Former Minnesota North Stars’ NHL player Craig Hartsburg looking to prove himself at a new place
Craig Hartsburg did not have very good time as the associate coach of Calgary Flames and that was the main reason that he was fired from his post few days back. On 7th June 2012, the former NHL player was released by the Flames and just few months after that he has been hired again.
It’s probably biggest challenge of his life as he has been hired as the coach by Columbus Blue Jackets, who are already going through a very bad time. Blue Jackets have finished outside top 8 for three consecutive seasons now and have not been able to qualify for the playoffs.
They have finished worst in the league in last three seasons as they finished 14th in the 2009-2010 season, 13th in the 2010-2011 season and 15th in the 2011-2012 season. So he is taking charge of the team that was last placed in the Eastern Conference last season plus there is one more problem for them.
Columbus Blue Jackets had just one star player in their line-up and that was their captain, Rick Nash. But now they have also lost him as they traded him to New York Rangers, thinking that his captaincy was the main reason for their downfall.
Apparently, the Stratford, Ontario resident is ready to take on the challenge and will face all the problems, using his experience. Talking to NHL.com, he told the changes that the team has experienced in last couple of months and he feels it would be exciting, as he said,
"It will be an interesting challenge. I'm really excited about helping Columbus build a strong identity and culture that we can have for a number of years. We know we're a team that has changed over the last two, three months. It's exciting that we can start to build something and put our stamp on it as coaches.”
Hartsburg also talked about the things that lead to Los Angeles Kings winning the Stanley Cup and compared their condition to his own team’s as he thinks they have good players like Kings had and they just need understanding between them as he said,
“That's how they won those Stanley Cups. That's the direction that Columbus is trying to take now. We lost a terrific player in http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8470041 but I think the players we got back are going to fill that identity."
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