Friedman: Wideman, Hartley like "oil and water"

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Elliotte Friedman was on Sportsnet 960 Friday morning.

On Dennis Wideman not playing on Thursday night against the Oilers as a healthy scratch:

“I just tried to look into it for a bit because when I first heard he wasn’t playing, I assumed it was because he got banged up on the hit by Burrows, and Bob Hartley made it very clear that was not the case. It was a healthy scratch.

“I guess they’ve been a bit like oil and water, Wideman and Hartley. They’ve had trouble getting on the same page. The one thing that you have to do though, when you are a coach of a young team - and regardless of Hartley’s future, whether he’s going to be the long-term coach or not of the Flames, while he’s in charge of a team like this, the one thing that the organization says is – you’ve got to teach our young guys that they have to do it right. And if the coach feels strongly that for whatever reason Wideman isn’t doing what he asks, you have to send a message up and down the lineup. Especially with kids. And that’s obviously what he’s doing.

“Now, we had talked earlier guys, about the fact that I had heard Wideman’s name out there, and that was denied. And he does have full control over his situation. But you always wonder if around part of all of it is that maybe the coach is trying to say to the player, ‘Hey, if you’re not going to buy in to what I want you to do, maybe you should see if there is someplace else that you might want to go.’

“So we’ll see where this plays out. But at the very least, it just shows that I don’t think this particular coach and this particular player have seen eye-to-eye in quite some time.”

On what the league temperature or appetite would be for a Dennis Wideman:

"I think now it's kind of tough. At this point in the season it can be kind of difficult to move players with higher salaries because everybody is so tight to the cap or to their budget.

"The one thing I do believe, very strongly, is that you can always use defencemen. And if there's one position during the season where there tends to be a lot of attrition, it's on the blueline. 

"He's a guy who can play, he's a guy who can get some points. I think it always comes down to a) What would a deal mean for Calgary, would they take a bit of money. Would they do stuff like that. I think it all comes down to the structure. But again, the one thing I do believe Dean, is people are always interested in defencemen. I think the only thing that would scare anybody away with Wideman in particular would be the term."

Also: "It all comes down to if he's unhappy or not. like if he looks at this as something I kind of have to go through, then he might not be willing to go. Players ask for no-move clauses for a reason. Now, I think we've kind of learned in a lot of situations, that they aren't worth the piece of paper they're printed on. If everybody gets upset, then usually you find a situation where you can make it work.

"So it all depends on how Wideman feels. I know he's very tight with Giordano. Maybe he's happy being here with him. Maybe he feels this is where he wants to be and will find a way to work it out. Maybe he wants to see what the future of the organization is.

"But it's clear that him and his coach have had difficulties is seeing eye-to-eye, and with young players around the coach has got to say, 'You know what, this is my way and if you're going to play here, you have to do it my way.'

"And I know when you've got teams with young players, organizations do not frown on coaches doing that if they are in his corner."

Source: Sportsnet 960/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey