Confirmed with Link: Geoff Ward is officially head coach

[Mazatt]

Treliving is the most pathetic GM in the league. God help us if he is the one in charge to trade one of our core players...

Yeah, he's terrible at trading core players, like when he got Lindholm and Hanifin for Hamilton! Wait...

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

I love it.

 

[InfinityIggy]

Can we not.

 

[Fig]

Yeah, he's terrible at trading core players, like when he got Lindholm and Hanifin for Hamilton! Wait...

Sadly, guys like Hudler, Glencross, Russell and those guys were technically core players that were traded once upon a time... and he robbed the teams he traded those guys to. Sure, they're fringe core at the time of trade, but still core. Hell even Brodie was basically on the block for Kadri and he's up there too as fringe core.

Thank goodness we've come as far as we have over all this time. Treliving isn't scared to move anyone on the roster unless the return is for something that will keep him awake at night.

None of the coaches so far have been able to steer his team properly since he took over. It kinda reminds me of when Sutter went GM and got a bunch of coaches who didn't seem like they understood his vision for his team at all.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Like I’ve said before we had 25+ years of poor special teams before Geoff showed up.

the team played well under him 5 on 5, if he can get whatever is left of Gaudreau/Monahan going than this is a really good team.

 

[Deen]

I seriously can't back this team with Gaudreau still here, so whatever. Why not just waste a couple years in the mean time with a meandering coach?

 

[Khrox]

Ryan Pike actually did a write-up on Flames Nation about a week ago about our head-coaches since the '04 lockout that's a good read.

Dutter: We apparently spent some money here (and had a ton of experience). Though he was also GM, and that was likely a factor in his salary being higher
Playfair: First time HC, probably dirty cheap
Mike Keenan: Cost a fair bit of money
Butter: While maybe not "expensive", was likely not cheap
Hartley: Former cup winner, likely not cheap
Gully: Second time HC (first time was that stint in Dallas), probably cheap
Peters: Not cheap, but not expensive.
Ward: Cheap, but got a raise when taking the interim title (and likely another raise when made official HC)

He then analyzes amount of Conference Final appearances, and basically states "Spending big on a veteran coach only works in the right situations, and is a costly backfire otherwise." The only veteran coaches to have success before actually winning the cup were Quennville and Dutter (Q with 11 seasons under his belt before going to Chicago, Dutter with 12 before going to LA). DeBoer, Lavi, Babcock, and Vigneault were all cases where they were given a second chance after their first gig was unimpressive at best (similar to Gully and Peters for us). Cooper, and Carlyle (first time in Anaheim) were both first time head coaches when they started having success. Basically, there is no sure-fire way, and it has to be done on a case-by-case basis. Do the coaches work with the way the team is built, can the coach get a good rapport with the players (doesn't have to be friends, but at least a strong working relationship that is amicable), and in a couple cases, can the team get lucky under that coach.

 

[Anglesmith]

This was expected at this point. Hoped for a different move, but now I hope Ward is the right choice.

 

[CamPopplestone]

We weren't getting one of the big guys, so it's fine.
Plus he did have a good enough record, and did what you could have asked from him in the interim role. So it might be bad optics around the league to cut him. Might make other staff think twice about ever coming here
Would have been awkward as hell to try to push him back to assistant too

 

[Body Checker]

Any coach out there couldn’t take this roster to a Cup. We’re a mid tier contender likely closer to the “just missing the playoffs tier” than the top 4 tier.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Ward reminds me of Greg Gilbert.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

Any coach out there couldn’t take this roster to a Cup.

A coach who uses Bennett as a 20+ minute 1C along with Backlund as a 20+ minute 2C and Ryan as a 15+ minute 3C could probably have.

But yes, any coach who just sticks to the Johnny-Monny status quo probably ends up with the same results as always.

 

[InfinityIggy]

The only top tier expensive coach we’ve had in the cap era is Dutter and we had tremendous success with him as coach given what he had to work with.

Spending too much on non-elite coaches isn’t the same thing. Spending too much on Peters doesn’t make him any good.

Hartley was probably our 2nd most successful coach over that span in terms of results. I’m sure he was also probably one of the two most expensive (elite) coaches we’ve had.

Looking at the list of cheap coaches (Gully) I’m not sure how anyone could come away with the idea that’s the way to go.

 

[Flames Fanatic]

The only top tier expensive coach we’ve had in the cap era is Dutter and we had tremendous success with him as coach given what he had to work with.

Spending too much on non-elite coaches isn’t the same thing. Spending too much on Peters doesn’t make him any good.

Hartley was probably our 2nd most successful coach over that span in terms of results. I’m sure he was also probably one of the two most expensive (elite) coaches we’ve had.

Looking at the list of cheap coaches (Gully) I’m not sure how anyone could come away with the idea that’s the way to go.

I was under the impression Hartley was not a hugely expensive coach at the time given his recent track record not being as strong going into the job. I could be remembering wrong, but I could have sworn it was a deal that was cheaper so he could prove he was still an NHL coach.

 

[Fire Treliving]

Yeah, he's terrible at trading core players, like when he got Lindholm and Hanifin for Hamilton! Wait...

Yeah. Lindholm has been a decent fit but invisible in POs and Hanifin is nothing but a mediocre #4.
Hamilton was one of the favorites for the Norris.

Great trade.

 

[Volica]

Had time to think about it more, and still just feeling very whelmed.
If this team just goes back next season with the same setup; I don't even know what I'm going to do with myself.

We've proven that outside of one regular season over the last 5 years, this core isn't one that's going to be a continuous 104+ point team. It's just not built well enough at the top of the roster. It's crazy to think... when we had Iggy, we could never surround him with the depth he needed. Now we don't have an elite player, and all we can do is surround our current 'stars' with very acceptable depth.

Worst problem to have: We need a star centre that can take over a game.

Look at teams like Edmonton or Colorado. Edmonton has literally nothing, but had a good season riding two of the best players in the world. Colorado after injuries had no one, MacKinnon just took over for them. I know we're talking about three of the top 6-10 players in the world... but man, that elite piece is missing.

 

[Mobiandi]

Apparently the players were upset after game 6 because they thought the loss would mean the end of Ward as head coach. So it looks like they actually respect the guy (throwback to GG stick throw) and enjoy playing for him (not like Peters)

On the spectrum of GM moves, by moving forward with Ward, I'd say we're much closer to Phaneuf panic trade time than we are to shuffling deck chairs. I just wish there wasn't so much smoke around another damn trade with the Coyotes.

It's difficult to know what to do though. What do you do as the GM of a team whose 4 best offensive players play substantially worse than your depth players? You can't trade all of them but you should probably decide to trade one of them

 

[Fig]

I was under the impression Hartley was not a hugely expensive coach at the time given his recent track record not being as strong going into the job. I could be remembering wrong, but I could have sworn it was a deal that was cheaper so he could prove he was still an NHL coach.

I seem to recall he took a pay cut to join the Flames because he was somehow really close to Feaster or something.

 

[Mobiandi]

I seem to recall he took a pay cut to join the Flames because he was somehow really close to Feaster or something.

Was it a paycut? He'd been out of the league for 5 years which is a lifetime in the NHL. I'd assume he'd sign for just about any money.

 

[Fig]

Was it a paycut? He'd been out of the league for 5 years which is a lifetime in the NHL. I'd assume he'd sign for just about any money.

Hmm... no idea on reality vs semantics. Apparently Montreal was also interested in his services at the time.

Calgary Flames hire Bob Hartley as coach

He's also Feaster's son's god father.

 

[Mobiandi]

Hmm... no idea on reality vs semantics. Apparently Montreal was also interested in his services at the time.

Calgary Flames hire Bob Hartley as coach

He's also Feaster's son's god father.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they were poking around Hartley just cause he's a Francophone coach with a cup ring. They ended up going with Therrien who had also been out of the league for a while but had history with the organization

 

[CamPopplestone]

Apparently the players were upset after game 6 because they thought the loss would mean the end of Ward as head coach. So it looks like they actually respect the guy (throwback to GG stick throw) and enjoy playing for him (not like Peters)

On the spectrum of GM moves, by moving forward with Ward, I'd say we're much closer to Phaneuf panic trade time than we are to shuffling deck chairs. I just wish there wasn't so much smoke around another damn trade with the Coyotes.

It's difficult to know what to do though. What do you do as the GM of a team whose 4 best offensive players play substantially worse than your depth players? You can't trade all of them but you should probably decide to trade one of them

Ward is a players coach and our boys love the country club atmosphere

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

I think we didn’t make a coaching splash because of dollars due to CoVid.

 

[SKRusty]

I think we didn’t make a coaching splash because of dollars due to CoVid.

I am not thrilled by sticking with Ward but it is far from the end of the world. To his credit he had the team playing as a team and we shouldn't ignore the value of having a tight group of guys.

Had some time to digest the end of our playoffs and today I am not nearly as disappointed. We were 12 seconds away from putting this years Stanley Cup Finalist on the ropes 3 games to 1.

Add in having 2 of our best young players on the IR and things are not nearly as dire.

Even if Valimaki is only capable of getting himself to Andersson's level, that's one hell of a defenseman. After watching him a great deal in the WHL and the playoffs against Colorado I see him more in the company of Heiskanen or Makar but time will tell.

Chucky going down was a huge blow. What he brings in leadership can't be understated. If Chucky play we win that series.

As much as I think Calgary would be better without Johnny there is no way Tre should trade him without getting an equitable return.

I really liked what Looch brought in the playoffs but he isn't worth the contract. I am hoping COVID allows for a manner of compliance buyout for his contract so Calgary can retain more youth down the road.

 

[BudRobinson53]

Height of the Pandemic, 0 Fans-the-Stands, new building far in the distance - I think this had more to do with internal budgets vs. attracting a coach that may or may not get you through the first round.