Gulutzan reflects on first season
Flames coach drew on past experiences during rocky times in his first campaign
I keep it pretty streamlined. I let the players know what they did a great job of, where improvement can be made and how to come back next season.
Glen Gulutzan’s player exit interviews consisted of three parts.
“I keep it pretty streamlined,” the NHL head coach said last week. “I let the players know what they did a great job of, where improvement can be made and how to come back next season.”
But for himself, in his first year at the helm of the Calgary Flames, his self-evaluation is a little deeper.
Hired last summer as the replacement for Bob Hartley, a Jack Adams Trophy winner and Flames coach since prior to the 2012-13 season, Gulutzan was another representation of the youth movement in Calgary. And the 45-yearold was eager to bring his resume to the table.
A 5-10-1 record over the first 16 games, suspect special teams and struggling stars were signs of a rocky start. Then, a resurgence in December followed by another slump in January gave way to a 10game winning streak and subsequent playoff berth.
All of it forced Gulutzan to reach deep in his coaching playbook, all the way from his ECHL Las Vegas days to the American Hockey League to the Dallas Stars and Vancouver Canucks.
“I had to draw on every experience I had, from every coach I’ve had, to get us to where we got to,” Gulutzan said as the Flames cleaned up the ashes after being swept in four games by the Anaheim Ducks. “Whether it was from John (Tortorella) or Sully (Mike Sullivan) or Willie (Desjardins) or Perry Pearn. I’ve drawn on every single one of those guys throughout the season to get me through some situation.
“Every one of those guys’ voices were in my head this year.”
Very literally at times, like when the Flames made a trip to Pittsburgh and Gulutzan was chatting with Sullivan, his former co-worker in Vancouver and current head coaching counterpart with the Penguins.
The conversation surrounded playing fast, their defensive system and puck movement prior to a 3-2 overtime win by Calgary, which helped spur their 10-game win streak.
“We were just chatting about it and he reminded me,” Gulutzan said. “After that, we really made that an emphasis. And it helped. It helped our neutral zone transition game and playing a little quicker.... That came from a conversation with Sully in February, when we were going over the things we used to talk about.”
Of course, there were other tales of inspiration in 2016-17 that came straight from Gulutzan’s own books, which include a combination of clear communication and discipline and knowing when to use them.
The now-infamous train ride from Montreal to Ottawa in late January allowed the Flames players to basically solve their own issues over a few beer.
Whether it’s injecting life into mundane practice days by using minor hockey inspired games or using motivational video clips from sports heroes and business tycoons during his video sessions, Gulutzan is the definition of a players’ coach.
“I think he is the No. 1 reason we are where we are and he deserves all the credit in the world,” Flames general manager Brad Treliving said during the Flames’ short playoff run. “I think he’s done a lot of things with our group in a short amount of time.
“We had some challenges to start, probably not unlike a lot of other teams. Camp, I always refer to as clunky because we were missing guys. We were trying to incorporate new people. We had a new coaching staff. To go from that to where we are at the end of the regular season, I think his fingerprints are all over it and I couldn’t be more proud of the job he has done.”
Just like the rest of us, Gulutzan has moments where he lies awake at night, wondering whether he should have handled certain situations differently.
However, after his first season as the bench boss of the Flames, it doesn’t happen too often.
“Coaches always blame themselves,” said Gulutzan, who has a three-year contract in Calgary. “And I certainly blamed myself for things. But when I looked back on it, there’s not much that I would have changed throughout the 82 games. I liked what we did. I’m happy with what we did.” And he’s not done yet. “What I have done is said, ‘OK, where can we grow? Where can we be better as a staff to help the players, to help ourselves, to help the team get more points,” he said. “I’ve written down a few things. But as far as this season goes, we hummed at a pretty high level to get the team where we ultimately wanted them to go.
“But I think there’s room for improvement, for sure.”
CHASING MESS
The Calgary Flames know the type of leader Mark Giordano is. But this summer, the captain will be up against two of the top leaders in the National Hockey League when the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award is dished out at the NHL Humanitarian Awards at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Giordano, along with Columbus Blue Jackets left winger Nick Foligno and Anaheim Ducks centre Ryan Getzlaf, were announced on Thursday as the three finalists for this year’s nod, which is presented “to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice, during the regular season.”
Giordano guided the Flames to their second playoff berth in the last three years, leading the team with a plus-22 and added 12 goals and 27 assists.
The 33-year-old Toronto native, who was the 2016 NHL Foundation Player Award winner, is a contributor off the ice in the Calgary community.
He and his wife, Lauren, are behind Team Giordano, a program launched in 2014 in conjunction with the Calgary Board of Education that has donated $300,000 to high-needs schools to promote improved physical fitness and academics. The initiative has affected nearly 2,000 students, funding the purchase of equipment and encouraging children. Giordano is an ambassador for various team programs including “Reading … Give It a Shot!” since 2006-07.
Messier, himself, selects the three finalists and winner based on suggestions from club league personnel and fans.
The winner of the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award, as well as the winners of the NHL Foundation Player Award and King Clancy Memorial Trophy, will be announced June 20 and will also be recognized on June 21 at the 2017 NHL Awards at T-Mobile Arena.