Flames_Website_Team's Blog

Moss will be playing on the right wing moving Rene Bourque over to the left wing with Mikael Backlund in the middle.

We are losing games because of four major problems;

1) We are showing poor basic skills (puck handling, passing, etc.)

2) Poor decision making

3) Lack of effort to fight for the puck

4) Little team chemistry

Why try to backhand the puck up the boards from your own zone passed two defenders, when you have a teammate on the other side boards that could take a pass around the boards and bring the puck out and make another pass? The team needs to get back to the basics and do puck handling drills or understand that a pass doesn't always have to go up the ice, you CAN make progress with the puck passing backwards and then up to a teammate that can freely move the puck.

Why does the team wait too long to shoot the puck on net when in a breakaway situation. For example, if your coming up the right wing on a two on two and your teammate in on the left or center, why not shot the puck low to see if it will generate a rebound for your teammate? Instead we wait too long and the chance is gone or we give the defenseman enough time to get his feet or stick in the way and it ends up going the other way and now we have two players behind the play?! TAKE THE PUCK TO THE NET! Good things can happen when you do this.

This last game with Detroit, was a good example of Calgary not fighting for the puck and standing around doing nothing. If you have the puck on the boards in the offensive zone, why are we looking to chip it past the defender and then trying to go through him? Especially, when there is no teammate on the otherside for the puck to go to! Take the puck off the boards and try to work it to the middle, it might open things up and create a chance or at least there should be a defencemen there to backhand the puck to on the blue line.

Finally, the team does not seem to have any good chemistry, which is throwing everyone off. Bouwmeester is a waste to money, he moves around and makes decisions like he is in his first NHL season. Why did we pick up Staios? Tanguay will be fine, if he stops trying so hard to set up Iginla all the time. Jokinen is a good skater and can move the puck, but he seems to get too "jumpy" in the offensive zone. Calm down and set up the play like you know you can. Iginla, stop doing the obsessive pucking handling move you do when coming off the boards in the offensive zone. Lately, you have ending up giving up the puck when you have lost control of it, trying to do that handling move. You are still a threat and when other teams double team you, you need to find that open man and make a play.

The team can be successful if they can make plays with confidence. Some things have to be an automatic reaction. For example, if Tanguay is in the offensive corner and needs to cycle the puck, he should not have to worry whether his line mate is heading into the same corner when Tanguay moves out. Tanguay should be able to skate down the boards and confidently chip the puck back to the line mate without hesitation. Then, Tanguay can move toward the middle of the ice and accept a pass for a shot or set up a play.

To often, I see one player at the blue line or in the offensive corner with the puck trying to move out and make a play, when all of a sudden his line mate skates in a gets in the way! Why?! The teammate just minimize the room to play with, instead of opening the ice up. The team seems to be fumbling around and getting into each others way far too much.

Success will follow if the teams gets back to the basics and starts making smart simple moves. Good luck! We the fans watch you, because we still believe in our team!