Powerless powerplay, new opportunity may be factors in Marc Savard's short stint on the Calgary Flames bench
Given the abysmal results Savard got from the powerplay — the main area the former free-wheeling NHL forward was brought to Calgary to improve — it’s not overly shocking the Calgary Flames and assistant coach Marc Savard have parted ways after just a single season.
Under Savard’s guidance, the Flames finished with the league’s seventh worst unit on the man advantage, with a 17.9 percent success rate in scoring. Not good.
There were moments of more promising production, especially after the trade deadline acquisition of former Vancouver Canucks sniper Andrei Kuzmenko, but the team’s early struggles on the powerplay punished them in the standings during a second straight season without a playoff appearance.
But it’s likely more than just the man-advantage muddling that led to this decision. And it’s easy to imagine that the notion it was a mutual parting of ways is indeed the truth here.
During the search for an assistant last year, Savard had publicly stated he didn’t really want to consider jobs that weren’t as the top bench boss. He was thriving in the OHL as the Windsor Spitfires’ head coach at the time. But his connection to the Flames was enough to pry him from his home province.
The lure of going back there may have contributed to this departure from Calgary, too. Craig Berube’s hiring in Toronto started the rumblings of a reunion. Savvy coached the powerplay under Berube in 2019-20 in St. Louis. Imagine the lure of working with some of the forwards the Maple Leafs have on the roster.
Savard was known as one of the league’s top playmakers during his playing career, which included a stint with the Flames from 1999 to 2002 before being traded to the Atlanta Thrashers after clashing with then-Flames head coach Greg Gilbert. Savard won the Stanley Cup in 2011 as a member of the Boston Bruins.
The Flames were far from Cup worthy this year. And while the hope was Savard could help get guys like Jonathan Huberdeau going offensively, it didn’t happen.
That rests with Huberdeau and the next offensive guru the Flames bring in.