cross16

I agree with this. I've never understand the "Treliving isn't building an identity" I think he has been the whole time, he just didn't build the type of team some fans want. I think the blueprint Treliving was following was Tampa. Build a team that relies on speed, transition play, puck possession, smarts and competiveness. A team that didn't need to necessarily be big and physical because they would be tough to play against by being hard to contain, and we say this in 2019. Obviously didn't get to the end goal they wanted, for a variety of reasons I think, but I think the type of team he was trying to build was along those lines. They've just pivoted IMO and obviously are building a team to match what will make Sutter's hockey work but I don't think that means there wasn't an identity here before. I just don't think it was the identity many fans relate to or would prefer to see.

I haven't given up on Parsons either but I think it's important to note that they essentially had to re sign him. They needed to give him a qualifying offer in order to meet the expansion draft rules so him coming back I think has more to do with that than anything else. Unless Parsons changes the narrative, which he could, I don't see him getting the "prospect" treatment anymore. Wolf is their guy and they know it. I personally like how the Flames are set up in goal right now. My NHL depth chart would be: Markstrom Vladar Werner Wolf Parsons I don't think there is a need for any other additions. Vladar and Werner have both flashed ability at multiple levels so in the event of an injury i'm very comfortable with running with those 2 guys over a vet. What is a vet going to give you that those 2 can't? I don't see another goalie being brought it and for the first time in a long time I really like the looks of the depth chart for the Flames. It's one of the success stories of the offseason IMO.

Flames are sitting on close to 12 mill in cap space. I'll be surprised if the RFAs take up much more than half of that. Something else is coming for sure. Flames are not going to sit on that much cap space going into the season.

In addition to this adding Coleman and Pitlick deepen our the roster and provide more flexibility with lineups and matchups. An issue that got really exposed when Sutter came up is that he did not have a bottom 6 he could trust with any type of important minutes so he was limited with lineup deployment. Not a move the needle type of scenario but the types of players they identified and brought in at F are going to really help Sutter balance out his lines and run the team the way he wants.

I am in agreement with almost all of this. By no mean am I going to suggest the Flames are a contender but I do think they are much better this year than last. The individual impact under Sutter is interesting and worth looking at, but i'd rather look at the impact he had on the team. 5 on 5 rankings after they hired Sutter: Corsi F% - 2nd (up from 9th under Ward) Shots F% - 8th (up from 20th under Ward) Expected goals against - 2nd only to Colorado. (up from 13th under Ward) Expected goals F% - 3rd (up from 10th under Ward) Scoring chances F% - 3rd (up from 14th) High Danger chances F% - 3rd (up from 16th) This also ignores the trend under Ward. The Flames started relatively strong and then were plummeting. The jump is more drastic is you highlight the last 10 games under Ward. to be fair and clear this is not intended to blame Ward it's just to show that Sutter had a large impact. It didn't relate to the record mostly due to goaltending and the PP. We talk about the lack of goal scoring but at 5 on 5 I actually think they were ok, especially once Sutter stopped trying to force guys like Ritchie into top 6 roles. I think the offence with be fine at 5 on 5 because Coleman is a great add and I'm with you that Dube will break out this year. It's figuring out the PP that is really key for the Flames to determine how much success they want to have. Goaltending is the 2nd piece but put me in the camp that Markstrom comes back stronger this year. Injuries, COVID year, new team, coach change etc. If you want to say that's all excuses that's fine but for me those are reasons and they are legitimate so I'm expecting a stronger year and if they get even league avg goaltending with those underlying numbers it's going to lead to quite a few wins.

Zadarov- Anderson might work and I can understand the desire to try it but oh boy if Andersson doesn't bounce back that is going to turn into a nightmare pairing. They won't do this but IMO this is by far the most logical lineup. Hanifin - Andersson Tanev - Valimaki Zadorov - ?? The most balanced D unit in terms of strength/weaknesses IMO. Not to mention your can leverage the previous success of Hanifin-Andersson. I think Tanev - Hanifin is too top heavy.

I personally don't see Kylington's problems as tentative or passive I think it's the opposite. Too many times he cheats because he seems to think he has the speed to catch anyone and everyone in the NHL. He hasn't adjusted to the fact he's no longer the best skater on the ice like he was in junior/minor leagues. If he had a great shot or great ability to put pucks on net, or was an excellent puck mover you could live with the defensive miscues but he really doesn't bring those things. He is a conundrum for a coach. A couple of seasons ago I thought he was making some strides in his d play but he seem to regress last year and went back to giving up those high level chances. He seems to be firmly settling into the tweener category and with no improvements in either side of his game I can understand completely why coaches have difficulty playing him.

I still like actually like Kylington so don't mean to sound negative towards him. I'm actually happy he is back as he is very good depth to have. I just think every organization has a player like Kylington, kind of that NHL/AHL tweener, and for that reason teams are not going to use a contract on picking him up. It's good for the Flames though as I think they need him this year especially for some depth. I still think he's an NHL dman.

I personally don't think he would get claimed nor do I think he is tradable. i could see a team maybe swapping similar players (tweeners) with the Flames but I can't see a team eating a contract on him.

I'm surprised Kylington re signed. Thought he might play hardball to try and get a better opportunity somewhere else or maybe even try overseas.

Nurse is basically a master class is how you don’t negotiate a contact. They go short term on him because he hadn’t broken out yet and by going short term then walk him right to ufa. Then, with one year left, they back him with a long term deal after a breakout seasons where there is a bunch of data that shows last year is a bit of a fluke and not something sustainable. There was no reason to do this contract now why not wait and see what happens his season, was he really going to up his value? For an experienced GM Holland sure seems to make a lot of rookie mistakes.

This is a very cringe worthy contract for the Oilers. What a mistake they made going short term with him a couple of years ago only to hand him this type of deal. It's incredible how quickly they blew through their flexibility with poor deals

sigh..... you take the same risk with junior players. They can not sign after 2 years and go back into the draft and they too are UFA are 4 years. The only difference is they would need to get creative on where they play rather than just stay at the same institution for the 4 years but the mechanism is there for them too.

And part of what i'm saying is that is the prep work. I'm of the opinion that if Gaudreau didn't want to stay here then they would have traded him by now. The fact that he is still a Flame, and publicly has gone out of his way to say he wants to stay here, tells me he does want to stay. I agree it is ideal for the Flames to get him locked up now, no argument there but it takes 2 and I just expect it to drag out. I guess for me this is pretty simple, Gaudreau will get traded or he will re sign as a Flame there is no middle ground. They may have their faults but this management team is far from dumb and letting an asset like Gaudreau walk for nothing is dumb. This is not at all close to the Gio situation.

Which isn't going to happen, IMO. I get many don't like or trust Treliving and that's fine but even if you don't like him I think you'd have to admit he is prepared. I don't think there is any chance he let's Gaudreau walk for nothing. As I said I think the almost certain conclusion here is that Gaudreau remains a Flames, it's just a matter of at what price. I just won't be surprised if this drags out because both sides have motive to wait.

They don't have one and haven't for years (save for the few months Gus was here). I think the success of their PP, which I still think will be good even without an addition, is more build around the forwards and not their D.

The problem I see with getting a Gaudreau extension done is what motivation does Gaudreau have to do it right now? Statistically speaking he's not coming off a great year, although I thought it was pretty good all things considered, and he's in a economic situation that's a little un precedented. There is always an injury risk but outside of that I could see his camp being more motivated by going into this season, having a better year, and then trying to get a better deal next year. The further we get from COVID and the closest we get to the new NHL TV deals I think the more comfortable the owners will get with signing large cheques. From a Flames perspective, sure you can have a plan B but let's be honest Plan B is not likely to be very attractive. I don't think you will get a great return in trade, certainly not enough to warrant losing your best offensive player, and with the move to Sutter your already challenged to score goals. While I do not believe the season would be lost if Gaudreau were to leave without a replacement, I don't think they are a playoff team without him so is that even really a Plan B? On top of that, and this has been well discussed, desite being your best offensive talent and one of the better offensive talents in the league is Gaudreau worth sliding a blank cheque over to? This was easy with players like Iginla, you gave them the cheque and said how much but I don't personally think Gaudreau belongs in that category. How high can you go with him? I see this as a situation more where both sides know what the outcome is in that Gaudreau needs to be a Flame but that means a large commitment and likely not a very team friendly contract. As much as I like Gaudreau I completely understand why the team isn't rushing to put pen to paper given the situation.

fair. I don’t think that is his game though. Highlights are pretty misleading.

I would do the same with Valimaki. I don’t think Anderson is a QB he should be freed up to use his shot. I ask about Gus not so much because it’s what I want to do, although I see a pretty glaring need, but more wondering if they will. I’m not sure if Sutter is going to give Valimaki that spot even if he should.

This is an odd statement that I don't agree with at all. IMO, Coronato is exactly the type of player Treliving and the Flames target. Competitive, high character, high hockey IQ, not the greatest skater (but can work on it) and not exactly big. Same profile the Flames have been drafting mostly since Treliving got here but really heavily the last few drafts, at forward anyway.

I agree this should be a short term deal, and honestly I wouldn't mind if the Flames just have him a 1 year deal slightly above his qualifying offer. I know that walks him to UFA but Zadarov is not that great of a dman and even at 3.2-3.5 he feels overrated to me. It's not the end of the world to have him for a year or 2 at that number but if it takes more than that than I don't think he is worth it.

I’m thinking less than what he got last year, which was 1 year 3mill AAV.

Zary, Valimaki, and Coronato are what show up as potential starts in that model and drive the Flames higher. They also have a lot of depth that again show up well as expected NHLers I’m that model. 6 is high for me too, that’s just a model that looks at projecting probabilities for nhlers based on their production in different leagues. However I do think the Flames are in the top half of the league with their prospect pool. It’s much deeper than fans give them credit for imo

I wonder if the Flames would take a look at Erik Gustafsson again. He was a good fit here and their PP was dynamite with him. I know they didn’t re sign him last year but it didn’t really make sense to with the makeup of their d. Makes a lot more sense this year.

PP is for sure a concern of mine. Even with Gio here they didn’t really have a PP QB and while I think Anderson’s shot can be a weapon on the PP he really isn’t a QB. It would be a good role to work Valkmaki into and help him grow some confidence. Was very successful at it in junior. Hanifin looked decent at it but if Hanifin is going to play a lot of PP then so kills penalties? Hanifin-Tanev likely going to be their top 5on5 pair so I’m not sure you can rely on Hanifin for both special teams. I personally don’t see him as a 24-25 min a night dman. Even at 5on 5 I’m concerned around their ability to transition . At the same time I think a lot of this depend on Rasmus. If he bounces back, as 2 years ago he was looking like one of the best transition defenders on the league, it won’t be as bad but if he struggles they are really in rough shape pending what they do with the 3rd pairing. Sutters system also depends on a lot of point shots so having 2 dmen in your top 6 who offer nothing there will likely be leading to some missed opportunities. Creating a role for Valimaki I think could ease some of these concerns so hopefully that’s part of the plan.