GDT: Flames @ Bruins, 5:00 MST, Sportsnet West, Fan 960

[Johnny Hoxville]

Bergeron and Marchand are all world. They completely dominated us the entire game. Boston is also coached extremely well, they controlled the puck all game and were a much faster team. The Flames played well but they were outclassed by the B’s. Nothing to be mad about.

Also Evanka looks as good as Boston did.

 

[Mr Snrub]

I'm giving a Harv, 3-2 Flames win guarantee tonight.

Mods please ban

 

[JurassicTunga]

Flames played badly after the 1st period. Horrendous powerplay continues... Cameron must go.
Need to get back on track against NSH.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

Mods please ban

 

[JPeeper]

Flames PP a proper 0/5 tonight. Could have gone up 3-1, could have gone up 3-2, could have tied it 3-3.

But no, let's just not even get a shot on a power play. f***ing disgusting that these coaches get paid money to coach our PP. Disgraceful.

 

[FlamerForLife]

Boston showed why they're the 2nd best team in the league in the final 40 mins. Didn't expect to win this one but still sucks losing it, if only we could've got a pp goal. Hopefully the boys can finish the roady strong on Thursday.

On the bright side LA and Anaheim also lost in regulation tonight.

 

[Deen]

I am DTF at this point.

D- Down
T- To
F- Fire Gulutzan

 

[BigRangy]

I'm pretty convinced at this point that GG's system works and leads the Flames to having a good chance to win most games

However I don't know if he has what it takes to motivate the players to give effort when they need to

Some of the lack of effort is on the players, but when it is everyone, it falls on the coach as well

 

[Mr Snrub]

I'm pretty convinced at this point that GG's system works and leads the Flames to having a good chance to win most games

However I don't know if he has what it takes to motivate the players to give effort when they need to

Some of the lack of effort is on the players, but when it is everyone, it falls on the coach as well

This is exactly where I stand. I think Gulutzan's coaching ethos tilts the odds of the players towards success by having them play smart, not hard. But sometimes you need to play hard too, especially in games where you're straight up outmatched, like this one. He is a smart guy but the experiment is over. Go get Quenneville.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

This is exactly where I stand. I think Gulutzan's coaching ethos tilts the odds of the players towards success by having them play smart, not hard. But sometimes you need to play hard too, especially in games where you're straight up outmatched, like this one. He is a smart guy but the experiment is over. Go get Quenneville.

....employed by the Chicago Blackhawks. Let's not just assume he's on the hot seat.

I do think we need a coaching change though. I disagree that it's about "motivation" or "effort" - I just don't know if the right in-game feel is there. Maybe I just fell in love with how Hartley managed his bench, but he always seemed to have something up his sleeve to make every game a close one.

it's also misleading to say we're better defensively under Gulutzan. Our expected GA this season (all situations) is 23rd in the league. It was 12th last year. Bob's final year it was 22nd, but it was 15th the year before. I think we play a different style, but not necessarily a more successful one defensively. Offensively it's no contest which style was better.

 

[JGaudreau]

Gulutzan is not our problem right now and it's glaringly obvious. He's not perfect but his flaws are secondary at the moment. Our powerplay is on course to be worst in the league. Cameron has lost us a handful of games this season.

Momentum shifts, by and large, occur during powerplays. Until we get a league average pp this team will never go anywhere. You just can't afford to lose momentum five times in a game and come out expecting to win. To quote Gulutzan "the league is even 5 on 5 and most games are decided by special teams". Just fire Cameron and let Gulutzan run the special teams himself, he couldn't do any worse if he tried.

What's worse is when you have a horrendous powerplay the opposition doesn't care about infractions. Their mistakes don't matter, hack away, run our goalie. Doesn't matter if the refs are calling it because we won't score. Then we start to get emotional about the calls, then we start to grip the sticks tighter, then we fold when we get a soft call against because it feels unfair and then they let in a goal when everyone is staring at the puck. This has happened a dozen or so times this season. The issue compounds itself to the point it's going to cost us the season if we keep it up.

 

[lightstorm]

It's quite fascinating how long is Ferland's leash, I mean the guy has what, 1 goal in the last 13 games playing with Johnny frickin Gaudreau??

 

[InfinityIggy]

Mods please ban

@Harvey Specter you have been banned from hfboards.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Getting a team to play a system and structure should be the bare minimum requirement for a head coach. I know this board in particular likes to dump all over Hartley for not having a system, but he did have one and when the goaltending wasn't absolute ass it worked alright considering he had a less talented roster than GG does.

I don't think a coaching change would do all that much honestly. The team desperately needs another scorer in the top 6 to push Frolik down to the 3rd line. Someone that is a threat to score from the top of the circles. If Treliving can get that without mortgaging the future I think he should pull the trigger. Don't really think Versteeg is that guy.


Dave Cameron can GTFO tho, honestly believe half the people here could run a better PP.

 

[CamPopplestone]

I think ultimately the issue is our teams core in a way. The motivation/lack of effort can't be ignored. I question if any coach could get this team to buy in more, at least for more than a season or so before they fell back down again

 

[Tkachuky]

Our Pp is unacceptable. Something has to change.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Our Pp is unacceptable. Something has to change.

Our coach needs to allow Johnny to make a few mistakes. Our players can’t be afraid to make a play or a mistake, we have no aggression. Everyone stands still. Johnny needs to deke into the middle of the ice, open up a passing lane and that person shoots. But everyone is too afraid to try anything and it’s predictable.

 

[JGaudreau]

I think ultimately the issue is our teams core in a way. The motivation/lack of effort can't be ignored. I question if any coach could get this team to buy in more, at least for more than a season or so before they fell back down again

That's where I disagree. Johnny, Monahan, Thachuk, Gio, Backlund, Lomberg, Hathaway, Kulak, Smith all buy in. There's enough guys that buy in 100%. The issue is losing momentum every time we get a powerplay, that's backbreaking. Nobody is so much of a steel trap that they can withstand the mental fatigue of losing the games momentum over and over, it's psychologically draining to anyone.

Look at it as not a Flames fan, it's an insurmountable obstacle to overcome for any team. Hockey is a game of momentum and we may be the worst team in the NHL at managing that aspect. It's at the point where you can pinpoint the moment when we are going to collapse, they get the yips and start puck watching due to the attribution bias from similar experiences. Over the past 2 months the psychological breakdowns have become so palpable I go that's it, we're done.

Of course Gulutzan could help by calling a timeout in these moments but Cameron is the progenitor and needs to go yesterday. It's at the point where you can almost feel Cameron's toxic influence flip a switch and the team goes from winners to watchers. The blame, statistically, at this point falls on one man.

 

[Mr Snrub]

@Harvey Specter you have been banned from hfboards.

The system works

 

[Mobiandi]

Man even the Sharks lost tonight

 

[crackdown44]

It's quite fascinating how long is Ferland's leash, I mean the guy has what, 1 goal in the last 13 games playing with Johnny frickin Gaudreau??

While I think Tkachuk would be absolutely filthy on that line it would remove what very little scoring we have from our bottom 9. Only thing I might consider at this point is Bennett in Ferland’s spot but that hasn’t worked great in the past. GG also never changes lines

 

[Baxterman]

It's quite fascinating how long is Ferland's leash, I mean the guy has what, 1 goal in the last 13 games playing with Johnny frickin Gaudreau??

The issue is that he needs Monahan and Gaudreau to create offense so putting him down the line-up basically means he is useless in terms of secondary scoring and there isn't a clear replacement for him. But an upgrade in that spot would be nice.

 

[Tkachuky]

Out of town scoreboard was very friendly last night.

 

[The Gnome]

The low hanging fruit is the absurdity that is the Dave Cameron PP...and the fact he still has a job. I have no idea what management is doing on this issue. The players can take some of the blame, but nobody can convince me that we do not have the talent to be at least adequate on the PP.

What I saw as the nail in the coffin last night. Classic GG robot gameplan. We played our way in the 1st and had success. But a great team like the Bruins adjusted their game plan and when we started getting worked GG does nothing to counter adjust our zone entries. It's like the bruins were playing NHL18 AI last night set to it's lowest setting. Every single zone entry looked exactly the same and of course, a well coached team like the Bruins figured it out, then completely shut us down the rest of the game. GGs plan is to simply keep going back to the well and he makes zero attempt to correct something that, is clear to anyone with 2 brain cells, is not working.

GG and this coaching staff need to go, but it's too late in the season now. Simply firing Cameron would at least help a little right now. This roster will never realize its full potential under our current coaching staff.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

The low hanging fruit is the absurdity that is the Dave Cameron PP...and the fact he still has a job. I have no idea what management is doing on this issue. The players can take some of the blame, but nobody can convince me that we do not have the talent to be at least adequate on the PP.

What I saw as the nail in the coffin last night. Classic GG robot gameplan. We played our way in the 1st and had success. But a great team like the Bruins adjusted their game plan and when we started getting worked GG does nothing to counter adjust our zone entries. It's like the bruins were playing NHL18 AI last night set to it's lowest setting. Every single zone entry looked exactly the same and of course, a well coached team like the Bruins figured it out and completely shut us down the rest of the game. GGs plan is to simply keep going back to the well and he makes zero attempt to correct something, that is clear to anyone with 2 brain cells, is not working.

GG and this coaching staff need to go, but it's too late in the season now. Simply firing Cameron would at least help a little right now. This roster will never realize its full potential under our current coaching staff.