No less than a day after my "condemnation of Playfair" post, the local media has taken the story and run with it.
Jim Playfair stands in the dock. Accused. In point of fact, he's been there all season. But only now does he hear the charges every time he turns on the radio. Or channel surfs on the TV. Or, bad idea, lets curiosity get the better of him and joins a Calgary Flames Internet chat room.
He's lost his players.
He's lost his grip.
Says George Johnson in the Calgary Herald. Johnson's is basically a fluff piece, supporting Playfair and admonishing those who are starting to think a change at the helm is in order. He admits the team has fallen below expectations, but posits that Playfair should be judged on the entire season (play-offs included) before being shown the noose. Fair enough.
(You'll notice, Walkinvisible, that Johnson also uses the term "farcical", albeit not in the same context)
At a time when serious Stanley Cup contenders are ramping up their play for a final push into the post-season, the Flames' play continues to belie the incredible talent on their roster.
Echoing some of my own thoughts from yesterday, everyone's favorite local Chicken Little, Eric Francis, pretty much just points out the obvious shortcomings of the team in his column and ends by merely implying that firing Playfair is the answer:
Despite the brilliant roster Darryl Sutter has assembled, the Flames are falling apart at the seams at the worst possible time.
The time is now to reverse that trend.
Or else...
Between the two, I'm actually with Johnson. Emotionally, I'm Francis frustrated, but Playfair does deserve at least a full season to prove he can get the job done.
The Sun also ran a "consensus" piece, detailing some fan reaction as well as Sportak's column, which contains the predictible "players protecting the coach" stuff -
"It's not the coaching," Warrener said after receiving medical treatment at the Saddledome yesterday.
"It has nothing to do with coaching, it has nothing to do with a bad dressing room."
Centre Craig Conroy said Playfair's done his job of preparing the team and drawing up the gameplan, so it's up to them to follow the design and make it work.
"I definitely don't think it's a coaching situation. The way we prepare, the way we do things, it's the execution on the ice when we make those mistakes," Conroy said.
"I think everybody's behind Jimmy. That's not an issue. It's the guys in that room, we've got to do it."
Pretty standard stuff. I don't want to say outright that the players are being disingenuous, but frankly, even if there were dressing room/coach issues, there's little chance they'd tell the press about it.
For proof of this lack of candor, check out this doozy from Sportak's piece:
Asked if he still believes his message to the players is getting through and whether they're responding, Playfair tersely and succinctly replied: "Absolutely." (emphasis mine).
Really Jim? Because if you actually believe that, this team is in more trouble than I thought.
