Could Bob Hartley be a good match for the Caps?

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

I keep thinking the Caps are only as good as their coach and have for a while.

They need a coach who can calm them down and get them playing right -- even if he has a short shelf life.

They also need a coach who knows what it's like to win.

Bob Hartley is a player's coach, until they tune him out.

Could he be what the Caps need?

You look at his time in Atlanta and Calgary, maybe he knows a way to best utilize his top offensive guys?

Or am I out to lunch?

Click to read more...

 

[Brewsky]

How many coaches do they need to go through before the players shoulder the blame? And management?

Don't let this game 7 distract you from the fact that the Capitals traded Filip Forsberg for Martin Erat essentially.

 

[JaegerDice]

Go ahead, fire another coach.

That will surely change everything THIS TIME.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

How many coaches do they need to go through before the players shoulder the blame? And management?

Don't let this game 7 distract you from the fact that the Capitals traded Filip Forsberg for Martin Erat essentially.

None of the coaches they've hired know what it takes to win

 

[JaegerDice]

None of the coaches they've hired know what it takes to win

Just to be clear, Mike Sullivan - he who had won literally nothing as an AC or HC in the NHL - knew how to win before coaching the Pens to the Stanley Cup, did he?



....maybe roster quality is important?

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Just to be clear, Mike Sullivan - he who had won literally nothing as an AC or HC in the NHL - knew how to win before coaching the Pens to the Stanley Cup, did he?



....maybe roster quality is important?

The Caps have had quality rosters.

 

[JaegerDice]

The Caps have had quality rosters.

Indeed. They've had quality depth talent and good goaltending the last two years.

The one constant throughout their playoff disappointment is the core.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Indeed. They've had quality depth talent and good goaltending the last two years.

The one constant throughout their playoff disappointment is the core.

True. Ovechkin has not been the disappointment in that core, at least before this year.

 

[BHD]

1) Hartley isn't a good coach (he's bad, actually)
2) He isn't better than Trotz or Boudreau, both of whom haven't gotten this group past the second round
3) When is it the players?

 

[BobColesNasalCavity]

Caps need Iron Mike to come in and keep them honest.

 

[Hockeyholic]

Team needs a player shake up. Stop blaming the coach.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

1) Hartley isn't a good coach (he's bad, actually)

Hartley is a great playoff coach for a star-studded veteran team with strong goaltending actually. He was the wrong fit in Calgary as a lot of our young forwards sans Backlund did not know how to play possession hockey and he wasn't interested in teaching/forcing that. But in two years as our team learns that stuff, I'd like him back as he has a lot of experience and gut feel.

What set Harltey apart from a guy like Trotz was that he had different systems for different lines, which I think would get the Capitals over the edge.

If a team has bad goaltending though, he's not willing to play a conservative style to make bad goalies look good.

 

[Snakepit]

I think that's a team a guy like Hartley could really get going. Hartley definitely isn't a coach you build a team with, he's not that kind of guy or tactictian, but he's definitely a guy that could get a team over that final hurdle. Give him a good team that already has a strong foundation and I think he can improve them

 

[illpucks]

Just to be clear, Mike Sullivan - he who had won literally nothing as an AC or HC in the NHL - knew how to win before coaching the Pens to the Stanley Cup, did he?



....maybe roster quality is important?

Mike Sullivan already has back to back cups. He's a smart adjustment coach and he knows how to get Crosby, Malkin and company performing at 110%

 

[Bleedred]

1) Hartley isn't a good coach (he's bad, actually)

/thread

I'm surprised it took 9 posts for someone to say it.

I think that's a team a guy like Hartley could really get going. Hartley definitely isn't a coach you build a team with, he's not that kind of guy or tactictian, but he's definitely a guy that could get a team over that final hurdle. Give him a good team that already has a strong foundation and I think he can improve them

What makes you think he could get them over the hump? Because he did it with Roy, Sakic, Blake and Bourque 16 years ago? That's 4 HOF'ers and the best goalie and arguably the best center in the league at the time. I won't count Forsberg (another HOF talent) as he was injured during those playoffs.

Hartley is one of these guys that washed out of league once for quite a few years and it seems like he's washed out once again, perhaps for good this time.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

What makes you think he could get them over the hump?

Two years ago he got a team with Kris Russell, Dennis Wideman, and Deryk Engelland in its top four defense, and Rafael Diaz as its #6 defenseman, out of the first round of the playoffs by toying around with the coach at the other end.

He's got a great offensive instinct and got a team that was expected to compete for Connor McDavid in the lottery to consecutive top scoring seasons.

He is a great teacher and successful line-blender who elevated the games of players like Backlund, Giordano, Brodie, Russell, Ferland, and Hudler. Heck he got Joe Colborne to 20 goals, where's Colborne now?

With a roster like Washington's, he could go deep in the playoffs. The thing that separates him from guys like Trotz is that he knows when he needs to do whatever it takes to win. His relentlessness in game 6 against the Canucks was, to date, one of the best in-game coaching performances I've ever witnessed in this sport. He won that game, not the players.

I thought Hartley had to go, because his team needed to round out its edges away from him. The Capitals' edges are rounded out.

Because he did it with Roy, Sakic, Blake and Bourque 16 years ago? That's 4 HOF'ers and the best goalie and arguably the best center in the league at the time. I won't count Forsberg (another HOF talent) as he was injured during those playoffs.

And? The Capitals are talented too.

Regardless:

Hasek was the best goalie.
Bourque was 40 years old.
Blake is no more a hall of famer than the best defenseman on pretty much any cup caliber team.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Trotz isn't the problem. The team just doesn't have winners on it.

 

[Flair Hay]

Caps looked more than "calm" enough last night. They need more intensity not less ...

 

[Fig]

Caps looked more than "calm" enough last night. They need more intensity not less ...

Hartley runs a style that increases intensity. We're talking the cardiac kids of '15 who kept making ridiculous 3rd period come backs.

I'm thinking Sutter is the guy Caps should chase though.

 

[amnesiac]

Trotz is the best coach theyve ever had, they came within a few goals of winning yesterday. Still an elite team, couldnt beat the slightly superior Pens. Try again next year.

 

[tony d]

Coaching isn't the problem for the team, they just need someone to come in as a player and put them over the edge similar to Shanahan with the Wings in 1997.