Oh god. Didn't all the young players hate Hartley? Or was that just the supporting players?
It was all speculation after the Johnny/Mony/Bouma benching, but I think that was what made him a good coach.
My personal speculation:
I don't think Hartley ever truly lost the room here and it was a pretty young room.
I don't believe Byron/Gaudreau/Monahan/Brodie/Bennett/Ferland hated Hartley. He loved fast, skilled players and put them in positions to succeed. I'd probably assume Colborne, Ortio, and Nakladal were Hartley fans too as he really seemed to understand their strengths and weaknesses.
I think a few guys - Backlund in particular - had a love/hate relationship with Hartley. Hartley was quick to bench Backs when Backs was playing poorly but also saw Backlund through his emergence as a #2 NHL Center when the previous coach had Backlund on a track to the KHL. Hartley gave Backlund the direction - and the Offensive Green Light - to emerge. And I believe Backlund was the player who most thrived in Hartley's uptempo system because his style of play was responsible enough to offset the system's glaring holes that we saw with Monahan, Stajan, or Granlund at center. Bennett and Backlund were definitely two centers who were made for Bob Hartley Hockey.
I do believe some of the older vets (Gio, Stajan, Engelland) were perhaps jaded on Hartley's run n gun system and pushed for more defensive structure. Gio really hyped up Gulutzan's system when the coaching change was made, and Stajan had some charged words about how we were handling faceoffs during the Hartley era that really stood out. Engelland also pointed out during Gulutzan's time here that he felt more at home playing the body and getting support from his centers, although I bet he credits Hartley for his development, as he simply improved his skill over that time here throwing so many icings i mean stretch pass attempts.
I also believe some of the scrubs (Bollig, Raymond, Bouma) probably hated Hartley because, let's be frank, he didn't really love them and asked them to go out there and get injured.
And I believe Sven Baertschi hated Hartley, and Huska, and Burke, and probably also Gaudreau because he seemed to believe he was the second coming of Iginla being buried in the AHL.
The only thing we know as far as someone who hated Hartley was an enforcer, but that to me suggests the enforcer hated his own role. Ironically Hartley stopped playing McGrattan and Bollig by 2014/15/16 so even Hartley was getting a bit over the enforcer role himself.
The one young guy who might have thrown Hartley under the bus might have been Hamilton. Seems like a Hamilton thing to do.
Going to other stops, Hartley saw guys like Ilya Kovalchuk, Marc Savard, Marian Hossa, Alex and Tanguay emerge and really hit their prime. He was a guy who actually worked with his stars on making them complete, competitive players. If Zavgorodniy played a year for Hartley in the KHL I believe it would be an outstandingly positive influence on his development. Hartley benched Kovalchuk once, too, and that seems like forever ago because by the time Kovalchuk arrived in New Jersey he was a mature winner.