cross16

a few insiders have mentioned that the talks between Habs and Flames were bigger but had to be scuttled due to cap reasons.

Devils advocate, only 1 of those teams is in the West and in a 7 game Stanley Cup final anything can happen. As much as I think the center depth is a problem I also think they are 100% in that conversation when it comes to the West.

This is obviously what the Flames are hoping for and it is in the range of outcomes. Dube-Monahan-Ritchie actually have not been a terrible line they just are not finishing at all. Adding a finisher makes sense. However, my concern lies in deployment and matchups. Obviously this is not an issue right for because the Backlund line is red hot but if they cool down (which history tell us is very likely) then I think the Flames have an issue. Because Monahan is not very good in transition, nor that good defensively Sutter has to use that line in favorable matchup and mostly o zone starts. While Toffoli is good in this area i'm not sure it's enough to turn that line into one you can trust with a lot of d zone starts. With having a rookie center on your 4th line that also limits this and now your using you are deploying your top 6 defensively and in harder matchups. This doesn't feel like an issue to me in the regular season but I absolutely think it's something that can be exploited by a team in the playoffs. Matchup hard against the Gaudreau line, create a favorable matchup against the Backlund line because they'll be heavy d zone starts and suddenly Calgary is in some trouble. This is also not even getting into the idea of what happens if Backlund cools off? That is why I thought a transition center was so critical. This is going to get harder to overcome in the playoffs when a team can game plan for it extensively. They have some options to play around with but in Sutter's system a center is so critcial to proper execution of it and my faith that Monahan can be that center is gone. It is possible that Ruzicka can fill this gap but that is a big ask too. I could be wrong and none of this matter but this is why I thought it was so critical. I'm a big believer in the Brian Burke theory of winning a cup. Going to be a series you need to outscore the other team, a series you're going to have to defend/have your goalie win one, a series that will come down to special teams and a series where you will have to outmuscle your opponent. My skepticism lies in their ability to outscore a team over the course of a series when that top line can be keyed in on.

Honestly for me the only "concern" or hesitation i can put around this is they spent a good asset and depleted their cap space but haven't filled their biggest need. This is just my personal opinion but i'm very skeptical they can go on a run with the center depth they have. But on the surface and looking at just the transaction it's really hard to find a fault. The player fits in so many ways and the price is very reasonable.

Was interesting to hear his pk ability stressed so much by both Sutter and Treliving. Flames are a little top heavy again where Backlund and LIndholm are their busiest forwards on the PK. flame don't take a ton of penalties so it works but I'm curious to see if Toffoli can help balance that out a little. Particularly in the case of LIndholm.

Toffoli has more than a few connections to this team it appears -Played under Sutter - Played with Monahan in juniors - played with (and apparently tight with- see below) Lucic

What options did he have? The pass is what drew him to the inside, he couldn't break outside otherwise the puck is basically right on Z's stick and it's an easy turnover. I don't agree at all that this is bad awareness or on Kase, he saw him coming (got his hands up afterall) he just had no time to do anything about it. This is my angle on the whole thing I want to see the game safer. I'm all for physical contact but we just have so much data on head injuries know that I think the appetite for risk needs to change. Not just to grow into other markets but to emphasize player safety.. I am in favor of looking at a defenseless player type of penalty and IMO that's exactly what the hit last night was. Again I want to be clear I don't think Z did anything wrong and as per the current rules it's a legal hit. I just think in that situation there was nothing Kase could do other than get smoked and IMO that's not what the game is or should be about. Players in vulnerable positions like Kase was shouldn't have to worry about getting drilled and risk head injury IMO. I also don't think it makes the game any worse, just like the decrease in fighting hasn't made the game any worse.

This is where I disagree and where I understand I will be on a bit of an island on this, but I'm not longer a fan of the standard where you point at the victim. There is too much evidence about the dangers of head injuries for me to continue with the same old standard of simply "keep your head up". Kase had no way to defend himself other than to not make the play and I prefer speed, skill, plays and fewer head injuries than I enjoy bit hits. But like I said I understand this is my opinion only and others will disagree.

I agree a change was needed but I just don't think it's going to do much. They don't have the roster, IMO at least, to play the way you are describing. I'm not saying you are wrong, I just don't think they have the roster to play that way successfully. I don't think the Oilers are built to defend, but what they are built to do is move the puck so do it. Play as a tighter 5 man unit, pressure in the neutral zone and re group and go. They are similar to the Flames under Ward in that they are playing too slow and it's taking away from the talent that they do have. Get the puck back going the other way ASAP.

Well when your hot you're hot. I don't think the Flames are really playing great right now but finding ways to win. Pucks going in and Markstrom come out of the break much better than when he went in, which is great to see. 2 Back to back really good games from him so hopefully this is him entering into a bit of a zone and they can balance out the goalies a little better now that the schedule is going to get intense. Wasn't the cleanest game and there are a few worrying trends in their defensive right now that I'm sure Sutter will want to correct but happens throughout the course of a season. Also need to give credit to the Leafs. They make zone entries very difficult for the Flames and their PK was stellar. On the Z hit while I do think it's clean based on the rules I don't like it and that should be the type of hit the NHL wants out of the game. But based on the current rules I don't see anything there that they can use to punish at all.

I agree this isn't a coach thing either it's a roster issue. No depth, poorly built defense and goaltending is very sub standard. I don't see any coach fixing this not even someone like Sutter. It's just a poorly built roster because the Oilers doubled down on a bad GM higher with a potentially even worse one. That's crippling.

Tippett out as is Playfair. Feel for Playfair but he is pretty tied to Tippett at this point so I get it. Given that Jay Woodcroft was coaching their AHL team that would likely mean this isn't an interim move but we'll see.

Backs is pretty notorious for being more of a second half player. Typically starts slow and while I'm not saying we should expect that performance on a nightly basis I don't' think it should come as a huge surprise.

If we want to assume that BT hasn't made offers or hasn't tried to get him signed then sure but I would find that hard to believe. if the Flames wanted to sign Gaudreau at any point it likely would have been easy. They could have taken the Iginla approach and just said "how much and how long?". That is where the blank cheque comment comes from, it's easy to sign players if you just give them what they want. You can argue you shouldn't be prudent with your best players and that is fair. That's what I mean when I say blank cheque, the approach that this is your best player so do what it takes to get signed. It's not the approach it looks like BT is taking and I'm just personally fine with the approach as I think being prudent i this case makes sense.

Why? I don't know about this anymore. I get it's not normally the hockey way but I think the cap and changes to free agency have started to alter this and we should adapt too. it's really common for star players in other sports to head to FA without a contract so why is hockey so different? It's a changing landscape.

For me it's simple: Look at his playoffs Look at him in important games Look at the fact he is a winger and not a center. Look at his age For me all valid reasons why you don't give him a blank cheque and why this was always likely going to be a tough negotiation. I don't really feel the panic about this situation and am perfectly happy to let it play out as I strongly suspect there is far more going on behind the scene than we know about. I don't' believe for a second Treliving made a decision to low ball or that he didn't/hasn't negotiated hard at this. I could be wrong, i just find it very hard to believe.

I frame this differently, this is not just failing to sign a free agent this is failure to plan. What Jarmo and Columbus did was different. First off letting Bobrvosky walk was a fantastic decision but Panarin and Johnny are in different camps. Jarmo traded for Pannarin knowing he only had a 2 year window to either win or get him signed and even when he made the deal it was pretty public that Panarin had eyes on New York. Treliving has had years to prepare for this day so if the end result is Gaudreau walks I don't view it as a failure to sign him, it's a failure to have an adequate plan in place which for me is a fireable offence. A plan is a pretty integral piece for anyone who is leading be it a team, company etc.

I have a tough time seeing this as the same thing. While both are the teams best player, Barkov is a franchise center not a winger, 2 years younger, and a consistent all around player. Was never really a reason to hesitate locking up Barkov but I think there are more than a few reasons why the Flames would have been hesitant to throw whatever it takes for Gaudreau. At the same time it also made perfect sense for Gaudreau to bet on himself and give him a ton of credit he's made the improvements and likely earned himself some more money. I don't think its too much of a surprise or necessarily a bad thing he remains unsigned right now as I do understand the hesitation of locking him up.

A timely tweet today. Chechelev's stats won't wow you in the ECHL but I also find stats from that league are really hard to project as it isn't a very good league.

It is very common to have ownership involved when signing star players so I don't disagree that BT likely doesn't have full reign to do whatever it takes. Anytime you are going to be cutting a cheque for well over 50-60 million you can bet the guy who is going to sign that cheque wants some say in how it's going to go. I don't think it would tie BTs hands at all, I just think during the negotiation he's going to have to keep the owners informed and there could be certain structures they are not comfortable with or may say no to. That being said I also agree that if Gaudreau walks for nothing it is a failure on the part of Treliving and IMO it would be a fireable offence. He has had years to deal with this so the failure would not just be on the contract it would be on the overall planning. I can see ownership dictating/saying no to certain structures but what I cannot see is them getting in the way of doing what is necessary to make the team better. I don't believe for a second the owners would have said no to a trade, or would say no to a contract that would led to Gaudreau being signed only to have him walk for nothing.

I look at this a little different. I don't think it's that Sutter is reluctant to use Vladar I just think he wants to try and get Markstrom in a groove. While his overall numbers are great and I think he is having a pretty good season he has been inconsistent. The schedule was also pretty light so it was pretty easy to use the games to try and see if you can get him in that groove and fight through the inconsistency. The schedule gets rough coming up here so I would suspect we'll see more Vladar. This really isn't a normal year so I'm not seeing any issues in terms of Sutter overplaying Markstrom personally.

Honestly kind of sucks they are at the break. Back to playing some good and consistent hockey so I wish there were more games coming up. I thought Markstrom was a little sharper than he was against Dallas and that is one of the biggest things i'll be looking at cooming out of the break. He's been far from bad, but he also hasn't been consistent enough and I feel like it's because he's just not quite on his game. Just not quite locked in and seeing pucks as well as from my perspective I think that's why Sutter rode him so much lately, he's trying to get him on his game. Managing both goalies will require a better plan coming out of the break. Nice to see the Mang, Coleman, Backlund line becoming a thing. Their emergence is really helping make the Flames deeper. Coleman has started to play like the player the Flames thought they were signing.

Everyone does. I don't think the goal is ever to draft small guys on purpose it's just when you are late in the draft what do you value more? Big guys with skill don't tend to fall in the draft unless they come with other question marks. for Ruzicka it was his effort levels, Ferland sort of similar etc etc. Just comes down to what you want to prioritize. I just think if you target size late in drafts you are going to draft busts more often than not so you should target skill and put the size aside. Both is great, but so so tough to find late.

I'm with conundrumed on this one, Ruzicka has everything you want and need he just needs to bring is on a consistent basis. He's just like Ferland for me, this isn't a question of skill, it isn't a question of coaching, it's more can the player buy in to what it takes to be good on a nightly basis and not just be content with a good night here and there. I'm a believer that no coach can do that it has to come from the player. That's what Ruzicka has always needed and so far so good but let's see it continue.

Carroll did. Didn't work out but he was flashing enough offensive skill to justify the pick IMO. Kanzig and Smith were terrible picks that never made sense. Both to me are good examples of focusing on the wrong skill sets.