Thoughts on Bob Hartley

[MonahanTheMan]

At first I was pissed off at Hartely for some of his favoritism (ie, Berra + Colborne). Looking at the numbers, he's developing our young players perfectly.

Stajan, Jones, Glencross, Giordano, and Brodie are playing against the toughest opposition players. They're also getting mostly defensive zone starts. Next you have Cammy, Backlund, Galiardi, Stempniak, SMid, Butler, and Bouma.

Whereas Monahan, Baertschi, Colborne, Wideman, Russel, Hudler and Byron are getting the easy roles - consistng of offensive zone starts against weak competitors. Then you look at who's getting the most ice time. The guys playig against tough competitors are obviously rewarded (except Russel, Wideman, and Hudler are eating a lot of minutes), whereas the Monahan and Colborne are being managed very well with healthy minutes for rookie guys.

What else has he done?

The Flames are 25th in GA/G, while being 29th in Goals per game. The GA/G is remarkable since our goalies were pretty much rookies themselves. And the goals for seem too low give the scoring chances we see on the ice. The Flames don't shoot the puck though. They're ranked 28th in shots for amongst all teams. However, they're ranked the 10th best team in the league for Shots against.

A lot of 26th in Power Play %, while being 20th in PK%. We're ranked 5th among all teams in blocked shots, while being 22nd in hits. We're still crappy in face-offs, since FLames are ranked 29th. But we improved in shoot-outs and are now ranked 14th. The Flames are also ranked 14th in reported man-games lost (injuries).



References:

http://www.mangameslost.com/nhl-man-games-lost-chip-tmitt-march-4-2014/
http://www.nhl.com/ice/teamstats.ht...shootoutGamesWon&viewName=shootoutTeamSummary
http://www.hockeyabstract.com/playerusagecharts

We're seriously only 22nd in hits? That's bizarre. An improvement though, I guess.

 

[MarkGio]

We're seriously only 22nd in hits? That's bizarre. An improvement though, I guess.

I know, its very surprising. I don't think Hartley plays that system, plus we lack defensive defensemen as well as gritty forwards.

I will say we should nevertheless have more hits than most other teams because we have the puck less than most other teams. Obviously we wouldn't be laying down checks if we're always in possession.

 

[Jihadi Flames Fan]

I like Bob Hartley! I think he's gotten the most out of this group. Like with any coach, give him some better talent and he'll give you some better results. Coaching is the least of our concerns right now.

 

[SaintMorose]

I think the biggest worry with hiring a new GM right now, is that he brings in his own coaching staff to topple one that the team is playing very well under.

 

[Roughneck]

I wasn't a fan of the hiring, but I am more than okay with how he has coached the team and would be happy to see him coach them for next season as well provided he can have the team playing with the same energy and attitude. He may not be the long term answer, but he has certainly seemed to be good for this group of young players.

Burke has said he wants entertaining hockey, and this team has managed to be pretty entertaining. Moreso than in the past couple years that's for sure.

 

[Anglesmith]

There's a lot of this assumption going around that Burke will need to bring in his own guys to coach the team. In this case, however, I don't really know if he can justify that. He has said numerous times that the way he wants the team to play is exciting, fast-paced hockey on the front foot. That is exactly the way Hartley coaches. He says he wants a team that is always trying to win and not suffering through ineptitude for a higher pick, and the fact that Hartley has these guys winning games without very many NHL players is a testament to that philosophy.

Burke has always expressed his pleasure at how hard Hartley has the guys playing. The only issue he has with the team is that they aren't difficult to play against, but it sounds as though he views that as a personnel problem, which is up to the GM, not a playing style problem, because he doesn't want the team playing Coyotes hockey. As long as we're playing balls to the wall like we are, I can't see Burke making a coaching change after this season.

 

[JEO1990]

Well you no like da one ting I say about like Artley is like you doan need to like worry about da effort from da team like any time. He can like get da boys playing ard an you no like wen dat happen like its anyone's game.

LOL....This is awesome. (Awesome.....hmmmmm...Yes, I am a child of the 80's)