The Calgary Flames have re-iterated their faith in head coach Bob Hartley, stating that any thoughts otherwise are pure speculation.
In an interview with the Calgary Herald, Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving had this to say:
"“I feel the same way about Bob today as the day we extended him, the way we felt about him at the end of last season. What we’re going through right now is not a coaching thing. The notion, the speculation that Bob could be in peril couldn’t be further from the truth. Put that out of your mind. That’s nothing we’ve even contemplated, believe me.” – Brad Treliving (Calgary Herald)"
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It seems clear that either the Calgary Flames senior management knows that the team are only a few pieces away from being a much stronger competitor or know there are limited replacement options out there.
In this day and age, the notion of not making a knee-jerk reaction to the poor start we’ve seen from the Calgary Flames is quite refreshing. Maybe they didn’t read too much into the unexpected play-off run last season and are actually future focused?
Team Confidence
Calgary Flames head coach Bob Hartley had an interesting analogy for the team’s confidence in an interview with the Calgary Sun’s Daniel Austin:
"“We’re a little bit like the drunk guy who thinks he’s pushing the wall, but he’s laying face-first on the sidewalk and the sidewalk won’t move.” – Bob Hartley (Calgary Sun)"
Clearly this rhetoric points to the fact the team isn’t putting in a lack of effort. In fact, quite the opposite – the effort does appear to be there; they just can’t seem to swing that lucky bounce, whether it is the pair of disallowed Sam Bennett goals in Denver or whatever else.
Likewise, team captain Mike Giordano shared his coach’s belief that all the team needs a few wins and their self-confidence will return and we can see the sort of performances we saw last year.
The key seems to be that the team core hasn’t changed all that much and the few additions are clearly improvements. The team shouldn’t be struggling to gel but rather just seems to be a bit low on themselves – who knows what is really going on in their heads?
Injury Update
The Calgary Flames official website is listing Jonas Hiller and Micheal Ferland as week-to-week, whilst Lance Bouma is still down as being out indefinitely despite surgery to fix his broken fibula.
The return of Jonas Hiller to the starting roster could prove useful; it certainly creates a problem once more with selecting the goaltending pair.
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Honestly, does he offer anything that much better than Ortio or Ramo at the back though?
Likewise, will Lance Bouma be effective when he eventually returns; chances are he’ll need some time to get back up to speed when he finally is back on the ice. By that point, will the Calgary Flames be positioning for a shot in the Auston Matthew’s lottery rather than the lottery of making the play-offs?
Next: Mike Richards An Option For Calgary Flames?
Are you looking forward to the return of Bouma, Hiller and Ferland? Do you think the team’s issues are just a lack of confidence? Let us know in the comments section below.