was he also mostly deploying the Flames' mediocre systems, but with greater success than Sutter?

The Wranglers are an experienced AHL team (700 NHL games and 5200 AHL games of experience) that he couldn't get "over the hump" for the second year in a row.

If it's a situation of promoting Love or losing him to another organization, give him an assistant or associate coach position. If Edwards is expecting playoffs, an NHL head coach position doesn't have a lot of margin of error and room to learn on the job (e.g. Brunette being fired after being a first-year head coach with a successful season).

[Paulie Walnuts]

I wonder if it's the same time thing they did with Conroy. Bring in some candidates that you might not want as a head coach but you pair with a first timer like Tanguay or Mitch Love to help as a associate coach.

Gallant could help with the defensive details of the game and allow the head coach to implement a more offensive take that way he isn't preaching defensive stuff to a group that is looking to be more offensive.

Plus running a bench the first time isn't going to be smooth and first time coaches can have goals against suffer with defensive lapses. We still need to be detailed in our end especially of we want to be a playoff team.

Some of these guys beings fired will need to suck it up and take these roles if they want to remain in the game and get another shot if they don't want to progress with the times as a head coach.

[Vinny01]

I think it is going to be Love or Huska. The Flames have done a nice job of developing coaches and executives over the past several years and were in a great spot to turnover their organization with internal promotions.

Personally I hope it is Love with perhaps Tanguay being brought in as an associate coach. I understand Brunette as an option as we saw the Devils become a pretty dynamic offensive team this year after Brunette joined the staff.

I am not a fan of the assistant becoming the coach but maybe I just have PTSD from the Playfair and Ward years. I don’t think Huska is the guy over Love but I do think it will be one of them. If Huska gets the job I could see Love on the staff but I’d Love gets the job I think Huska leaves the org. Perhaps he surfaces in Toronto if Treliving takes over there?

[GreenLantern2814]

It would be Classic Calgary Flames to have the 2x AHL coach of the year and 2x AHL goalie of the year in house and promote neither, so this is a great chance for Connie to chart a new course.

[ricardodw]

What was wrong with the Flames organization on April 21,2021?

That is when they traded Bennett for a 2nd round pick.

Bennett was consistently: 1) the best Flame player in the playoffs

2) apparently not good enough to play in the Flames top 6 for more than 2 games in a row.

He has gone through 3 coaches in Florida (Quenneville, Brunette and Maurice) and has been a great player for all of them. Maurice does not have a stellar record with under achieving star players.

It would be interesting to see the post trade analysis by Conroy on why the Flames messed up Bennett so badly. Who besides Conroy had a voice on the Bennett dilemma and are they still in the Flames Organization?

Also heading into the Kadri/Huberdeau/Mangiapane mess and how the new coach plans to manage them.

[dammage79]

Yep, the Flames have all of the pieces in house to move ahead for the next decade , coaches Goalies, GMs and management and some incoming legends to sell the team. Oh and that new arena too.

It's Love if they can't Land Brunette. That's about the only coach I can see the Flames not promoting Mitch Love for.

[GranteedEV]

I hope we stay well clear of Brunette. Took over a 7-0-0 team that was firing on all cylinders, and managed to make all the subtle tweaks required to make them underperform in meaningful games. Good assistant, but not a HC

[GirlySports]

Patrick Roy with the Remparts is not an option?

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Patrick Roy with the Remparts is not an option?

I was pondering that yesterday. I don't know enough about him to say one way or the other but it's intriguing.

[Wastedyouth]

Laviollette sucks. Never hire him.

[AndyM]

Originally Posted by boogerz

Besides the question of whether his success was reliant on the Dustin Wolf factor, Love also was guilty of mishandling Valimaki and seems to favor grit more than pure skill (e.g. Pettersen, Poirier, and Rubins were all regular scratches during the season), which doesn't really align with the makeup of the Flames roster. He made the unforced error of foregoing home ice advantage in the playoffs. Was he also mostly deploying the Flames' mediocre systems, but with greater success than Sutter?

?? No they weren't. Poirier was a rookie and sat a couple of games in an effort to see the game from a different angle. Rubins was brought in as a depth blueliner. Petterson was a hot and cold player but was not a regular scratch. The only regular scratches were Josh Brook and Alex Gallant.

[topfiverecords]

Whomever they go with, they should give them a 2.4year contract.

[dustygoon]

Do we lose Mitch Love if we don't make him HC? I hope not.

He's never coached at NHL level yet. A stint as assistant could be better for his career long term.

How about....

Brunette as HC
Huska Assistant
Love Assistant

Muller - gone
Sigalet - somewhere that is no where near Wolf
Cail Maclean - not sure what he does