Flames built different than other teams

[yave1964]

Last year I made a comment that Bob Hartley deserved consideration for the Jack Adams award after leading the Flames who were simply an awful team to a 35-40-7 record missing the playoffs by a mile but with 77 points they were far from horrible. He coached a team that had little talent but lots of heart and a patient coach. it was a quirky comment, not to be taken serious but he did do a whale of a job with the Flames.

 

  This year they are in line for a playoff spot in the West, if they make it he will garner serious consideration.

 

 The Flames sit at 32-23-4 good for 68 points with a plus 15 goal differential, currently sitting 7th in the West.

 

 Hartley makes a comment about once a week that is worthwhile, he seems to have fallen in love with Sean Monahan and considers him the next Joe Sakic, he stated after his Flames played the Pengiins that the best thing about the game was that Monahan got the chance to see the commitment of Crosby and what it takes to be a winner. Johnny Gaudreau also is a protégé, There is an entire forum dedicated to off the wall Hartley quotes, including, 

 My favourite was earlier this year when asked about healthy scratching Wideman, the team's highest paid player "I'm not a banker, I'm a coach."

"We can't get in the locker room and go, 'Crosby and Malkin, Crosby and Malkin,' -- make our players pretend that the Pope is in town because we're going to get caught watching. We need to play the game." - Bob Hartley on his team not fixating on the opposition and focusing on their own game - Feb 6, 2015

Or this Berra'ism, __________________
“Our best players are simply not our best players right now, it's as simple as this.”

 

And on and on. Hartley has reinvented himself as the coach of the youngest team in the game that is competitive and building for the future the right way. After Iginla, Bouwmeester and Kipper all left along with Cammeleri and the rest, it looked as if they were set to be Edmonton number 2, but Hartley has the kids playing hard and a defense that is offensive, and a goalie who was ran out of Anaheim has been a savior.

 

  The forwards are Hudler, a Wings reject, along with Monahan who Hartley left as the number one center even after early season struggles and is now paying in spades, And Johnny Hockey, and then a bunch of veteran forwards who contribute. Guys like Joe Colborne who never got a chance in Boston and Toronto has found a home, as have other frequent flyers such as Paul Byron and David Jones. Retreads who never got a fair break would run through a wall for Hartley.

 

 Goalies Jonas Hiller and Kari Ramo nightly face 2 on 1s with alarming regularity because the key to the offense is the defense.

 

Wideman has 12 goals and 36 points, Bodie has 9 and 34, and Kris Russell is a shot blocker specialist who has 19 assists, but the key, the straw that stirs the drink is Mark Giordano who is being considered for the Norris with 47 points, only 1 behind Hudler for the team lead.

 

  This team rushes five men, I watched a game the other night where Giordano carried the puck end to end and lost possession behind the other teams net who tried a breakaway but the Flames forwards, Jooris and Jones were back in position that the defense had vacated.

 

 So a fun mix of kids who love the coach and the coach loves them, veterans who are simply happy to be here and are working their botts off out of gratitude for a coach who rescued them from the minors, an underated goalie who got a bad rap for his team not advancing in the postseason and the absolute best group of four defenseman in the game today, period.

 

Hartley for the Adams. If they make the playoffs he has my vote, this time it is not tongue in cheek.

 

 

[radoran]

So a fun mix of kids who love the coach and the coach loves them, veterans who are simply happy to be here and are working their botts off out of gratitude for a coach who rescued them from the minors, an underated goalie who got a bad rap for his team not advancing in the postseason and the absolute best group of four defenseman in the game today, period.

 

I'm really happy for the Flames to be in the position they are in.

 

I also like the point of staying with guys like Monahan in positions even though they aren't producing as you might like.

 

Stick with guys and they can pay dividends for you.

[yave1964]

@radoran

 

Hartley is a favorite of mine, he juggles lines, using smoke and mirrors and hard work he has his team in the thick of it. He put a second line of David Jones, Lance Bouma and underachiever Mikael Backlund together and they have kicked butt, going 7-3-1 with them taking all the defensive zone face offs and playing the other teams top line. Hartley brags about them constantly and talks them up, Jones who in Colorado was never known for his defense, Bouma an underachiever and Backlund a top prospect who due to injuries has never panned out, have a coach who believes in them and has given them a critical role, they play their rears off for him.

 

  When Hartley coached Colorado I hated him, absolutely hated him, simply because I hated the Avalanche so badly. Hartley now has a bunch of young kids and never weres playing the game the right way.

 

  I love the defense. essentially Hartley knows that the forwards are either green or not very talented, but Giordano, Wideman and Bodie can flat out score and Russell has a pretty first pass. Look at a team like the Hurricanes, the forwards in Carolina are no worse better or worse than Calgary and Cam Ward/Kubodin are about on par with the duo on the Flames.

  Defensively Sekera and Faulk are top shelf, yet the Canes are rotten. The organization instead of taking advantage of what they have continue to define insanity by doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Hartley and the Flames have made lemonade with lemons. Frankly I think they are one of the most fun teams in the league as you watch them it reminds me of David and Goliath, with the Flames cast in the role of David almost every night.

[OccamsRazor]

Hiller's new mask.........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice!