conundrumed

Having not watched the Wranglers...has removing Pelletier dragged Phillips' O-game down? His stat lines look way down.

Bring on Ottawa, we're at 6 in a row now after torturing SSM 12-1 last night. Sucks being the 2nd hat trick guy, there's no hats left. Ottawa's 4th ranked in the CHL. They better bring their A game and hope it's enough.

That hurt my head.

I disagree. Someone of Friedman's stature knows where the lines are. He chose to cross it to break a story. I don't think history will treat him kindly. We'll see where he goes from here. I'd tell my team to shun him, personally.

Dadonov is a really nice add on the down-low for someone imo. I'd have liked him for the Flames ever since he left Fla. NTC and all.lol

Some, probably most, media personalities slant Sutter because he's obstinate with them. It's kinda fun, but people follow media opinions a lot. So it's kinda sad too. He's polarizing, so again, it's kinda fun. It's entertaining.

What's the climate in the 'peg? Does everyone want "all in"?

But there is time. Rushing it gets us nowhere. Not ready is not ready. Why force it when you don't have to?

I'm not picking up what you're laying down. I think a guy around the league most of his life knows what young players need to succeed. Phillips needs work. Want him in your top 6? Go for it. Not ours. I get why Pelletier can, he's way better. So is Zary.

Here's my take on Sutter and young players. First, how many has he seen fail? A thousand realistically? I think he's their dad. He doesn't want them to fail So come hell or high water or media storm, he waits and lets everyone else tell him his business. That's gotta be fun for a farmer.. It's not because he loves the vets, he's just buying time for the kids and he's always hands on with them. Case in point, Dube. There is little question in his remark, "some players came up too early", he meant Dube. Yet he spent all of his time running Dube all over the map for fwds. I think Dube is a fave for him. His job is to give kids a fighting chance and I like how he does it. "Get better at everything".lol For Phillips and all of that animosity, I'm sure he's trying to help Phillips, but he won't just throw him to the wolves. He can make them or break them, and I'm sure that he knows that better than anyone. My guess is that he's trying to 'encourage' Zary to be an NHLer next and he'll likely succeed. The whole, "Sutter doesn't like young players" thing is silly imho. Media vengeance junk that doesn't match the script. He wants them to succeed and has seen way too many examples of how that can go south, unlike, of course, the media personalities. We're in really good hands with our prospects imho. Phillips isn't ready if we need to argue it. His size and strength IS a factor, that isn't Sutter's fault. For me, there is a lot of noise around Sutter being this way, but not much substance. The NHL is a far cry from the A. Especially the huge uptick in the skills of teammates. Everything moves a lot faster than the sloppy AHL. There aren't 50 mistakes/game to capitalize on. Huge difference. Which brings us to Pelletier....I don't think Zary is that far behind him, personally. I think he'll be Sutter's next kid to bring along. Always keeps him late in camp. That's my rant during slow times. Sutter went on the road with the Wranglers for the break. He's clearly got his finger on the pulse. I think the reputation's pretty fake. But fun.

My ex-boss, who is also a close friend, his son played with Stuart in Regina. To this day, Brad Stuart had the most lethal shot anyone had ever seen. It is zero wonder he was a high pick. He also ripped his passes, which were more often than not too hot to handle. Biggest knock on him. When 25mph would suffice, he's sending it 60mph. I don't know if it still applies, but some contracts used to be micro-focused right down to your turnovers. If you're getting the puck and rifling a pass off of a teammates stick, it's not your turnover. Hard to believe, but I've heard that story a few times about Dmen. It was a stat used against them in contract negotiations, and even a clause in some cases. Take that for what it's worth, but I've heard that from a few different directions. Unsure if I heard that with Stuart, but same era. I just can't remember. The name triggered me, so I think probably. I know that's bizarre, but yeah, I have no doubt that it was a thing. I have a few different sources about that.

Vs the Sting Sunday afternoon. Figure out why Beck's scoring has completely dried up. The 67s are 5th nationally I believe. The Sting are going to hammer them for hopefully their 7th W in a row. The beehive will be packed.

Wasn't Lou NJ's GM that traded the Horvat pick for Schneider? Stay around long enough and everything goes full circle. I like the move by NYI, if they actually secure a good top 6 C, but 2 things: How much does he re-sign for? I'd put him and Larkin the same, $8-8.5 maybe. Both will want $9 x 8. And what will that 1st rder be? Beauvillier and Raty are pretty much whatever. But if NYI get a bonafide, at very worst, 2C and signed for $8 x 8 that's a solid pick-up. Beauvillier covers half of year 1.

Used to be a pick for compensation because Detroit complained heavily about it, rightfully so. But they did away with that, now you just have to ask the team's permission. I doubt any team says no. Kind of a rock and a hard place. Don't wanna say yes, but don't wanna disenfranchise your employee.

Not loving my repeat odds.lol She's been a hard season to predict!

I played goal. Angrily. I always wanted to fight the other team's captain or 'star'. Always. It kept me in, "you're not scoring on me" mode. And yes, I had some good scraps. Helped me focus. Moral: don't go to your opponents house the night before a game.lol

Oh. And everyone, watch out for the Sting. They look better than I've ever seen. 5 game winning streak and looking great doing it. Adding Kyrou and Del Mastro on the backend has been WOW. I think they're at 9 players drafted/signed to the NHL. You heard it here first. This is a really good team.

Have a kid. Put them in hockey. They find you.lol Seriously. That was like 80% for me. My boy talked to them all, often at length. I was just there.lol It's pretty magical how they're all about the kids. I was packing my boy out of practice on a Tuesday night and a group of older kids addressed him by name and asked him how practice was. I recognized Chychrun, my boy new them all. Kyrou was with him and a couple of other Sting players. Most Tuesday's they helped the 8-12yos practice. Good hockey stories tend to get forgotten in the bad. Has anyone actually played on a frozen lake? I never did, and played a ton. It just wasn't here. I grew up in rinks that were pretty much glorified quonsets.lol We have a fun thing in a nearby gigantic park now. We 'secretly' run a hose to a giant dip and let the fire hydrant buck. It turns into 2 hockey rinks, easy, with skating room to spare. Technically not legal, but no one cares.

I think we're okay. NHL roster spots are tough. You've always got that salary cap thing lurking in the background. I'm kinda with you that I'd like to see Wolf. Huuuuge but, he'd be in a backup 3-way role. In the A, he's seeing tons of game action pucks. It's what you want. His numbers have been ridiculous his whole career. Thankfully, we aren't Toronto or Carolina with endlessly injured goalies, ready or not. It's nice knowing that he's right there if we need him.

I wouldn't take a goalie in 3 rds. Vasilevsky I relented on. He was a monster in his draft year. If NA birth, he'd have been top 3. He was this terrorizing in his draft year. If he's in net, all bets are off. Easily, easily, one of the top 5 players in the league. Skaters included.

Opinion unchanged? lol You were trying to sell us that Ryan Francis was our best prospect. You don't see that his Pelletier is easily NHL caliber? Then Zary and Coronato in all likelyhood. I was kinda hoping Pelletier would get the call, and he'd relax us all that the farm is healthy. Totally happened. Duehr helping.

For a ranching, farming and hunting province, the Flames definitely need more big game hunters than Toffoli. Stone's shot in a talented winger would help. But I do remember @jjgallow you putting up a fuss about Pelletier being our best prospect. How do you like me now?lol Zary is the same age. I care not how the NHL skews it. Zary is the next call up at forward. Would you like my opinion on Phillips? It starts with toss him into a deal. AHL is whatever. Pelletier was always a really good, bonafide pick at 26th oa. This is him. Easily a top 6 on this roster, and many others. Him and Zary are really good late 1st picks.

My take on the NCAA is that there are enough players that will be NHLers that take the CHL route, but it's pretty much a saw off. It's close. Just scout Minny and Michigan hard. They're the US hotbeds. They should be part of Canada if they'd give up their gun-love.lol

jjgallow is typing... lol

Maybe it's a good time to rank leagues. I'll start. NHL KHL SEL AHL MHL Liiga ECHL CHL NCAA USHL This is just my guess and I invite everyone's guess. There really isn't a lot of separation from maybe 6-10 imo.