cross16

Save for a few turnovers I didn't mind how the Flames played. Thought they did a lot of goof things and really lost the game because they just are not good enough of a team and don't have the high end talent you need. As a team I thought they played well and sure they could have gotten more quality chances in better areas but part of that is your roster construction too. I just felt last night was the type of game where you needed a player to step up and make a play and that type of player just isn't on this roster.

That's not the way it looks on replay. Rozie appears to sit in the zone and wasn't driving the net anymore.

That's fair and if I had a better angle I could check. Live, and on replay, It looks like Ruzicka didn't handle it well but I can't see if there was a tip or not. The defender was not in the way of the pass, but was playing Ruzicka, so to Hubie it would have looked open for sure. You could for sure argue he should drive and take the one on one chance but I would argue that a cross cease pass to an open player has a higher percentage than a 1 on 1 net drive. This is also a play that you would see him make in Florida routinely and often wide up in the back of the net. Wasn't a poor decision for me is all.

I liked Huberdeau's game and actually think he make the right call on the pass to Ruzicka. I get he'll get ripped because he had a path to the net but Ruzicka had a wide open cage to put that in. I thought it was a good call as he has been shooting all night and got the goalie bought into his shot to open it up for a teammate. Just too bad Ruzicka fumbled it. I think we'd be praising him if that was Lindholm or Yegor. I thought that play was a good example of why he's found it so tough here. He's just not getting the teammates to bury those because he processes the game so differently than most he plays with.

I agree and I seem to recall that was the rationale for making the switch to zone for Huska. He commented about how the skill level is up, the o zone size is up, and with how quick the puck moves playing man to man just left to many gaps and players falling off their check. It was what we saw a lot of last year. He seemed to believe that a zone system would aim to limit the middle of the ice and cut down on some of the high danger chances the Flames gave up last year. Concept of zone d is pretty straightforward. Draw the d zone up into 4 zones. D take their respective zones (on their sides), Forwards take the high zones (on their sides) and the center backs them up and covers up the gaps in the zones (ie back fill the D if they case to the corners - cover the center high point). Normally, teams can vary how much pressure they want to apply and what area of the ice they want to prioritize (ie cover points, cover slot/collapse) but the principle is stay in your zone and attack the puck when it comes in. I agree with conundrumed that the Flames play too passive of a zone and it hurts them on the breakout. I think the Flames are almost always having to breakout the full 200, or at best like 175, feet because they don't pressure high to create those turnovers. They also seem to struggle with communication. They seem to be a step behind where the puck is going, and it makes it easier for team to move the puck around on them. First one I question Huska on, but now the second one.

The only goal I would say there was no chance on was the Colton one. Of course you can't expect a goalie to make a save with a puck ping pongs through the slot. Every other goal I thought ther was a chance to make save on, of course to varying degree of difficulty. This doesn't have to be either or. Vladar wasn't good, neither was the team in front of him and both need to step up. It's really as simple as that and that was the point of the initial post. If your D is bad and your goaltending is bad you give up leads and wins turns to losses. One of the 2 needed to step up last night when it matters and unfortunately neither did. I don't see the need to point the finger at one or the other when both were poor.

End of a day an NHL goalie needs to make a save. Yes there were breakdowns but 6 goals against on 38 shots is poor. No big saves when your team needs one is poor. not his fault, but he wasn't good either.

Flames were thrilled to get this guy when they did and I think he is probably your biggest wild card in their prospect pool right now. He is raw but he has immense talent, especially for a 3rd rounder. While it's been an up and down start he was just named the Hockey East's rookie of the week due to his 6 points in 2 games performance on the weekend. some pretty impressive skills in this clip. He's going to be fun to track. The upside is high here

I wasn't a fan of the Huska hire either for the reasons we are seeing. I think Huska is smart as heck and a good honest communicator but he seems to lack passion, desire and that ability to hold a team accountable. Has always struck me as a guy who was going to have a hard time getting a team going and so far that is what we are seeing. Don't like to blame and certainly don't think Huska is to blame for much here as even experience coaches would struggle with this roster. i think the only thing I'm disappointed in so far with Huska is they talked a big game about creativity, passion, fun etc but have done the opposite. The flames are boring, stale and don't do anything exciting in terms of their schemes. Everything they do is about as vanilla as it gets, and that's tough to watch.

Thought the flames were finding their way but they’ve played really poorly in the last week.

Poorly coached D in front of poor goaltending is how you collapse like this. brutal.

Even when they were struggling the oilers weren’t playing that poorly. McDavid is now being McDavid and their goaltending hasn’t been god awful. They were always going to play better. Sustainability, particularly for skinner, will be interesting to see.

Not suggesting don’t play Vladar. They have a back to back coming up so he’ll for sure play. but a young goalie who is your hope for the future os coming off a strong game. Priority should he getting him to build off it not trying to squeeze a mid round pick out of some team.

This is dumb IMO. Wolf should be starting tomorrow and then adjust for the back to back next week.

Not this season. Has 76 more games to go on his exemption.

I fully agree with this. I was happy to see him start last night. Couldn't stand the media who was suggesting they should go back to Vladar because he has a good first period and deserved a bounce back. No offence to him but as you say we know what Vladar is and we know it's not good enough to be a starter. Why not roll with a guy you think might be able to start. Perfectly logically to me and it's why I'm not worried about Markstrom's injury. It's a great chance to see what Wolf can do.

Huska doesn't sound as concerned as the report

Injuries are a common way to find out what you have. I personally would be fine if this leads to Wolf getting a run of games. Markstrom has been good, but not that good this season.

Backs is a notorious slow starter. Every year we have the same conversations in November and then we get to Dec/January and everyone is thankful we have him. Looking for "proof" outside of that is silly. I personally think he's done an excellent job as captain. Team looks like it's having fun this year and that's not easy given what happened last year and what happened to start the year. I agree the Backlund extension was a big win for Conroy because he avoided a long term deal but still landed himself a good player and a good captain.

Be curious to see if anyone else feels this way but I feel like screening the goalie is overrated in today's game. Or at the very least I don't like the idea of someone just standing there as their sole job. I think modern PPs need to rest on puck movement due to the increased size of the O zone. Stick a guy in 1 spot would seem to limit my options as a PP. Same rationale of why I don't love the 1-3-1 unless you are going to let that bumper move around (or have someone who can do it)

It hasn't worked yet but I do like Savard willing to go to the 3-2 PP with 2 dmen at times. I'm not sure i'd advocate for 3 dman, but I do like the idea of them adopting a more 3-2 umbrella set up, as opposed to the 1-3-1 that's been a staple here the last few years. Flames just don't seem to have an effective bumper player that can make the 1-3-1 run consistently.

I have my qualms with Edwards and the owners but I think this is categorically false. I think the Flames owners are very committed to winning here and do value winning more than money. They just have a different opinion on how to build a win than you, and others, but that doesn't' mean they are all about the money. They could play things very differently if they were (like not having a 4 mill coach sit at home)

This is a very important piece to this to and I share much of what you said here. Another key variable is I'm not sure Lindholm/Hanifin want to be here. Combine that with the recency bias of Gaudreau, I think you have an organization that for sure wants to make the playoffs but isn't willing to do so at the cost of watching those guys leave for nothing. Bigger things at play here.

Agreed, don't see the need to rush to speculation. As I said I had heard Kylington stayed in Calgary this time so this move isn't completely unexpected and I agree Conroy would have known this was coming. I think this is just merely a coincidence personally as I think even if, and we should stress that word, Kylington plays it likely wont' be for a while. Confirms what was already known thought, the Flames were smart not to retain salary in the Z trade.

This isn't based on insider knowledge, but all the buzz is that he will. While I do think the playoff mandate is still in place the team also understands that this year is different. They have assets that can generate a return and are not in a position to hand out so many retirement style contracts. This is a different season and TDL that the Flames have not been through really in the more modern NHL era. Much different variable in play.