Round One fun facts and more
By Phil Gretzky
They finally went and did it. I never thought they’d have the balls to do it, but they did it. A lot of realities had to be smacking Flames ownership in the face and Maloney must’ve told them about it as ownership had previously interfered when Brad Treliving tried to fire Sutter mid-season.
A big reason why Sutter was fired was it looks like he was facing a mutiny from the players.
But there’s more than just that. With Treliving quitting, it means they have to hire another GM as well – and when you hire a new GM they usually like to bring their own coach in – because, after all, the incumbent coached them to underachievement, right? Makes sense.
If ownership had interfered again after a new GM was hired, that GM probably would’ve quit on them too…..and imagine the PR nightmare that would create. It wouldn’t be the first time either – Islanders GM Neil Smith quit on the Islanders just over a month into the job after meddling by a bad then-owner in software magnate Charles Wang. So a precedent had already been set.
So, you either fire the guy now or fire him later, but either way, he’ll be fired – and if you fire him now it creates a lot less bad press for the organization.
A new coach and GM will likely improve the Flames fortunes in the short term but in the long term, there are still organizational problems to be dealt with. I went through these in the bonus material on this blog.
Good NHL ownership is a simple two-step process:
- Hire good hockey people
- Get out of their way
It appears that Flames ownership seems to have a lot of problems with step two. Until this changes expect the Flames to perennially underachieve just as they’ve done for most of their existence.
And so, once again as an Oilers fan……keep doing what you’re doing, Flames. I will enjoy the Oilers beating up on you for years to come.