Geoff Ward the obvious choice for Flames head coach - Calgary Sun

There is an obvious next move for the Calgary Flames when it comes to the head coaching position.

But is it the right one?

With the team’s ongoing investigation surrounding Bill Peters and allegations of a racial slur and physical allegations by former players on social media, there is uncertainty surrounding his future.

In the interim, the obvious choice to take over — until this is sorted out — is associate boss Geoff Ward, who has head coaching experience and is well-liked by the current players. There’s good reason to believe that he is the correct one for the role in the long-term, too.

After an update from the team on Tuesday night, general manager Brad Treliving indicated that would be the case — at least on Wednesday, as Peters would not be behind the bench and Ward would handle the head coaching duties as the Flames wrap up a four-game road trip against the Buffalo Sabres (5 p.m., Sportsnet West/Sportsnet 960 The Fan). Treliving said the team’s internal review into the allegations continues, indicating it is “a very serious matter” and they “want to be thorough” in their investigation.

The fact that the Flames are going through their third head coach in eight seasons — and second in the last three-and-a-half — speaks to a higher level of disappointment that must be felt within the organization: a difficulty finding the right person to steer the ship of a team that had the most wins in franchise history a year ago.

But with their on-ice business continuing and their record sliding — after Monday’s latest setback, a 3-2 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, they were 11-12-4 and 3-5-2 in the last 10 games — the team must move forward.

Ward ran Tuesday’s practice and spoke to the media afterwards, saying their job is simple.

“We just have to worry about the things we can control … Tree has addressed the (allegations),” Ward said. “For us, we’re trying to finish up a road trip on a real strong note. We just want to come here and control what we can control. It’s how we practice, it’s how we play. We showed (the players) a lot of the things we did well (on Monday). We talked about how we’re starting to come on an upturn … we want to carry it on.”

He was asked about the potential added duties on his plate, specifically Wednesday’s game.

“I’m not worried about that right now,” said Ward, a proud father of four — Cody, Sawyer, Kylie and Hannah. “Right now, my focus was just on getting the group ready (Tuesday) and having a good practice, and we’ll take it from there.

“We’ve talked about it right from the beginning of the year, and we talked about it (regarding) expectations … we emphasized in training camp, it’s important for us to put all the stuff they’re hearing on the outside, to keep it to the outside and just really worry about ourselves in the dressing room as a team and as a family and grow it from within there.”

Ward has been a head coach but not at the National Hockey League level, although it’s been a long and winding journey to this point. But it also should be noted that Ward has experience in calming the waters during times of turmoil.

Calgary Flames assistant coach Geoff Ward, pictured during the 2019 playoffs. Al Charest/Postmedia

The 57-year-old native of Waterloo, Ont., started his coaching career in 1989 as an assistant at the University of Waterloo and spent some time with the junior ‘B’ Waterloo Siskins before coaching with the Ontario Hockey League’s Niagara Falls Thunder through the 1992-93 season.

In 1994-95, Ward took over head coaching duties of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers from Joe McDonnell and led that team to playoffs, remaining in the position through the 1997-98 campaign and amassing a 108-102-26-4 record through four seasons.

Then:

• Guelph/OHL in 1998-99 (44-21-2-1)
• Arkansas RiverBlades/ECHL in 1999-00 (5-20-1-0)
• Bad Nauheim EC in 2000-01 (13-29-0-2)

In 2001-02, his break came into the professional realm in North America as he joined the Hamilton Bulldogs as an assistant coach with the Montreal Canadiens’ and Edmonton Oilers’ American Hockey League affiliate.

The following season in 2002-03, Ward replaced Claude Julien (who had been promoted to head coach of the Canadiens upon the firing of Michel Therrien) and led the team to the Calder Cup finals, winning the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award for the AHL’s coach of the year.

Then, he spent a year with the Toronto Roadrunners before the Oilers’ American Hockey League team relocated to Edmonton during the 2004-05 National Hockey League lockout and, after that, a stint in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga with the Iserlohn Roosters.

He reunited with Julien in Boston during the 2007-08 campaign and spent seven seasons as an assistant, winning the Stanley Cup in 2011 before returning to Germany to Adler Mannheim where he won the DEL coach of the year and the DEL Championship. Then, it was back to the NHL with the New Jersey Devils for three seasons from 2015-’18.

Ahead of the 2018-19 campaign, Treliving sought out Ward’s services to help out the Flames’ struggling power play, and he did that, improving their man-advantage — in one year — from 29th (16.0%) to 18th (19.3%).

A former high school and elementary teacher in Ontario, Ward has a reputation of being an honest coach and likable person, and, at the moment, he fits seamlessly into the role. He knows the Flames’ personnel, players and coaches including on-ice assistants Martin Gelinas and Ryan Huska, and is familiar with the organization.

But Treliving, ultimately, has the final call on whether Ward is a long-term fit at the position or not.

kanderson@postmedia.com
Twitter: @KDotAnderson

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November 27, 2019 at 09:33AM