In November, associate coach Geoff Ward became interim head coach of the Calgary Flames under less than ideal circumstances. He coached the team into the playoffs despite habitual inconsistency from his club’s best players and a swirling vortex of weird stuff happening around the club.
In Game 6 against the Dallas Stars, that player inconsistency and some curious decision-making as a coach may have cost Ward the full-time gig as Flames head coach.
Before we dive into Ward’s challenges, a disclaimer: the format of the 2020 playoffs involved games basically every second day and little in the way of practice time once things got going.