THE NEW BENCH BOSS ALREADY MAKING MARK
Gulutzan runs brisk first practice, vows to create crisp possession game
The new hire, skating around, was eager to undo the previous coach’s influence.
With undisguised exasperation, he told the players to stop. Then he began to physically guide them — like 200-pound chess pieces — into proper positions.
Go here. Move there.
That had been the curious scene at the Calgary Flames’ 2009 camp, with Mike Keenan gone and Brent Sutter in charge.
Sutter’s early and earnest attempt to re-educate the locals stands out. No coach ever sighed more often, or deeper, or longer, in the pursuit of change.
The passing of the whistle is always an intriguing development — Friday’s transition included.
And while Glen Gulutzan’s introduction to his followers wasn’t as overtly hands-on as Sutter’s, one thing is clear.
A different pawn-pusher is on the premises.
Someone who is a dead departure from the deposed Bob Hartley.
“Gully’s done a great job so far,” said Mark Giordano, getting a load of, unbelievably, his sixth head coach in Calgary.
“He comes in, he’s been clear in what he wants us to do. But really, really positive … and really easy to approach and talk to.
“I don’t see that any player should feel intimidated.”
The on-ice portion of Gulutzan’s term began in the morning with the first of his three groups on the Saddledome sheet.
Nervous? Nah. This is a day he’d been looking forward to.
“I was anxious,” said Gulutzan. “I’m like, ‘I’m done looking at the computer, I’m done looking at schedules. I would like to get on the ice and see these players for myself for the first time.’ “
Collar popped, hair perfect, the skipper glided out among his troops — name-bars, finally, on the backs of their practice jumpers — and demanded, and received, a brisk pace.
Players, the green and the grizzled, were puffing hard. Which is fine.
“We wanted to get them going right away — we play Monday (in split-squad friendlies with the Edmonton Oilers) — so we were going to get right into it,” said Gulutzan.
“First training camps are always the same. A lot of nervous energy. I addressed that with the guys. A little jittery. They’ve got energy. I love the energy. I said, ‘ We want to keep the energy, but we’ve got to make sure, mentally, we’ve got the execution.’ But I liked the first day.
“A good, hard-working first day for our guys.”
Stretches of skating were punctuated by extended chats at the rinkside white board. Occasionally during action, Gulutzan chose to halt proceedings to bark at his new pupils.
Language colourful, adjectives unique, he swiftly made his points.
“It’s good for him to establish that precedence,” said Troy Brouwer, “making sure if a guy messes up — no matter if it’s Day 1 or Day 30 or the end of the season — he’s going to blow the whistle and make sure guys are doing it right, so their habits, earlier on in the season, are good habits. The last thing you want to have to do is start the drill and blow it down.
“You spend a little more time at the (white) board right now so, in a month, when you need to get out there and practise high-tempo, he can just yell out the names of the drills and you go.”
Implementing a new system, of course, is the priority.
The Flames’ brain trust is paying to see some kind of crisp possession game, instead of a mad chase. Gulutzan sold his employers on that particular brand of hockey. Now he needs dressingroom believers.
His blueprint is out.
“What I do, I give them a big portion of it, then I keep chipping away at it, keep correcting it, keep modifying (their behaviour) … making sure we’re making adjustments, making sure we’re teaching every day,” the coach said. “We’ve got to touch these players every day so they know what they’re doing on the ice. And it starts with this first practice.”
Then again, this should be straightforward enough.
Systems, from coach to coach, rarely stray from the norm. Hockey is hockey.
“There’s only a couple of ways to play it in the NHL,” said Brouwer, “and those ways kind of trend depending on how the players are trending. The majority of them are spinoffs of other systems (with) minor tweaks.”
Sure, there is terminology to master — “bumps and reverses and calls from the goalie,” says Giordano — and other Gulutzanspecific wrinkles to digest.
But success, as it should, rests on the players’ shoulders.
Finding a way to stay alert, for starters.
“I really believe it comes down to the execution,” said Giordano.
“Whatever system you’re in, if everyone’s pulling the same direction — and buying in — it goes a long way.
“Guys are looking forward to a fresh start. Other guys are looking to prove themselves. It creates that energy, that buzz, and it was there in practice.”