cross16

This is an underrated part of having your farm team in the same city. Sutter took in the game yesterday as did multiple members of the Flames brass. I like what this could do both for development and also for call ups. Gives the organization more line of sight to their prospects, what they need to work on, offer more assistance and in particular Sutter should have more hands on knowledge for when they need to call someone up.

First goal in Wranglers history:

Wanted to start a place to discuss the Wranglers as their season unfolds. Listed the opening day lineup below Dropped their first game 6-5 against the Firebirds in their first ever game in Calgary. Poirier with the first goal in Wranglers history. Was just 1 game of course but the Wranglers were really bad through 40 mins so I won't put much stock into what transpired yesterday. Will just say again what I mentioned elsewhere is I'd recommend checking out some games if you are in Calgary. Very affordable and pretty good value for the money. Once they got going they were a fast and fun team.

They might have to give it a try but right now I woudln't really point at Toffoli as being the issue. None of the 3 of have played well, and honestly Huberdeau has probably been the worst of the 3.

Huberdeau and Kadri intrigue me as a pair. That's personally where I would have started. But still very willing to give this a few more games.

Went to their first game yesterday and wanted to give them a quick plug. if you are looking for good value hockey I would recommend checking out the Wranglers. Tickets only cost around $25, and it's only the lower bowl so it winds up being a really good atmosphere. Was pretty well done yesterday so I will be checking out more and would recommend it especially if you are looking for value. Good food deals on Sunday's too. Not a great game from the home side yesterday but hard to complain about 11 goals as a fan.

Good point I was meaning to check those numbers. Problem i'm seeing with the top line is they arn't getting out of their own zone very well or they are stalling in the NZ. I think that's going to be a problem for those 3 so I'm curious if Sutter will make a change there. At the same time, trusting your top line to get the puck going the other way feels like pretty basic stuff.

The top line was pretty bad last night and is for sure off to a rough start. It’s only 2 games so no reason to panic but some reason to be concerned. Hopefully they can get it sorted thankfully that 2nd like has been killer and honestly the 4th line has been real good too.

Pulled the game back in the 3rd which is nice. Lots to like but also a lot to work on, namely d zone play at 5 on 5.

This has been coming. Flames are really bad in their own zone tonight

Good and timely offense but not a good game defensively. oilers will make this a game if the flame don’t tighten up

I'm excited for Beck. On Team Canada's radar for the WJC and interesting to see his early season assist totals. More of a goal scorer the last few years so be interesting to see if he rounds out his game. Whynot is a project but one that has some upside if he can round out some issues. Be great to see him take a big step. In all honesty no one else intrigues me.

Well to be fair Sutter praised how Weegar was with the puck. I believe the quote was "he has lots to do to fitting in with how we check". I think that's a pretty fair statement for a guy playing his first game. He did make a bad pinch on the Mackinnon goal. I think Sutter, like a lot of good coaches, understands that the media is a motivational tool and when he talks to the media he really is talking to the players.

Obviously didn't get the Avs at their best but I do think Flames deserve credit for that. They didn't give much space out there and Avs had a hard time breaking through the neutral zone. Obviously they let them back in the game there in the 3rd but as Sutter said they are champs for a reason. They pushed but I still think the Flames answered well. Pretty good first game. I was already excited when they acquired him but seeing him live, man are we going to like Weegar. He was fantastic and his ability to make a first pass/stretch pass out of the zone is next level. Sees the ice incredibly well.

If they can't I don't think the reason will be a lack of a top 9 winger. Like I said I get it it's far from ideal but it's also far from the worst thing imaginable too. We're talking about a player who needs to play around 8-10 EV minutes.

Meloche clears. Posposil now on waivers in order to be assigned to Wranglers

Its definitely not great but i'm not optimistic it will get fixed in the short term. I think part of the decision is what are you after. Are you content with just a 3rd line winger? middle 6? or do you need a top line/higher end player. A lot of that depends on how players fit. Once Stone is registered and Meloche (assuming he does) goes to the A they'll have 1.3 in cap space and perhaps as much as around 2 million to play. Pretty limiting in terms of what they could acquire. I think the Flames would be wiser to wait and see what they really need than rush to plug a hole. They don't have the assets to do both IMO.

Meloche not skating today would indicate that he would go to the AHL if he goes through waivers (which I fully expect he will)

1. Playoffs YES or NO 2. Pacific Division 1 - EDM 2 - CGY 3 - LA 4 - VGK 5 - VAN 6 - SEA 7 -SJ 8 - ANA 3 - GOALS 1 - Lindholm 2 - Mang 3 - Huberdeau 4 - ASSISTS 1 - Huberdeau 2 - Kadri 3 - Andersson

My money would be on Backlund.

Flames appear to be getting set up for an announcement. Some speculation they will name a captain.

my guess is that it is because they will sign him they just are looking at other moves first or waiting for their cap to get sorted out. If he wasn’t in their plans they likely would have released him by now

Which is all correct. I understand they cannot sign Stone right now but the fact that this is true and he is still skating in a regular spot is what makes me curious.

If the cap was going to prevent them from signing him why is he practicing in a regular spot? Why not waive Meloche already? I’m not suggesting a move is coming but j think something is up. I read somewhere the flames are trying to see if they can use LTIR for Kylington. That would be a plausible reason for all of this too.

Stone practicing as a regular but still being unsigned has me curious.