cross16

Laviolette also won a cup in Carolina and took some so/so Islanders teams to the playoffs. Can't pin any of his success on Trotz, he has a very impressive resume all on his own. I would think that the Flames would want to talk to him but he'll be in high demand and would likely take a bidding war for his services. See if the Flames want to go to that level. not sure he's the greatest fit for what they have built unfortunately but he definitely get guys to buy in immediately.

Been a tough year for Parsons but he’s starting to find some good success. Stopped 100 of his last 106 shots. Flames still monitoring his usage coming off a groin injury.

Honestly I think if you break it down, Smith wasn't even that great in the playoffs. Game 1 - Ok Game 2 - Good but not great. Didn't have to be Game 3 incredible Game 4 - Good Game 5 - poor. by no means am i suggesting he changes the fortunes. Flames lost the series as a team and the team should take the blame, but I am very thankful Treliving and Co looked passed the small sample size and the media buzz and saw the truth. Smith's playoff performance IMO was a microcosm of his regular season and proved to me the decline was there. He was inconsistent,more bad then good and 1 incredible game didn't change that. Writing was all over the wall and I love it was the Oilers of all teams who couldn't read it.

Agreed for 2 reasons. 1- There really aren't that many great ones. The ones that would be great no matter where they played and in what system/situation or what team they played for. There are more good goalies/QBs than very good/great ones and that leads to point 2. 2- For the rest of the good goalies/QB, you need the right mixture of team, scheme, coaching etc. So unless you are getting a really great goalie, which again due to scarcity is tough to find, you need a lot to intersect to really feel good about your goaltending situation. At the same time though a lot of this discussion is losing me because of the play of Rittich. I see a lot of "well the Flames have been bad at developing until Rittich". Well, just like a good QB, sometimes you need to only get it right once (which is often the case for many NHL teams). That being said the 2 models, or teams, that i think you've seen do well with goalies is Anaheim and Washington and they've done well by continuing to take goalies at all point in the draft, no matter what the situation is on the NHL club. That's not a model the Flames have done well until recently, so that is the model they should continue.

calgary for sure has a long standing problem I don’t think anyone is denying that. but I think the point is it’s not just a Flames issue. Hockey in general, at all levels, struggles to evaluate the goalie positions. It’s not an easy fix nor is it an easy problem to pinpoint.

Can't say i've ever seen this from an NHL team before...

I saw that and understand your point. Don't necessarily disagree with it but I think Georgiev also demonstrates what many say about goalies that until you give them a chance it's hard to know what you have. Not much of his career, and certainly his AHL time screamed ready so why are we so quick to write off guys like Z, Gilles, Parsons etc and look externally? I know that's not necessarily you, just the theme and i just don't get it myself.

Alexander Georgiev. He's having a great season so far and playing well for the Rangers, but a really small sample size. so what I don't understand is the negativity around the Flames goalies and the rush to "fix it" by acquiring guys like that and not just give the talent they have a shot. Or just not being excited with what we have in Rittich.

Igor Shestroykin has been tabbed as the "next one" by the Rangers the last few years. Currently the best goalie in the AHL in his first full season there, and at 23, since coming over from Russia. 4th rounder from 2014 who has been one of, if the thee, top goalie at multiple levels the last 4/5 seasons. Given the theme of this thread, I find it interesting that there is an excitement about a goalie who holds a sub .900 save % at the AHL level.

yes but at the same time they decided Hartley was too hard, took advantage of Gulutzan being too nice, and then decided Peters was too hard. some point you just need to play for one another and battle through it. I’m just frustrated how this core seems to treat coaches. Always seems to be an excuse.

It’s so clear in their game too. Ward has made some changes but they are playing so loose and free. They are reacting not thinking and that’s just players feeling good. have to love it but at the same time it doesn’t exactly bode well for how mental tough this core is.

Just to be clear I’m not advocating anything I’m just wondering based on this from Friedman 4. Geoff Ward could retire undefeated, now 6-0 running the bench. While Calgary gave its interim boss a salary raise for the remainder of the season, they have yet to commit to him for the rest of the year. First, after a tumultuous month, the organization just wanted to breathe and see how the players responded. Second, the Flames did not want to be unfair to him by saying, “Hey, it’s yours” in case circumstances changed at a later date. I believe the metaphor being used is, “They’re dating, but not engaged.” Results speak, however, and, right now, Ward’s are excellent. He’s come a long way since assisting Don McKee at the University of Waterloo in 1989. https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/31-thoughts-jim-montgomery-firing-hockeys-latest-bombshell/

I’ve liked a lot of what Ward is doing but I find it Interesting the flames are not willing to commit to him for the season. im wondering if this is an example of why they don’t want to. DeBoer is a really good coach imo.

Tyler Parsons is in the ECHL due to injury. He was out for 2 months with a groin injury so the Flames assigned him to the ECHL so they can better manage his starts. They are taking it one start at a time to see how the groin reacts and only recently (as in this last weekend) did they let him start games on back to back nights.

No. If a player doesn't get drafted they can sign with a team as an un-drafted free agent for the summer but once they go back to junior it's hands off. Need to draft them in the up coming draft and then if they go unpicked through 2 drafts you can sign them as UDFA.

Little more on Edwards. Edwards is definitely a Treliving guy so that part of this intrigues me

DJ Smith was a great hire for them I thought. I don't think he'd ever let a team get blown out haha. Leafs sure miss him too.

one of the unfortunate things about Peters (focusing only on his time as a coach here of course) was that what was so encouraging about him early on became a frustration. For the first half to of the season last year he was willing to try anything. He put out different line combos, he fixed things up when it didn't work, he moved guys up and down the lineup but in the 2nd half he became more like Gulutzan where he just felt like he found his lineup and put it out again and again and waiting for it to right. It was understandable for a while but once you get only 20-30 games you need to check that bias. One of the reasons why I actually like the idea of Gaureau in a "3rd line" type is I agree, he'll be able to get some double shifts. Gives Ward some flexibility.

I'm just happy to see that Ward was willing to try stuff. Sometimes when you promote the assistant to the head coach you find out that the biases you saw in the head coach are the same. Clearly Ward saw some things differently and I think that's really refreshing and good for a group that appeared to be going a little stale. Not a shot at Peters either, all coaches have biases. Be interesting now to see how patient Ward is with them.

Didn't' realize there was not a thread. Pretty impressive post draft season so far for Pelletier. Named Moncton's captain up to 3rd in QMJHL scoring. On pace to add 30 points to his totals from last year Today named to Team Canada's Selection camp for the World Juniors. Most expect him to make the team

I'd like to see Talbot get at least 5 starts this month. 1 of Buff/La 1 of Col/Ari Montreal Minny Chicago January is a lighter month with a pretty balanced schedule. So manager December properly and then into a lighter January I think set up well for the rest of the year.