cross16

Need some context here though... In NJ he had 1 great start. Stopped 48 of 51 for .941. his other 2 starts? .875 and .846 which is basically what he did in Calgary until the Detroit game.

Bit of catch 22 with Wotherspoon though. What's better having him as the 7th dman where he would never play or having him in Stockton helping the young D down there and improving his own game? I'd pick the later personally.

In theory, Warrener is right but pretty much every team in the league carries those types of veterans. Flames carry a couple more than you want for sure but pretty much all teams have 2 or 3.

I don't think the answer is that easy. Your asking the owners to cut a 6 million dollar cheque in the offseason on a team they've already given clearance to spend to the cap on. This during a time where they are publicly crying foul about the lack of an arena and basically trying to tell us their profits are in decline and they arn't in great shape. Compound that with the desire of most for a new coach and new high profile coach and this offseason could wind up being pretty expensive for the owners. Are they willing to just pay all of this and stay a cap team? does the Brouwer buyout come out of the payroll for next year? does the coach? Would you accept a trade off where Brouwer is bought out but the stipulation is then the payroll is reduced by 6 million? Not a simple equation and depends more on what the owners say than what BT wants to do IMO. That's a tough cheque to write and I wouldn't blame them i the balked at the idea. I don't think we should be shocked if Brouwer is here for at least another year.

The narrative around Brouwre's utilization is getting miss leading. if you look at the shift charts, for most of the season Brouwer actually wasn't used on the PP as much as you think. He was leaned on heavily early, then for much of the seasons would come off an on the PP and then leaned on heavily at the end when injuries struck. The idea that Brouwer was a staple on the PP isn't very accurate. I don't love that the split up Backlund-Frolik on the PK in favor of Brouwer but at the end of the day I don't think the utilization of Brouwer was a huge issue quite frankly. He was generally deployed in a 4th line role and yes he was moved up more than others but the speaks more to a lack of options on the roster than anything else. there really isn't much reason to believe Lazar would have been any better and I also thought some of the mentaility behind the utilization of Brouwer is trying to tap into what you thought you were getting when you signed. End of the day i think the far greater issue is Brouwer on the roster in the first place, not the utilization of Brouwer

Yes, Hendricks and his 5 goals and 13 points are what is making the difference to WPg. has nothing to do with Kyle Conner and his 31 goals or the number 1 level goal tending of Hellebuyck. This is becoming a big pet peeve of mine in the hockey world. Season was a disappointment, let's get more grit and "character" and that will push us over even thought we fail to acknowledge that clearly we are not skilled enough. I'm fine with the idea of getting a better veteran player on this team but let's not pretend THAT is what the Flames really need.

Were far apart on this one Peeps.

I think you're pretty a little dramatic personally. If you view it in a vacuum sure it looks that way, but you don't sign Backlund for just this season, you signed him for many more years. Flames center depth and their ability to contend in the coming years would have eroded if Backlund was not signed. Perhaps your insinuating that they could just sign Backlund back, but I think you need to consider how rare that is. Nevermind the fact it's prohibited by the CBA and it would have almost for sure cost the Flames more in salary.

All signs to me point to them trading Holtby personally but I think that depends on how Grubauer does in the playoffs. If he falls on his face and Holtby plays well, plan probably changes but they could sure use his cap hit. Even if cap goes up to 80-82 they'd be in tight to get Carlsson under contract and field a team. That being said their GM did say this was the last year for this core and he expects to make changes if they cna't get it done so who knows what the plan is. I'll pass on Schneider personally. Probably better to just roll the dice on smith for 1 more year and try and get Gilles/Parsons/Rittich etc ready.

I know most are fine with Smith but I think it would be prudent of the Flames to still monitor the goalie market. Washington is an interesting place. Holtby had a down year, Grubaeur is going to start Game 1 and is an RFA, and now reports are their former first round pick and very good prospect Ilya Samsonov is going to sign with them in the off season. Giving he is coming from the KHL i'm skeptical he'll want to play in the AHL for long. Something worth monitoring. If Grubauer plays well they probably shop Holtby and given his contract I don't think they could command that high a price.

Personally I thought the press conference was exactly what you would want to hear from him, keeping in mind he isn't going to reveal a plan at this point. - Acknowledged they aren't skilled enough and need to get better here - Acknowledged their poor PP and basically put it on the coaching staff. - Acknowledged some players had some down years and it's fair to suggest they'll bounce back, which is accurate IMO. - Acknowledged that in their locker room, and seem to suggest this is both a player and coach issue, something is missing and it wasn't good enough. - will no he didn't fire Gulutzan on the spot, he made more than a few subtle references to reviewing coaching issues - he will Hash Rate every and all angles to gather info before making decisions, which i think is incredibly smart. - Gave NO indication (certainly to me) that this past season was good enough, that they are "fine" or that he would not be making changes in the off-season. Again, I get it everyone wants a quick fix but personally I thought the issues/problems he brought up or spoke to hit the mark in terms of what happened this season.

I get everyone is hungry for blood after a season like this, but expecting it to come yesterday wasn't going to happen. Treliving is always cryptic in his press conferences and yesterday was no different, it's how he and most execs operate. Worth pointing out that he praised Hartley in 16 during his year end press conference and then ended up letting him go. He isn't going to give straight direction and he really shouldn't.

Normally I don't care about the Worlds but I think TJ is one of the players who could have really benefited from it. Maybe was never on the radar but I think it would have helped him if he was.

Pretty special stuff. Both finished up late last night and already out there. Hat tip to both.

Well let's be fair though. It was Hartley that wanted Gio-Hamilton together too and It was Treliving who went out and got Hamonic and Stone to keep Brodie on the left side. Not trying to defend Gulutzan at all costs here, but I do think this decision was over his head. LS-RS is a league trend and to Gio-Hamilton are a better pair than Gio-Brodie ever where. I think it's an easy decision to pick apart but for me, it makes a ton of sense.

so i should maybe clarify what i've been saying. I'm not blaming Brodie here at all. I do believe that he is probably more comfortable on the right side but what I think is more likley is that while he may be more comfortable there he wasn't adamant about it and was open to playing both. I think too much has been made of this and that's likely due to media hype taking a simple and small statement and blowing it out of proportion. Plus it's always an easy and simple answer to a problem we likely cannot understand. So yes I do agree that Brodie said he is more comfortable on the right side. However, I think if the Flames were to move him to the right side next year there would be no change to his game. I think his struggles are not due to what side of the ice he is playing on and I also don't believe the Flames would go tot he lengths they did to improve their Right side D if Brodie wasn't Ok playing the left side.

The other angle to that, is how would the organization look if a player has been telling you for years he wants to play a certain position, is "adament" he should play there and instead you spend significant assets in order to keep him in a position he does not want to play? I'm not suggesting this is a Brodie issue. What i'm getting at is that I think the left-right issue with Brodie has became a bigger story, as is custom in today's age, due to the media and it rests on little actual facts.

That is what I thought. Lots of quotes/thoughts but very little actually coming from Brodie.

Has he ever said this? Can anyone produce a quote? I only ask because I hear this a lot but i've actually never head him say it, or read that he did say it. In whatever system you have, if you have the talent the Pens yes you will look much better at executing it. I think your bang on that the results is what is swaying the opinion.

Funny enough, Pittsburgh plays virtually the same system as Calgary. I think too many excuses are being made for Brodie personally. I will qualify my mini rant by saying i'm still a huge Brodie fan, he's been one of my favorite Flames since they drafted him, and I think he has the talent to be a very good dman but even I had to open my eyes to see he is really struggling and it's not because he is in the wrong system. The wrong system doesn't tell him to send blind passes up the middle or make a lazy drop back when exiting his zone etc. I have no doubt that Brodie is capable of succeeding within the system Gultuzan has. However, the Schultz example has parallels. The Oilers asked too much of Schultz too soon and he struggled but they were stubborn in that they figured they knew what they had and he would eventually just develop, but his confidence was shot. All Pittsburgh did with Schtulz was understand his strengths and weaknesses, play him in a sheltered role that maximized his strengths and let him rebuild his confidence. Now he's a solid offensive top 4 dman but they made him work back up to that, which is also helped by the fact he plays with a ton of talent so the points will come. My opinion is that Brodie's game has declined because of bad habits, bad habits that developed because the Flames have asked too much. I think the Flames are in the same boat Edmonton was with Schtulz, they are stick in this belief bias that Brodie is the same dman he as in 14-15 and he'll just eventually come around and i'm sure Brodie is the same way. Problem with situations like this and a player's confidence is once it goes, it can snowball very quickly and I think that's what happened. I think in order to fix it, you probably need a new coach and a new approach to Brodie, and someone who is willing to challenge the bias that has developed around Brodie. Maybe for a time you start him exclusively in the O-zone and against weaker competition. After a tough game or a bad turnover, you may have to sit him for a bit, or maybe you deploy him on the 3rd pairing for the rest of the game. Whatever it takes, but just remove this idea that this current version of Brodie is the same Brodie as 14-15 but it isn't. Now, the obvious flaw in this plan is the depth of the Flames isn't great on D. This mean more minutes for guys like Kulak and Stone or Gio/Hamilton so the execution of said plan is easier said then done. That was another advantage Pens had with Schultz is they had the depth to pull this off. Might be best to move on, and i'm of the belief that the Flames likely are quietly shopping Brodie around the league to try and get better at forward. I don't agree with the idea that Brodie doesn't have value and in fact he has quite a bit. Hamonic was struggling as much, if not more, on the Island than Brodie is here and he still garnered a huge trade interest. Brodie may be the piece that helps the Flames upgrade at forward, but if they keep him you probably have to go back to the drawing board in terms of his game.

Sure but his weakness can lose you games too. Brodie is a catch 22. tons of natural skill, beautiful skater but playing more structured has exposed an avg to below avg hockey IQ. And I think it's also improtant to remember that while sure the offensive numbers were impressive under Hartley, the Flames were a train wreck defensively. Not that easy to just say go back to the old way, and not as simple to just blame it all on coaching. If you want to use raw stats sure then 15-16 was his best year but I personally would disagree. 14-15 was the best year of TJ Brodie and when Gio went down he stepped up in a massive way. I will always maintain that the stretch of hockey he played with Engelland was his best. He was dominant, both ends of the ice and basically put the core on his back. Basically he played the way Gio's played the last few seasons. Interesting enough in 15-16 he didn't even garner a vote for the Norris but yet in 14-15 he finished 18th in voting. 14-15 was his best seasons and actually in 15-16 you started to see signs of his decline despite still playing with Gio.

Not sure what you mean here because no I did not advocate Treliving's hands were tied. I do believe that its likely that the Islanders refused to accept the trade if the pick was protected, but Treliving still made the decision to make that trade knowing that. My fault as I didn't think it would turn the discussion like it did, but yes I do acknowledge that Feaster's hands were tied when it came to the Iginla trade. However, what he blew was waiting so long to trade him, not getting it in writing that Iginla would accept a trade to both Boston or Pittsburgh, and targeting the wrong players. Been pretty documented since Feaster left that his approach to a trade was very passive and to target certain players as opposed to try and drive the price up. either way yes I will agree his hands were tied it was really the Jbow trade he completely blew but that being said i'm not trying to turn this into a Feaster debate. He was a bad GM and he's gone so it's the past. Again, I don't think you give enough credit or attention to the difficulty of the GM job and how it's not easy to just start winning. Look at some other GMs around the league and see how their first few years on the job went. with no research I can think of 2. Granlund for Shinkaruk and Lack for Prout. How many hockey trades have been made in the league the last few years? Not exactly a common occurrence. End of the day I recognize i'm not going to change anyone's mind here. The summary of my thoughts are that I think we need to be more realistic about the job of an NHL GM. It's not easy and its becoming more difficult and if the answer is to fire everyone as soon there is a blip well then the franchise will go nowhere. Does Treliving need to get better? Absolutely. But I think he has shown you the traits that can make a GM successful and can make a franchise successful so let him do that and continue the job.

Well except for the fact that Brodie played arguably the best hockey of his career paired on the left side with Engelland. Never mind that Gio-Hamilton has turned into a better pairing than Gio-Brodie were. I agree with Peeps, Brodie was tailored made to Hartley's system. Brodie's strengths are to skate, skate with the puck, hold the puck and to improvise because his got the skating ability to do that, do everything quick. Gulutzan's system is a fair bit different than that and unfortunately it's minimized Brodie's strengths and brought out his weaknesses.

Well, first that shows you how much stock you should put in commentators But as I said there was justified reason for the optimism. I didn't think the Flames had a top d core but I thought they'd be in and around the top 10, so I too was fairly optimistic. Like i said there was reasons for it, but what I don't agree with is suddenly the players went the other way. Has Brodie really played worse this season then last? i don't personally think so. I'm not sure how much you saw of Hamonic the last couple years but IMO Hamonic has actually played better this year as a Flame then he did last year on the Island. The belief was that a stable and better partner for Brodie would get him back to 2 years ago. The belief was that a fresh start and further away from injury would bring Hamonic back to the level he played at 2-3 seasons ago. If both of those things occur, we aren't having this conversation but that's just not how it went. Doesn't mean the talent isn't there, it just didn't work out as intended and I don't think it's wrong to be surprised.

They didn't. The unfortunate aspect of this season as it relates to the D core is the trends were there and they just didn't reverse. Brodie-Hamonic have been in steady decline for a couple seasons now and the belief was a new environment could reverse that and better show case their talents. I don't think it was an illogical thought and the evidence was there to believe it but it's just not how it worked out. Unfortunately the whole idea of the Flames having one of the best D cores in the league rested on that idea so not hard to see how it got to this point. Brodie and Hamonic are Phaneuf -Regher all over again. You really want it to work. on paper it should work but the chemistry and execution are just not there but the trend and play of them individually is unfortunately not new.