stubblejumper1

The Flames are now out of a playoff spot. Sutter needs to focus on that.

I agree, they aren't treating him well but the money he made while up in the nhl probably more than offsets any ahl bonuses. He makes $750k in the nhl and $140k in the minors.

The game on Saturday was the worst team effort I can remember. Other than the goalie, nobody was interested in playing. Totally unprofessional. The game on Monday was ok. They had yet another bad start, came back from a 2 goal deficit, but then gave up a shorthanded goal late in the third. Somehow, they were able to sneak out a win in overtime. The game on Wednesday, for me, was the most painful game I have watched since they blew a 5 goal first period lead against Chicago (I googled it, and that game was on Oct. 13, 2009). The traditional slow start resulted in an early Canucks goal. Then they took yet another bad penalty (too many men). Then they gave up another goal. To be fair, I thought they played fairly well in the second half of the first period and for most of the second. They finally score with about 1.5 minutes left in the second. I was thinking, "this will be an interesting finish." Nope. They give up 2 goals in 30 seconds and finish the second down 4-1. Was there anyone that stayed up to watch the third? tmac, I hear where you are coming from. Before I read your post, I had told my wife I wasn't going to make a point of watching many more Flames games this year. They aren't playing entertaining hockey and they aren't building towards a better product. I'm not out forever, but I see no point in watching this sinking ship. Having said that, they will probably win the next two games against the oilers and they will suck me back in...hopefully.

I have always thought that Bennett needed to earn his opportunities. He hasn't been able to put it together offensively and he takes too many bad penalties...so he hasn't gotten time on the #1/2 lines or on the powerplay. However, 7 games into the season I am starting to change my mind. Lucic takes bad penalties and doesn't score much, yet he is a fixture on the second powerplay unit. Lucic is Bennett without the speed, but he has a wwwaaaaayyyyy lllloonnnngggeerrrrr leash. I don't blame Bennett for asking for a trade. He will never succeed in Calgary (he may succeed elsewhere, but there is zero chance it will work with the Flames). Unlike Cross, I am a little upset about the situation. Bennett is one of a handful of Flames forwards with has some size and grit (Tkachuk, Lucic and maybe Leivo would be the others). Without Bennett this team will be even easier to play against. The Flames will be negotiating from a place of weakness, so they aren't going to get much back in a trade.

A season and a half in the NHL isn't really a vet. Nesterov is still learning how to play in the league. Whether he is a risk taker, or hasn't learned when to jump up into the play, I don't think he is the guy who should be mentoring Valimaki.

The Valimaki/Nesterov pairing is killing the Flames right now. I don't understand why Ward is playing the 2 least experienced d men on the same pair. Why not give them a chance to play with and learn from a veteran, instead of throwing them to the wolves and potentially sewering the season?

I have to admit, Lucic has been playing much better the last couple of weeks. He seems a lot more engaged. Probably not worth the salary, but he is working as hard as anyone else on the team. Leading by example.

At this point I see no reason to dress Lucic for games. He is on pace for 6 goals and is not contributing enough offensively. He isn't fast enough to be effective on the forecheck. On many nights he can't give or accept a tape to tape pass properly. By his own admission he can't goon it up anymore because of the way the game is officiated. I don't know the details of his contract, but if he can't be sent down to the minors the Flames need to scratch him. At this point he isn't helping the team and is below replacement player value. It sounds crazy, but they may need to scratch him for the remainder of his contract because he isn't going to get better over the next 3-4 years.

That was a bad hit on Killington and nobody on the Flames did anything about it. When the refs only call a two minute minor on a play like that the players probably need to take matters into their own hands. Should Lucic have gone after Lowry in the third period?

I am late chiming in, but if I recall correctly, Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle went to the AHL because of an NHL lockout. The AHL was the best league they could have played in while the NHL was shut down. That is a different situation than sending Bennett down after a relatively successful rookie season in the NHL. I used to think Bennett has to earn his opportunities. Now I realize how difficult it is to do a good job when you aren't allowed to make mistakes. Every time Bennett makes a mistake he seems to get bumped down the lineup or has his ice time cut. I'm sure it really hard for Bennett to relax/focus when he has no margin for error. Not a recipe for success. However, he really needs to cut out the bad penalties. There is no excuse for such a lack of discipline.

Good to hear that Lucic is seriously trying to improve on last year's nightmare season. Does Oates include power skating as part of his skills package? I remember reading somewhere that coaches felt Adam Oates was interfering with their team (watching Oates on hockey night in Canada, he seemed to have an off putting personality). I hope that is just a rumour, as I wouldn't want a fourth liner and his entourage to be a distraction in Calgary.

That Sun cover page was a low point for Calgary sports. Not as low as this year's playoffs, but a definite low point.

Fantenberg would get my vote. He is a third pairing guy that you barely notice - in a good way. He doesn't seem to make many mistakes and simply gets the job done. No drama. I think he has been a great pickup.

I don't want to dump on Smid because he was an honest player, but I don't think it is fair to say he didn't pan out in Calgary. He came as advertised - a shot blocking hard nosed dman. No more, no less. Unfortunately, the Flames traded a future NHL calibre backup goaltender for a replacement level stay at home defenseman in the midst of a five year playoff drought. Broissoit may never have developed in Calgary, but like almost all of the Flames prospects of that era, he was never given a real chance. The Smid trade was one in a long line of veteran acquisitions that stunted development of almost all of the Flames' prospects for close to a decade.

I thought that was a bad trade from day 1. Not because they lost Broissoit, but because they brought in Smid. He was a second or third pairing dman that played up the depth chart in Edmonton because they had a week d core. Broissoit turned out to be a descent goalie. Smid turned out to be a high paid, slower skating, stay at home dman with not much offensive upside. Not a Gilmour for Leeman level trade, by any means, but the Flames got taken for a ride by Craig McTavish. Ouch.