Gulutzan’s stick toss still drawing interest
As the Calgary Flames return from their mid-season getaway after a five-day NHL-mandated break, the question everyone wanted to know was posed to Glen Gulutzan on Thursday.
The storyline is so obvious not even a national sports radio program like The Jim Rome Show could miss it.
The Calgary Flames head coach made a rare appearance on the show, which airs on Sportsnet 960 The Fan, and fulfilled his lone media request of the team’s bye week.
Rome asked about the team’s newsworthy seven-game win streak and the, perhaps, unfortunate timing of the team’s hiatus.
“You want to keep it going, but one thing in this league is that these guys get used to playing every second night. And when you get on a roll and are playing every second night, you want to keep going with it,” Gulutzan said. “We weren’t that tired of a group so, sure, we’d like to keep it going.
“But what the league is doing is pairing teams up that are coming off these mandatory bye-weeks as well. So at the end of the day, the playing field is all square for us. We just have to get back on it quick.”
The Flames host the Winnipeg Jets for a rare matinee Saturday (1 p.m., CBC, Sportsnet West/ Sportsnet 960 The Fan), a team which is also coming off a byeweek, after back-to-back losses against the Chicago Blackhawks and the Minnesota Wild.
Heading into Thursday’s action, the Flames (25-16-4) were sitting third in the NHL’s Pacific Division and are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games. The mission is, obviously, to continue to climb up the Western Conference standings as the NHL playoffs approach.
Given the timing of their break and their impressive play of late, the question was predictable. So was Rome’s next question. “You tossed a stick ...” Gulutzan chuckled. The material was too easy. Giving the ol’ heave-ho to his composite on Jan. 5 following a come-from-behind victory over the visiting Los Angeles Kings, Gulutzan’s outburst went viral and made sporting headlines across the continent.
“We win one (bleeping) game … One (bleeping) game,” screamed Gulutzan, irked by signs of complacency during his stick toss. “We’re so (bleeping) good? You check the (bleeping) standings? Let’s (bleeping) go — (bleeping) practice.
“I’ve seen one good game from some of you (bleeping) veteran guys. Let’s (bleeping) practise. Let’s go!”
Rome was interested in getting to the bottom of the story, which is — at least in this city — old news.
“In any good program, in any sport, you talk about the culture,” Gulutzan said, explaining the chain of events leading to the javelin toss. “We wanted to be sharp. We wanted to be good. We wanted the veterans to lead it. We didn’t get that early. And so, that’s what a little bit that set me off ... I didn’t want to let it go on longer than about seven or eight minutes … I had some strong words for the guys, obviously. I threw the stick — not one of my finest moments. But I wanted to deliver the message.” No kidding. Fast forward to the Flames’ fourgame road trip which saw wins in Minnesota, Tampa Bay, Florida and Carolina.
The Flames are getting good goaltending from Mike Smith, who is proving to be every bit the netminder Flames general manager Brad Treliving traded for. The 35-year-old former Arizona Coyotes goaltender has played 38 games, going 20-13-3. He’s among the most heavily utilized netminders in the NHL. His 2.46 goals-against average was fifth in the NHL among goalies playing 35 games or more (heading into Wednesday’s action), while his .924 save percentage had him in a three-way tie for second in the league along with Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings and Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers.
“He’s been such a good acquisition for us, and his goaltending has been fantastic,” Gulutzan told Rome. “He’s one of the top guys in the league. But we acquired a great leader — this guy has a lot of passion and a lot of fire. He’s very positive, and he’s given us some great leadership in the locker-room.”
With 37 games to go, the Flames are in a much better position than they were a few weeks ago.
And after getting his point across — by some interesting motivational tactics — Gulutzan said they’ve set the framework for the team. Now it’s up to the players (especially the veterans such as Smith, captain Mark Giordano, Mikael Backlund, Troy Brouwer, TJ Brodie, Travis Hamonic, Michael Stone, Matt Stajan and even Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan) to go get it.
“In any high functioning team, at the end of the year, basically the coach is a facilitator,” Gulutzan said. “The veteran guys can grab a hold of everything, and the coach is just the facilitator. Maybe he’s looking at the gauges and making sure nothing overheats.
“If the veterans are running it, then you’ve got something.”