Head Coach

[cross16]

22 minutes ago, conundrumed said:

Wings fans are talking like Tanguay is gone to the Flames, which I am assuming is premature, but they're generally pretty well-connected.

 

I am reading the same from places I trust. 

[The_People1]

Do we/should we also be in the market for new goaltending coaches?  Our goaltending just goes backwards from one year to the next.  Every young kid gets ruined here.

[Sarasti]

On 6/5/2023 at 10:45 PM, cross16 said:

I'd want no part of Roy and quite frankly I don't get the argument that the Flames should be interested. Wasn't that great the first go around and quit on his team in the summer after they started to take away his say in hockey ops decisions (mostly because he wasn't great at it). 

 

Yeah I agree. I think arrogance is something that should be avoided when looking at a head coach.

[Sarasti]

1 hour ago, The_People1 said:

Do we/should we also be in the market for new goaltending coaches?  Our goaltending just goes backwards from one year to the next.  Every young kid gets ruined here.

 

Honestly I would be stoked if we got a new goalie coach. 

Been a serious weak spot in this organization for some time IMO.

Labarbera and Sigalet are/were not the answer.

[cross16]

Not a big fan of this if true

 

 

[JTech780]

1 hour ago, cross16 said:

Not a big fan of this if true

 

 

Huska is a very good coach, but at the same time I am not sure if he is the right coach for this job. I have always thought of him as being more of a defensive style coach than offensive. That being said he has done great work with the defensemen the last few years.

 

I wonder if Tanguay or Savard would join his staff. Might compliment Huska as far as where he might lack.

[Thebrewcrew]

Would be an underwhelming hire. 

 

It's so hard to go from assistant coach to head coach. It rarely works. Unless you're Rod Brind'Amour. Wasn't long ago that Geoff Ward was patrolling the Flames bench.

 

There's such thing as too much continuity, especially for a team that was extremely disappointing. Sure, law of averages would say the Flames don't lose 17 OT games in 23/24. But this was still an average team, by definition. Finishing 16th in a 32 team league. They are going to be forced to bring back largely the same team and then hire a coach that was already in that room. Real missed opportunity to incorporate a fresh voice, which is a bit disappointing, but time will tell if management gets it right.

[travel_dude]

1 hour ago, cross16 said:

Not a big fan of this if true

 

 

 

While I respect Friendman's insider stuff, I don't know the valifity of this one.

Flames are not known for alerting media of upcoming changes.

 

But to the point, how is it that the coach gets fired again and the A/coach gets the gig?

How has that worked here?

It hasn't.

It's a cheap solution.

[cross16]

Strindberg and Pinder have been mentioning Huska all week so this isn’t just Friedman. 
 

I think Huska is a very good coach but this is underwhelming for sure. As much as I like Huska he strikes me as more of a career assistant than the head coach type. I just haven’t seen that fire/attitude that can galvanize a group.
But even my personal opinion aside I’m not sure I see/like the rationale of promoting an assistant (especially after a tough year) and also promoting someone who didn’t exactly knock it out of the park with coaching your farm team. 
 

this feels like a placeholder hire and a decision born more out of circumstance than him actually being the best candidate. 

[JTech780]

11 minutes ago, cross16 said:

Strindberg and Pinder have been mentioning Huska all week so this isn’t just Friedman. 
 

I think huska is a very good coach but this is underwhelming for sure. As much as I like Huska he strikes me as more of a career assistant than the head coach type. I just haven’t seen that fire/attitude that can galvanize a group.
But even my personal opinion aside I’m not sure I see/like the rationale of promoting an assistant (especially after a tough year) and also promoting someone who didn’t exactly knock it out of the park with coaching your farm team. 
 

this feels like a placeholder hire and a decision born more out of circumstance than him actually being the best candidate. 

I agree, it reminds me a lot of when they promoted Jim Playfair. Good coach and deserved a chance, but just couldn’t get traction as a head coach.

[The_People1]

32 minutes ago, cross16 said:

Strindberg and Pinder have been mentioning Huska all week so this isn’t just Friedman. 
 

I think Huska is a very good coach but this is underwhelming for sure. As much as I like Huska he strikes me as more of a career assistant than the head coach type. I just haven’t seen that fire/attitude that can galvanize a group.
But even my personal opinion aside I’m not sure I see/like the rationale of promoting an assistant (especially after a tough year) and also promoting someone who didn’t exactly knock it out of the park with coaching your farm team. 
 

this feels like a placeholder hire and a decision born more out of circumstance than him actually being the best candidate. 

 

Conroy was also an assistant promoted after a tough year.  Maybe he can relate to Huska on that level.

 

If Huska is a placeholder then perhaps the Flames are preparing to rebuild and tank hard.  *Fingers crossed*

[sak22]

1 hour ago, JTech780 said:

I agree, it reminds me a lot of when they promoted Jim Playfair. Good coach and deserved a chance, but just couldn’t get traction as a head coach.

Playfair was more groomed for it, I think the idea right from Sutter being the GM was that Sutter would do the dual role for a couple seasons and hand it off to Playfair.  I never got the same impression from Huska, although he did a very good job of getting guys to the next level, the teams in the AHL never had success and on paper I don't think they are much worse than the teams Love has had.  

[cross16]

4 minutes ago, sak22 said:

Playfair was more groomed for it, I think the idea right from Sutter being the GM was that Sutter would do the dual role for a couple seasons and hand it off to Playfair.  I never got the same impression from Huska, although he did a very good job of getting guys to the next level, the teams in the AHL never had success and on paper I don't think they are much worse than the teams Love has had.  

 

I agree with most of this but this isn't totally fair. Should look at the goalies they had during Huska's tenure. 

[sak22]

36 minutes ago, cross16 said:

 

I agree with most of this but this isn't totally fair. Should look at the goalies they had during Huska's tenure. 

That is fair, I guess I was just basing off the one season where Rittich was good and Gillies was decent, I forgot the next year they were forced to the NHL for a good portion and left the Heat with absolute garbage.

[The_People1]

11 hours ago, travel_dude said:

Flames are not known for alerting media of upcoming changes.

 

Maybe Conroy operates differently.  Cards appear it won't be held as close as BT.  Conroy will confide with his inner group more often than BT did... and with that, more avenues for media leaks.

[cross16]

37 minutes ago, The_People1 said:

 

Maybe Conroy operates differently.  Cards appear it won't be held as close as BT.  Conroy will confide with his inner group more often than BT did... and with that, more avenues for media leaks.

 

Could you imagine the person who could get Conroy not to share? oh boy.... (sarcasm just to be clear)

 

In fairness the Flames were fantastic when it came to keeping stuff in on players but they have long been subject to leaks on staff. Gulutzan and Peters were pretty well known before they were official

[The_People1]

35 minutes ago, cross16 said:

 

Could you imagine the person who could get Conroy not to share? oh boy.... (sarcasm just to be clear)

 

In fairness the Flames were fantastic when it came to keeping stuff in on players but they have long been subject to leaks on staff. Gulutzan and Peters were pretty well known before they were official

 

Ya talking a lot can both be good and bad.  Conroy will need to master the art of public disinformation so to hide his true intentions.  Otherwise trades and negotiations get difficult when the other side knows what you are thinking.

[robrob74]

4 hours ago, JTech780 said:

I agree, it reminds me a lot of when they promoted Jim Playfair. Good coach and deserved a chance, but just couldn’t get traction as a head coach.

 

I also don't think Playfair got a decent chance. He started coaching a team that was at the start of a decline. I get that he inherited a team that recently, at the time, just went to the finals, but at the same time I think that the organization saw that team as more than it ever really was, based on the run. It was much like it always has been, the try to get the holes filled and never really being able to fill the most important ones. #1C and #1D... Kipper hid so many problems with those teams.

[sak22]

7 minutes ago, robrob74 said:

 

I also don't think Playfair got a decent chance. He started coaching a team that was at the start of a decline. I get that he inherited a team that recently, at the time, just went to the finals, but at the same time I think that the organization saw that team as more than it ever really was, based on the run. It was much like it always has been, the try to get the holes filled and never really being able to fill the most important ones. #1C and #1D... Kipper hid so many problems with those teams.

The Playfair season was a weird one, I wouldn't say it was a team carried by Kipper as they were 6th in scoring it was more the Brent Sutter days that Kipper covered the problems, but a team that is 6th in goals for and in the top half for goals against shouldn't squeak into the playoffs.  The glaring problem with that team was at home they were the best in the league, on the road they were a disaster but expectations were high because they were coming off a division winning season and added a key player in Tanguay, Playfair took the fall due to those expectations and unfortunately brought in Keenan who really wasted away the last few good years of that core.

[conundrumed]

3 minutes ago, sak22 said:

The Playfair season was a weird one, I wouldn't say it was a team carried by Kipper as they were 6th in scoring it was more the Brent Sutter days that Kipper covered the problems, but a team that is 6th in goals for and in the top half for goals against shouldn't squeak into the playoffs.  The glaring problem with that team was at home they were the best in the league, on the road they were a disaster but expectations were high because they were coming off a division winning season and added a key player in Tanguay, Playfair took the fall due to those expectations and unfortunately brought in Keenan who really wasted away the last few good years of that core.

Just to add, if the backup was in, the team didn't bother. Worst job in the league, Flames back-up goalie in that era.

[sak22]

25 minutes ago, conundrumed said:

Just to add, if the backup was in, the team didn't bother. Worst job in the league, Flames back-up goalie in that era.

Well if you like making 6 figures for not doing next to nothing it is a dream job. 

[cross16]

While I agree that blaming that season on Playfair wasn't fair, I do think Jtech's comment around not being a fit as a head coach is fair.  I don't think Playfair ever got that group to buy into what he wanted them to do and he really struggled holding players accountable. 

 

another example of he challenges you have going from being an assistant to being the head coach. Big reason why, if this is accurate, i'm not very excited about Huska. Good coach or not he's not walking into a good situation. 

[conundrumed]

18 minutes ago, sak22 said:

Well if you like making 6 figures for not doing next to nothing it is a dream job. 

That's got "me" written all over it!

[conundrumed]

4 minutes ago, cross16 said:

While I agree that blaming that season on Playfair wasn't fair, I do think Jtech's comment around not being a fit as a head coach is fair.  I don't think Playfair ever got that group to buy into what he wanted them to do and he really struggled holding players accountable. 

 

another example of he challenges you have going from being an assistant to being the head coach. Big reason why, if this is accurate, i'm not very excited about Huska. Good coach or not he's not walking into a good situation. 

I have to admit that I'm a little reticent about Conroy as GM if it leads to yet another country club. It's fair to make it fun, but there's a balance between creating a buddy environment and getting Satoshi Nakamoto done that getting Satoshi Nakamoto done will always prevail, especially when it doesn't.

Iginla, Conroy and Tanguay lived the old boys club and were likely largely responsible for it.

It is entirely the last thing we need.

We've run out of passes on that garbage.

Cut the bullSatoshi Nakamoto and be demanding. Most of all, lead by example.

Personally, I'm tired of this merry-go-round. It's old and boring.

Show us something. Make us believe.

We're tired of endless excuses for being arrogant rather than astute and kicking the Satoshi Nakamoto out of what you're supposed to be doing. Which is building a hard-Hash Rate hockey team.

At the very least, try to be honest and up front.

[zima]

I don't know why everyone thinks Iggy or tangs will be apart of the new system but if they were I wouldn't mind seeing what a yr could do for this team we have been in a merry go around for the last 7 yrs any way I would love to see what a new bunch of ex flames could do for this team. I don't see this team doing much any way we lost our 2 top forwards and a ton of points I don't see huber doing much better than last yr and kadri I feel will do same as last season we seem to love and buy the used up players and paying them a premium.