Calgary Flames: Is There Hostility Between Gaudreau And Gulutzan?

In an embarrassing 5-0 loss, Calgary Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan put Johnny Gaudreau on the fourth line in the third period. Even though every player under-performed. Is there some hostility between these two now?

On Monday February 13th, the Calgary Flames had an ugly 5-0 shutout loss to the Arizona Coyotes. The Arizona Coyotes. I just need to repeat that. The Flames can beat teams like the Minnesota Wild and the Pittsburgh Penguins, but they get shutout by the second worst team in the league this season.

Moving on.

Clearly, since it was a 5-0 shutout loss, it’s not exactly one player’s fault. This was a failed team effort. And generally in losses like these, turnovers are expected. 12 of them to be exact, in this game. One by Johnny Gaudreau in the second period that was a turnover when it was 1-0 and that turnover led to a goal. Not the first time that a turnover has led to a goal (cough cough Dennis Wideman cough cough).

Post-game comments

Now of course, with everyone noticing that Johnny Gaudreau was demoted to the fourth line, there were going to be questions after the game.

Via Calgary Herald:

"“He turned the puck over in the neutral zone there,” said Gulutzan, clearly unhappy with no. 13’s play.“We’re trying to play direct when it was 1-0.”"

Alright so… one bad turnover and he gets demoted the rest of the game? When the team is just down two goals with still 20 minutes left to play? Well, maybe there’s more to it. Let’s keep reading.

Via Calgary Herald:

"“It wasn’t really the turnover itself,” Gulutzan said when asked what upset him the most about the play. “If you watched the game, it was the shift length and the change. We just have to learn from that … just watch the play. It’s awareness. And we talk about it all the time. Where you are in the shift, where you are in the game. It all comes into play.”"

Gulutzan proceeded to mention in post game comments about how everyone is treated fairly. But Johnny is a special player and some players have different rules. So, what I gather, is that everyone is treated fairly, but some more fairly than others?

"“Johnny’s a really special player,” he said. “He wants to be treated like everyone else. And that’s what we do. We try and treat everyone fairly. But there are different rules for different guys. Some guys get more leash than others. But just watch the play.”"

He’s not the only one to get turnovers

Johnny Gaudreau is certainly not the only player to get turnovers. Yeah, he may get turnovers that you’d like to avoid, but he also makes it up by racking up points.

There are other players who don’t do that.

Let’s look at Dennis Wideman. I know how much Calgary Flames fans love Dennis Wideman.

Wideman gets, I want to say, at least three turnovers a night. And almost every game, he has a turnover that leads to a goal. However, for months now, Wideman is usually on the second defensive pairing alongside TJ Brodie. And many argue that it brings TJ Brodie down and is a factor in Brodie’s bad +/- this season.

But we don’t see Wideman getting demoted to third defensive pairing.

I mean, maybe Gulutzan has been reading Twitter because for the game against the Philadelphia Flyers where the Flames won 3-1, Wideman was put on the third defensive unit. And the one goal was a result of poor execution and turnovers by, you guess it, Dennis Wideman (and Brett Kulak, but he’s innocent).

who's surprised wideman turned the puck over and it led to a goal
— Flame For Thought (@Flame_4_Thought) February 16, 2017

Gaudreau learns from demotion

Now, I don’t completely agree with demoting Gaudreau to the fourth line for a third of the game. Especially when you’re down 2-0 with still a lot of time left in the game. And this far down in the season when the Flames need all the offence they can get.

However, he did learn from it. He came out firing in the game against the Flyers. And maybe Gulutzan is sticking to his word about treating players fairly since he also demoted Wideman. So maybe that’s why Gulutzan’s a coach and I’m not.

But you can’t help but wonder if maybe there’s some hostility with Gaudreau and Gulutzan? They had a long talk after the demotion and everything seemed to be sorted out. But on a night where basically every single player made mistakes and had a bad game, why was Gaudreau the sole target?

We actually ran a poll on Twitter yesterday and here are the results:

do you guys think there's maybe some hostility between johnny and gulutzan? or do you think everything is fine n dandy
— Flame For Thought (@Flame_4_Thought) February 16, 2017

Huh, I guess the majority of people don’t think there’s hostility. And people just love Dougie Hamilton.

Now, I’m not exactly saying that there for sure is hostility between the two. I’m just exploring the possibility. And with the firing of Michel Therrien and his hostility with some of the players on the Montreal Canadiens, we know the Calgary Flames would 150% keep Gaudreau over Gulutzan any day. You can’t help but wonder.

However, Gaudreau scratched the idea of any sort of negative feelings towards Gulutzan.

Via Calgary Sun:

"“It was a good lesson. It was a demotion, not a benching – I still got to go out and play. I’ve said before I don’t care who I play with – I just want to go out there and try to make plays and try to help this team win. I’m fine with it.”"

Next: Treliving Still Waiting Out Any Trades

However, you can’t help but still wonder. Again, I’m not saying there are huge arguments happening between the two and Gulutzan is getting the boot. But anything can happen. I’m just here to explore some possibilities.