"John (Tortorella) used to always say to us, 'You can't win games in the morning, but you can lose them,'" Gulutzan started.
"Jamie Pringle told me the other night … 'Metallica doesn't bang out a few songs at 10 in the morning before their concert at night.'"
Different approaches.
Same suggestion.
The Flames, who rarely held an optionals under former bench boss Bob Hartley, will be lightening their workload on game days.
They're already busy enough, suggested the new coach.
"I'm of the nature that we stretch, we dynamic stretch, we go warm up then. That's at 10:00. And then we come back to the rink at 5:00 PM and we dynamic stretch and we go out for a 20 minute warm-up and we come off and then we play the game," outlined Gulutzan.
"That's a lot before the game."
Tacking on a 25-minute spin to boot isn't a part of the coach's plan.
But if you're a player that needs it, by all means.
"I just think that energy is important in the league," Gulutzan said. "I'm a believer that I'm a little bit farther away from having to pre-game skate now. The players, now, are creatures of habit and a lot of them like their skate every day … or in the morning's of.
"Most of ours will be optional."
