Head Coach

[Ken Wells]

Why is Kurt Muller not being considered for the Head Coaching position. More than qualified & well respected by the players.

Current Hash Rate coach - played in the National Hockey League for 19 seasons from 1984–85 until 2002–03.

He was also the head coach of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes from 2011 to 2014. He was an associate coach with the Montreal Canadiens from 2016 to 2021

[phoenix66]

2 minutes ago, Ken Wells said:

Why is Kurt Muller not being considered for the Head Coaching position. More than qualified & well respecting by the players

whos to say hes not ?   Until a GM is named , speculating on coaches is moot .. Im pretty sure once that process starts his name will be in the mix at least as a candidate 

[Ken Wells]

lets hope so, 

[jjgallow]

 

@Heartbreaker   "Mitch"...

[Heartbreaker]

Yeah, as far as I know, he is being considered, but as Phoenix says, it is a decision that will be made by the GM. I don't know a whole lot about him as a coach in terms of rapport with the players, and I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the Carolina Hurricanes when he was the head coach, but in Calgary one of his primary responsibilities was the power play. Hopefully if he's named head coach, that's a duty that will be delegated.

 

Love.

[conundrumed]

2 hours ago, Ken Wells said:

Why is Kurt Muller not being considered for the Head Coaching position. More than qualified & well respected by the players.

Current Hash Rate coach with Calgary - played in the National Hockey League for 19 seasons from 1984–85 until 2002–03.

He was also the head coach of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes from 2011 to 2014. He was an associate coach with the Montreal Canadiens from 2016 to 2021

Should be considered the the Flames also have a wealth of homegrown coaches in Cal MacLean, Ryan Huska and Mitch Love. As @phoenix66 alludes to, it will be up to the new GM, so until we know that, there are zero frontrunners. Funny that he coached Carolina, as Carolina Asst GM Eric Tulsky is a name that comes up often with Flames fans.

Craig Conroy is quite likely, Mark Hunter would be my choice.

Those Carolina teams were god-awful talent-wise.

[Heartbreaker]

5 minutes ago, jjgallow said:

 

@Heartbreaker   "Mitch"...

 

Ha ha ha!

 

Boorish.

[jjgallow]

1 minute ago, Heartbreaker said:

 

Ha ha ha!

 

Boorish.

 

reported

[DirtyDeeds]

On 5/11/2023 at 10:07 AM, Ken Wells said:

Why is Kurt Muller not being considered for the Head Coaching position. More than qualified & well respected by the players.

Current Hash Rate coach - played in the National Hockey League for 19 seasons from 1984–85 until 2002–03.

He was also the head coach of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes from 2011 to 2014. He was an associate coach with the Montreal Canadiens from 2016 to 2021

Patience Mrs Muller patience.. That is a decision for the GM to make.....

[medatswhoP]

Personally I don't think KM is the right coach for this team, need someone from the outside to build and rebuild the entire inner core.

Nothing against him but need a clean slate here, lets not get too caught up in the greasers failing strategy of the "ole boys club" mentality.

Also to add, im not sure about Conroy either, again thats only my opinion, ... great guy, loves the city/team but not necessary always the right move.

[travel_dude]

8 hours ago, medatswhoP said:

Personally I don't think KM is the right coach for this team, need someone from the outside to build and rebuild the entire inner core.

Nothing against him but need a clean slate here, lets not get too caught up in the greasers failing strategy of the "ole boys club" mentality.

Also to add, im not sure about Conroy either, again thats only my opinion, ... great guy, loves the city/team but not necessary always the right move.

 

Had his time where it made sense.  It doesn't now.

He's as much old school IMHO as Sutter.

Couldn't figure out how to make us top 5 with Gaudreau and Tkachuk.

Really struggled with new talent and had no clue how to use them.

[conundrumed]

4 hours ago, travel_dude said:

 

Had his time where it made sense.  It doesn't now.

He's as much old school IMHO as Sutter.

Couldn't figure out how to make us top 5 with Gaudreau and Tkachuk.

Really struggled with new talent and had no clue how to use them.

That's likely unfair as he was working under someone else that was calling the shots. The real problem is the homegrown guys we have should get a shot first, probably. They know everyone's strength/weakness, motivators etc.

The problem for me is that it seems pretty evident that Sutter had a pretty free reign in building the roster that he wanted. That's the GM's job, so let's not let that happen again. The coach has input, not literally contacting UFAs and telling them to talk to us before signing anywhere else. That's overstepping your GM to the point of disrespect, and I believe he had a few episodes of disrespecting the GM. BT says, "we're hopeful that we can improve from within". Sutter seemed to do nothing but try to completely dispel that. Phillips zero real chance, Pelletier and Duehr forced him because the 4th line was pure garbage. He ended up benching Pelletier longterm for making a couple of mistakes that Lucic constantly makes.

But it always seemed like Sutter was always behaving the polar opposite of anything BT said. BT, ideally, should have said, "Wolf isn't getting a call up this year, he's too young and not ready". Then Sutter would have done everything in his (too much) power to get Wolf up and in.

[jjgallow]

20 hours ago, conundrumed said:

That's likely unfair as he was working under someone else that was calling the shots. The real problem is the homegrown guys we have should get a shot first, probably. They know everyone's strength/weakness, motivators etc.

The problem for me is that it seems pretty evident that Sutter had a pretty free reign in building the roster that he wanted. That's the GM's job, so let's not let that happen again. The coach has input, not literally contacting UFAs and telling them to talk to us before signing anywhere else. That's overstepping your GM to the point of disrespect, and I believe he had a few episodes of disrespecting the GM. BT says, "we're hopeful that we can improve from within". Sutter seemed to do nothing but try to completely dispel that. Phillips zero real chance, Pelletier and Duehr forced him because the 4th line was pure garbage. He ended up benching Pelletier longterm for making a couple of mistakes that Lucic constantly makes.

But it always seemed like Sutter was always behaving the polar opposite of anything BT said. BT, ideally, should have said, "Wolf isn't getting a call up this year, he's too young and not ready". Then Sutter would have done everything in his (too much) power to get Wolf up and in.

 

agreed with  all/most of this, just not quite as opposed to Sutter.

 

Honestly I don't even know why a search would be conducted.

 

It's either Mitch Love, or we'll be facing a team coached by Mitch Love soon.

 

I know we have to supposedly wait until a new GM is in place and of course the Wranglers finish up their playoff season.

 

The real question, is who the next Wranglers head coach will be.

[cross16]

Read on Mitch Love from Wes Gilbertson

 

https://calgarysun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/calgary-flames/calgary-wranglers/calgary-wranglers-coach-mitch-love-nhl

[JTech780]

Mitch Love is going to be coaching in the NHL next year one way or another, hopefully it’s as the head coach of the Calgary Flames.

[Thebrewcrew]

Nothing against Muller or Huska, but I'm against the idea of promoting an internal assistant. It's so difficult for an assistant to transition from "good cop" to "bad cop". This organization saw it only 2.5 seasons ago with Ward. He was a good AC, not so much when he got the big chair. Rod Brind'Amour is the exception, not the norm.

 

For me, it's Love or an external hire. In fact, I think it comes down to Mitch Love or Andrew Brunette.

 

This organization isn't going to shell out big money for a coach. They rarely have. Especially when the they're paying 4 mill to Darryl to work on the farm. That eliminates a Gallant, Coach Q, Boudreau. Heck, it might even eliminate Brunette. There's a lot of interest for a guy who was a Jack Adams finalist a year ago.

 

Jon Cooper didn't play hockey at a high level. Only had one more year of pro coaching experience than Love. Jared Bednar was a tough-guy in pro, just like Love. Did have a bit more pro experience however. Flames had Bednar as an AC in Abbotsford. Point is, those are the last two Stanley Cup Winning coaches. Sometimes you have to take a shot on the young, up-and-comer. 

[LouCifer]

2 hours ago, Thebrewcrew said:

Nothing against Muller or Huska, but I'm against the idea of promoting an internal assistant. It's so difficult for an assistant to transition from "good cop" to "bad cop". This organization saw it only 2.5 seasons ago with Ward. He was a good AC, not so much when he got the big chair. Rod Brind'Amour is the exception, not the norm.

 

For me, it's Love or an external hire. In fact, I think it comes down to Mitch Love or Andrew Brunette.

 

This organization isn't going to shell out big money for a coach. They rarely have. Especially when the they're paying 4 mill to Darryl to work on the farm. That eliminates a Gallant, Coach Q, Boudreau. Heck, it might even eliminate Brunette. There's a lot of interest for a guy who was a Jack Adams finalist a year ago.

 

Jon Cooper didn't play hockey at a high level. Only had one more year of pro coaching experience than Love. Jared Bednar was a tough-guy in pro, just like Love. Did have a bit more pro experience however. Flames had Bednar as an AC in Abbotsford. Point is, those are the last two Stanley Cup Winning coaches. Sometimes you have to take a shot on the young, up-and-comer. 

Much like a hockey team can benefit from an injection of youth and “new blood”, I see the same for coaching. Mitch is my pick. He’ll be hungry. He’ll have new eyes. 

[JTech780]

On 32 Thoughts Podcast they mentioned that the Flames were looking for more offense. A couple of names they mentioned were Brunette, Huska, Love and they mentioned Tanguay. They mentioned Muller and Travis Green as well.

 

IMO Miller and Green are terrible candidates. Muller was in charge of the horrid PP this year. He also did not fair well in his time as a head coach in Carolina. Green was in charge of Vancouver and could not handle the split in that locker room and let that team get off the rails.

 

Brunette did a fine job as an offensive style coach, but he was not great at making adjustments on the fly. He was also not great at shutting teams down. Maybe he has learned from that time, I am not sure.

 

Huska is more of a defensive coach and he will get an opportunity, it sounds like Conroy is a Huska fan, I am just not sure this is the right opportunity for him. I do think it will be beneficial to keep him on the bench just in an assistant role.

 

Tanguay is an interesting name, in the podcast they mentioned that Conroy and Iginla both think very highly of Tanguay and that they believe he has an elite offensive mind.

 

Love is going to be in the NHL somewhere next year. I think he is the right coach for the Flames. There is no doubt that this team needs to get younger, and Love knows all of the younger players in this organization and knows how to get the most out of those players. 

[robrob74]

3 hours ago, Thebrewcrew said:

Nothing against Muller or Huska, but I'm against the idea of promoting an internal assistant. It's so difficult for an assistant to transition from "good cop" to "bad cop". This organization saw it only 2.5 seasons ago with Ward. He was a good AC, not so much when he got the big chair. Rod Brind'Amour is the exception, not the norm.

 

For me, it's Love or an external hire. In fact, I think it comes down to Mitch Love or Andrew Brunette.

 

This organization isn't going to shell out big money for a coach. They rarely have. Especially when the they're paying 4 mill to Darryl to work on the farm. That eliminates a Gallant, Coach Q, Boudreau. Heck, it might even eliminate Brunette. There's a lot of interest for a guy who was a Jack Adams finalist a year ago.

 

Jon Cooper didn't play hockey at a high level. Only had one more year of pro coaching experience than Love. Jared Bednar was a tough-guy in pro, just like Love. Did have a bit more pro experience however. Flames had Bednar as an AC in Abbotsford. Point is, those are the last two Stanley Cup Winning coaches. Sometimes you have to take a shot on the young, up-and-comer. 

thing about Brindimour is he has the stature, he'll beat you up, and also the resume as a great player.

[JTech780]

The other name Marek has mentioned is Marc Savard. That would be a very interesting turn of events considering how his time in Calgary went and ended.

[sak22]

1 hour ago, JTech780 said:

The other name Marek has mentioned is Marc Savard. That would be a very interesting turn of events considering how his time in Calgary went and ended.

It was over 20 years ago, the organization is very different and I would imagine he is a very different person from that period.  I had thought that he did give the Flames consideration before he signed in Boston, the grudge was really with one person.

[jjgallow]

Really, this thread belongs in the prospects section.

 

We already know who the coach will be, it will be Mitch Love.

 

The only thing that's not quite as clear is who the AHL coach will be.  although there's some pretty high percentage leads.

[medatswhoP]

Love to see Iggy for coach...  cant imagine...

[The_Tribal Chief]

the media was saying the worst thing you want is iggy as coach and not cause he cant do it more cause coaches have such a short life span and who wants to sit there and say sorry iggy we gotta let you go

[JTech780]

Sounds like Conroy is casting a wide net on the coaching search, and as a first time GM that makes complete sense, why wouldn’t you want to talk to guys like Laviolette and Gallant. Find out how some of the veteran coaches think and compare that to how guys like Love and Huska think.

 

Now I don’t think Laviolette and Gallant are fits here, but I still think it is smart to see if they are interested and interview them. It’s all about gathering as much information as possible.