JTech780

Thats the worth of a 3rd pairing defenseman.

Not sure I get the logic behind benching Zary and Pospisil in the 3rd. Especially for Dube and Greer.

Someone has to go when Pelletier is ready to come back, and Coronato is going to force his way back into the lineup sooner or later. Right now I would rather keep Greer than Duehr.

Hopefully this means Pelletier is close to returning. Could really use his speed and energy in the lineup. Also have to wonder how much longer Duehr stays on the roster.

See I think Gilbert is better than DeSimone. I find DeSimone is too prone to turnovers for a 6/7. Gilbert doesn’t do anything too fancy but he plays his role.

If he was on the roster any longer he would have needed waivers to go down. Also they are at home for the next 6 games, so they don’t really need to carry an extra defenseman.

It's a moot point, but when Pospisil plays tonight he will require waivers to go back to the AHL, not that he is going back to the AHL.

First of all wingers and goalies don't belong on this list IMO, if you are paying top dollar for these positions you are doing it wrong. Since 2020: Panarin 1.26 pts/gm (272 points) Pastrnak: 1.21 pts/gm (267 points) Marner: 1.26 pts/gm (283 points) Huberdeau: 1.04 pts/game (243 points) Tavares: .97 pts/gm (225 points) Kopitar: .88 pts/gm (208 points) Eichel: .91 pts/gm (129 points) So I would say Price, Bobrovsky, Tavares, Kopitar and Eichel belong on this list less than Huberdeau does.

It was a missed penalty call, which isn’t something that they can challenge, it was a bad challenge and it put them on the PK when they are already down by 2.

I was just more getting at that regardless of why he is sitting, it isn't the end of the world nor the worst thing to watch a game from the pressbox and just slow things down and refocus.

I also don’t have a problem with a young player sitting for a game and watching from the press box. Sometimes it helps with getting them refocused.

I agree, Lindholm was going to be the piece that brought us the biggest return now I am not so sure. I think teams are starting to figure out that he isn’t a play driving center, he is a good center who can play with skilled players, but is best suited to play with wingers who can drive offense.

At the end of the day we should be trying to pump up his stats, to raise his trade value. I would run him only in offensive situations for now.

I wonder if it might be time to move Lindholm off of center, he isn't really driving play, he looks disinterested. Maybe moving him to the wing will allow him to just focus on offense. Guys like Ruzicka, Zary, Dube, Sharangovich can play center, even Pospisil played some center in the AHL.

Through the first 15 games last year we had 16 points and had a CF% of 54.8. This year through 15 games we have 12 points and CF% of 53. I am not seeing this clear step back. Yes they are 4 points have the pace and have a slightly lower CF%, but it’s pretty clear that the team is preforming in a similar manner to last year. Again this isn’t a coaching issue, it is a team construction/ chemistry issue.

Huberdeau with Backlund and Coleman at practice today. Backlund is the best center on the roster for Huberdeau IMO. Zary might be that guy soon, but not yet.

I would say most of the issues that lingered from last year have remained. It is becoming painfully obvious that the issue is with the players and the room. Till you sort out the problems with the team, it won't matter who the coach is.

I do wonder that if part of the equation with Wolf coming up is that they probably want to see how he looks in more NHL games before they are comfortable moving Vladar. There isn’t exactly a whole lot of depth past Wolf, so you want to make sure he can compete at this level before you move out your depth. If you look around the league it’s not like there are a ton of quality goaltenders.

Hopefully he gets a game, missing out on a California trip for a California kid means not getting to see his family. Though I am sure the NHL paycheque makes up for it.

At this point you leave the Zary-Kadri-Sharangovich line alone and in tact as they are the best line by a mile. Somehow you have to find a way to get Huberdeau going though, and I think after benching him last night, you have to put him out there a lot and in a lot of offensive situations. I just don’t think it will ever work with Lindholm. Put him out there with Backlund and Coleman. Zary-Kadri-Sharangovich Huberdeau-Backlund-Coleman Mangiapane-Lindholm-Dube Pospisil-Ruzicka-Duehr Swap Ruzicka and Dube depending on who is going that night. I get that putting Huberdeau with Backlund causes some issues with how you deploy your best defensive forwards, but I think Backlund is the best center on the roster for Huberdeau and right now you need to get your $10.5m forward going at any cost.

I can get behind this. Though I might even put Zary in the middle and move Lindholm to the wing. Though it really doesn't matter too much after the initial faceoff anymore, it just turns into F1, F2 and F3. So far this year Dube has looked like a 4th liner, so that's where I would play him. Defensively he hasn't been what I expected him to be coming out of junior. Being reliable at both ends of the ice was his calling card in Kelowna and he just hasn't been that in the NHL.

Coronato was looking lost, so him going down to the AHL and getting games in will be good for him. Hopefully help him re-ignite the offense. One thing the Flames won’t have to worry about with Pospisil is his compete. He will bring some fire to the lineup.

I think Gilbert has been serviceable in his time with the Flames. Oesterle has been absolutely horrible in the games he has played in. Now the Andersson is back though, I would rather Gilbert get the 10-12 mins a night that the 6th defenseman is going to get and have Solovyov get top pairing minutes in all situations in the AHL, for the time being at least. I think once the team commits to selling off some assets then you will see some of the younger guys come up and get key ice time.

Zary with a goal today, is now up to 9 points in 5 games with the Wranglers. This is the year where he is going to force the Flames’ hand and get him some games with the big club.

Interesting, I wonder what the cap implications are with this move. Glad to see the team living up to it’s word about letting young players play, hopefully he gets into the lineup tonight.