Calgary Flames Monday Roundtable: All About the Coaching

Welcome to another edition of the Monday Roundtable! Today, let’s discuss everything to do with the Calgary Flames coaching staff.

Cheers to another edition of our Monday Roundtable! The segment every Monday during the off-season where I’ll ask the other writers here at Flame for Thought different topics every Monday surrounding the Calgary Flames and get their take on it, as well as my own.

Today? Let’s discuss everything to do with the Flames coaching staff.

If you’ve been paying attention to the Flames at all this season, then you know the coaching has been a hot topic of conversation. First, we had head coach Bob Hartley who won the Jack Adams award in the 2015-2015 season. Then one season later, he gets the boot. Which shows that anything can happen.

Now we have head coach Glen Gulutzan who had his first season with the Calgary Flames this season. When the season first started, the Flames were horrendous. They were heading into November as one of the worst teams in the league. And people were already calling for his head (I’m guilty of this too). The Flames special teams were also at the bottom of the league and people were also calling for powerplay coach Dave Cameron‘s head.

And then December came around and the Flames had that six-game win streak and people were mentioning Gulutzan in the same topic as the Jack Adams award. And the Flames powerplay drastically improved and they were one of the top in December. So safe to say it’s been quite inconsistent this year. So I asked the writers questions about the coaching staff. This is how it turned out.

Question 1. We know that head coach Glen Gulutzan had a bit of a rough start to the season and people wanted him gone. How do you feel about him now?

Jonathan Boulanger

I started out not a big fan of Gulutzan, which was quite irrational of me, but he has grown on me since and I believe the Flames are under a much more stable and successful system under Glen than under Bob. My only gripe is his coach’s challenges. Not exactly sure what his success rate was this year but I can’t remember him winning a single one and I can think of a couple times it cost the Flames a point or even two.

Alex Hoegler

The Flames roster in 2016-17 wasn’t all that different than 2015-16. There was no excuse for Calgary to finish so low under Bob Hartley, but they did. Gulutzan was able to find a way to utilize all the talent on the roster and made them one of the NHL’s best.

Any coach who takes his team from 26th in the NHL to the playoffs in year one deserves to stay. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Dan Raicevich

Glen Gulutzan is an outstanding coach. Did his systems and philosophies take a hot second to set in with the players? Absolutely. Relying less on the stretch passes and other styles that Bob Hartley let go, the Flames tightened up their defensive zones. We saw growth in Dougie Hamilton this year. Mark Giordano came into his form later on in the season. While this season saw inconsistencies in players as well, Glen Gulutzan has coached this team well. I can’t remember how many times SportsNet and Flames analyst Kelly Hrudey said that he felt that Gulutzan should of been a nominee for the Jack Adams Award. Not to mention, a young coach who can grow with this team too is a positive.

Related Story: Five Reasons the Flames Turned Their Season Around

Ramina Shlah

I agree with all three! And like Jonathan said, I was too quick to judge Glen Gulutzan but I think we were all guilty of that. Gulutzan likes a quick style of play which many teams do now as well and are all adopting this style of play. Teams don’t quite benefit by having a more aggressive style; we saw that with the Los Angeles Kings this season.

But the players and the management were patient with Gulutzan and he credited the players a lot for being patient with him. Treliving had faith in Gulutzan from the beginning and that’s why he was patient with his system and that system ended up working and that’s why we saw multiple win streaks happen this season. One in which resulted in a new Calgary Flames record.

And like Dan said, Rick Ball and Kelly Hrudey, Flames primary commentators for the majority of the season loved Gulutzan’s style of play and thought he was a true stand-up guy. I actually went to a keynote with Kelly Hrudey close to the end of the season in late March and he talked about how much he liked Gulutzan, not only as a coach, but because of him being such a stand-up guy.

Question 2. Between former head coach Bob Hartley and Glen Gulutzan now, who do you like/prefer more?

Jonathan Boulanger

Like I said, Glen has established a much more stable, puck possession type system. I remember hearing after the 2015 playoff run that Bob’s system was unsustainable and would crash and burn soon enough. It did, the year after. As far as personality Bob takes the cake for sure. But that’s not what matters as a coach, it’s the coaching. I believe Glen is a better coach in the modern NHL.

Alex Hoegler

Like I said above, the Flames just weren’t able to gel together under Hartley last season. Gulutzan was able to bring more structure and better puck possession with all the young stars on the Flames. This isn’t to say Hartley was a bad coach, but Gulutzan’s system has just worked better for Calgary’s young team.

Dan Raicevich

When Bob Hartley got fired last spring, I thought General Manager Brad Treliving was making a mistake. I personally liked how hard and competitive that the Flames played under Hartley when the Flames had less talent than they do today. It was exciting, fun and optimistic to see this team growing under Hartley. But after the way the past season went, I felt that Gulutzan never lost control of the room and with a defensive minded mind, the team improved mightily. The Flames are a much more consistent team under Gulutzan, and therefore I like him more than Hartley.

Ramina Shlah

Like Dan said, I also initially thought that Treliving made a mistake with the firing of Hartley. But then later on this season when Gulutzan’s system started working with this Flames team, I could see why that change needed to happen. And with different players coming out basically calling Hartley a bully and how he wasn’t always the nicest guy in the locker room, but that’s why they wanted him, was to shape the younger players. I thought it was a good idea he’s gone.

Gulutzan is known more as a player’s coach and it definitely worked this season. Like Alex said earlier, any coach that can take a team from 26th overall to a playoff spot deserves to stay. And then with that four-game losing streak happened in January and Gulutzan called the team pathetic three times in a matter of six seconds, I was like “Oh yikes, this won’t go well.” But then when we heard what happened after on the bus, how everyone was silent and he goes and gets beers and tells the guys they’re going to have some beers and talk through this, which worked because they were one of the best teams after that. You could easily see how much a player’s coach he is and that he cares about the team and not just a paycheck.

Funny how a few beers basically saved their season, hey? We know something like that would have not happened under Hartley. So I’m definitely pro-Gulutzan at this point. Even if he has a Macklemore haircut.

Question 3. Dave Cameron, who was the former head coach of the Ottawa Senators, was brought specifically to be the powerplay coach. We saw immense struggles for the first few months for the Flames powerplay and with Ottawa’s powerplay last season not being good either, it’s hard to know why he was even brought in the first place. Seeing how the Flames season ended and how they drastically improved their pp, should he stay or should he go?

Jonathan Boulanger

I had no idea he was brought in specifically for the powerplay but this season the Flames went from the worst NHL powerplay I had ever seen to the best I’ve seen from a Flames team. I think he should remain as an assistant but something should be done if a lackluster powerplay hurts the team next year.

Alex Hoegler

Brian Elliott and defensive meltdowns were to blame for Calgary’s first-round elimination; not Dave Cameron and the power play. Why get rid of a guy that made your PP that much better in his first year here? Imagine how much better Calgary’s power play can get as they learn more from Cameron in 2017-18.

Related Story: Flames Special Teams Nothing Short of Excellent Lately

Dan Raicevich

I think Cameron did an okay job with the power play. I think that the power play and special teams got better as the season went on. If I had to of been critical of the powerplay, I would have liked to see Johnny Gaudreau to shoot the puck more. Hopefully Michael Ferland gets more time on the powerplay unit too. But overall, Cameron did an okay job in that department.

Ramina Shlah

Yeah I definitely agree with all three in different aspects. I think that even though the team struggled early on, I don’t think that was completely Cameron’s fault. But I do agree with Dan, in that Johnny needs to shoot the puck more and Ferland needs more powerplay time. I think at this point, he deserves more pp time than Troy Brouwer.

Seeing how much they improved their pp starting December until the end of the season, if they know the system now, heading into this season with Cameron as the pp coach would be a great idea. So he should stay in my opinion.

Question 4. Many goaltenders when coming to Calgary don’t quite have the season they had with their former team (e.g. Jonas Hiller and Brian Elliott). If goaltenders who have had great seasons come to Calgary and have bad seasons, is the goaltending coach the problem? Or the actual goaltenders? Should we say bye to goaltending coach Jordan Sigalet?

Jonathan Boulanger

I believe it is the goalies. I’m sure Sigalet does everything he can to prepare the goalies but sometimes, especially with Hiller and Elliott, I’ve noticed some ridiculous lapses in judgment that led to weak goals. As far as being technically sound, sure the goalie coach can help improve that, but ultimately it is the goaltender that has to execute.

Alex Hoegler

Sigalet should only get so much blame. Jonas Hiller was past his prime as a true number one by the time he arrived in Calgary. Brian Elliott was also a disappointment in Colorado and Ottawa. Was he great in St. Louis? Sure, but that team has a strong defensive system in place where any goalie can look good. Calgary hasn’t had a true number one starter since Miikka Kiprusoff retired four years ago. That’s on team management, not Sigalet.

Related Story: Monday Roundtable - Goaltending Edition

Dan Raicevich

This is going to lie on both guys, the goaltenders and Sigalet himself. Starting with Sigalet, he has seen both of the Calgary Flames goaltenders regress. In the 2014-15 NHL Season, both Karri Ramo and Jonas Hiller combined for a 0.915 Save Percentage. The following year, that same tandem combined for 0.894 Save Percentage. Brian Elliott and Chad Johnson both averaged a 0.910 Save Percentage this year. This level of mediocrity partially lies on the goaltending coach.

Now it also falls on the men tending the goal as well. Lets not forget how solid Jonas Hiller was in his first season in Calgary. 2.36 Goals Against Average to coincide with a 0.918 Save Percentage. For a guy who was seemingly heading in the twilight of his career, this is a stellar year. His second season in Calgary was a disaster, to be polite. His Goals Against Average inflated to an abysmal 3.51. And his Save Percentage dropped off a cliff from 0.918 to a 0.879. That is an alarming rate of regression.

Brian Elliott saw a steep drop off in his game as well. He rebounded to salvage a 0.910 save percentage before seeing his game toil in the playoffs. A goaltender who showed an elite level of consistency in St. Louis, that same level was on some nights not there. This rests partly on the player, and the coach too. Early on in the year, there were noticeable holes in Elliott’s game and his positioning was poor. While it was cleaned up as the regular season carried on, this was something that Sigalet could have picked up in early October and tried to fix.

This partly resides on the shoulders of the coach, as well as the players too. These are professional athletes we are talking about, they should know their games well enough to tweak things around.

Ramina Shlah

Yeah I definitely agree with Jonathan and Alex here. The coach can only have so much of the blame. Like Alex said, Hiller was already past his prime when he came here. And as much as he helped Anaheim in the playoffs the year before, they had a much different team and at that point, much stronger defence.

Dan also brought in some good points with the changes in the same goaltenders, just different seasons. It’s hard to put the blame on the goaltending coach in that case. I say for now, there isn’t much of a reason to let him go. Let’s just hope that whichever goaltenders the Calgary Flames go with next season, we don’t see as much struggles early on like we saw this past season.