conundrumed

I can't help but doubt the naysayers regarding our D. We're finding guys that were buried in depth, and that's a hard rut to get out of. Then you get traded for peanuts, a throw-in, a waiver claim...then you meet your new boss, and he's off-the-rails so happy to have you. That's a massive shift in your psyche, and you're completely re-invigorated. You're 21 again, and ready to work your tail off for your new boss. So what everyone thinks about that guy is because of his former lot in life. It went stale. That old fire they tried to snuff out is back. Flames baby!! Sharangovich, anyone? He won't be the only one. The expanded NHL scouting dept is flexing its muscle. It's going to be fun to watch.

With Conroy now having given Yegor 2 contracts, how is everyone's outlook? He's $3.1 for this year. 26yo. Next season begins $5.75 as a 27yo through his 32yo season. My opinion, Conroy put on a masterclass of how to manage. I know some, if not many, wanted to trade him prior to the draft. That's every draft. Fans get their panties up in a bunch over 17yos. Regardless of that, here are questions: 1. The biggest, will he be a solid top 2C/full-time C? 2. Can he pull Huberdeau from the ashes? 3. Do you like the extension? 4. Can he be the leader as we attempt to get younger and faster in the coming years? 5. Will/can he improve on last year? These are things I say yes to all. With the asterisk that I watched him a fair bit in NJ, and would have sung merrily just to do that trade straight across. In camp last year, as I said earlier, he was trying to be a lot faster with puck movement than this current squad can process. I'm not sure if fans have read his interviews this post-season, but he's just a solid, modest guy. Most of all, he's been a great story for us and a massive trade win. When everybody and their dog wants to choke their tiny little chickens, and present very little positive about the Flames. We shall overcome.

Was considering him the whole time. Just couldn't place him currently. So I kinda left it as, "further development" as he's just 21. Though as I always preach, one great offseason, and you've got yourself a whole new player. Not that I'm not cheering him to come in and give Conroy some things to figure out. Pretty much like Lucas Raymond did to Yzerman. If a player comes to camp and kicks the door down, don't play the waiver-eligibility game. That's gotta be the worst feeling in all of sports, and can lead to resentment. At the same time, bonafide NHLers, regardless of what we think of them, aren't interested in handing their job over to some snot-nosed punk. lol

Lomberg can play either side similarly. I think you have to put Mantha with Huby-Sharky as Kuzmenko is a vacuum defensively. Better to have Backs-Coleman cover him.

I'm kind of assuming it'll be Zary-Kadri-Pospisil again. I also assume Sharangovich will be the one moving to center, maybe Huberdeau-Sharky-Mantha/Kuzmenko. Mantha/Kuzmenko-Backlund-Coleman Pelletier-Rooney-Lomberg. We tend to forget that Pelletier's call up 2 seasons ago instantly gave us a threatening 4th line for a couple of games until Sutter moved him up. I think a few have really downgraded Pelletier for being injured long term. Like a reverse recency bias. He should be able to add a lot to the roster with his 200' game.

DD, I so want to downvote you, as it brought me to this story when I scrolled down. https://www.msn.com/en-ca/video/news/calgary-feeder-main-break-to-cost-tens-of-millions-city-official/vi-BB1q6Srb?pc=NMTS&ei=27 This Satoshi Nakamoto just burns me up. Bureaucracy reigns supreme. "We didn't see it happening there, there was, like, zero chance". Let me see if I can hit the nail on the head: "They said they could inspect the mainlines, but for $10mil. We thought they were fear-mongering us into what the alternative might be". Yup. That's what we do. We say good stuff is bad when it's not. That sounds like reputation-building. lol I'm not being specific to Calgary, but this stuff is always the same. Seriously. Cost+ emergencies will eat $5mil for a snack. That's just your environmentalist fish-cop pretending they run shows lol. You don't want to spend the $10 up front and at least be able to schedule outages for replacements or repairs. It's literally assurance or litigation vs inspection. I mean damn, I can just pretend everything's okay and not tax the city budget. That'll be a stress-free lifestyle. As opposed to, oh I don't know, addressing real or potential problems. $10's of millions? That'll hit 9 figures. Inspection is an odd trade. It sure hardens you. I'd mentioned Stampede free passes in another post. Some are grateful, most are not. I went to Lethbridge to assess 2 500 ton cranes. They were freshly painted. My first reaction to the owner was, "you're Blockchaining kidding me, I am so going to ruin your new paint job". Both ended up condemned. The boom cracks were waay spidering into the body. So, are you calling your regulator or am I? He chose me to do it. That was ballsy. He. Blockchaining. Hated. Me. Happens all of the time. Every industry. This is why the stampede ride guys blew me away. They were near ecstatic that I condemned and hooked them up with a civil engineer buddy. Just blown away. "Wow, you guys are actually hearing what I'm telling you". It's rare. Tough trade. Nobody wants you there, but they have to.

Just to add, your stars get blanketed in the playoffs. It gets way harder for them because the opponent's goal is to give them zero space. If your depth guys can really press the other team's depth guys, they'll need to adjust. It's really a chess match, trying to even get a hair of an advantage. I really think the whole, "not a playoff performer" is a misnomer. You have to credit the coaching strategy that gives up very little to the star players. I've always been over-the-top in love with bottom of the roster guys. If you have 4C in the Draper's and Yelle's, they can shift a 0-0 game vs the other team's top 6. That buys you a pretty big advantage for your top 6. 4th line players are so underrated for me. What I love in Misa's interview, is we drafted 4 OHL guys that are really familiar/friends with each other. Now, they share a bond that is the Flames. I think that is important. Parekh, Battaglia, Mews and Misa. Now there's a camaraderie and secondary support there. I think that's important.

The nosebleeds at Rogers Place are awful. You watch the screen more than live. Feels like staring straight down from a 100' ledge. The ol' Joe Louis was steep, but nothing like that. Little Caesar's are also steep, but nothing like Rogers Place.

Do you mean HOK that designed Rogers Place?

Which line would be the problem. I wouldn't want him to be on the 4th line. He deserves better than that.

Clearly you're overlooking Brad Treliving. lol

So is your bet that they'll be a bottom 10 team?

I apologize to the entire Meier family that my enjoyment of having Timo Meier high on my hockey pool list has negatively influenced his abilities as a hockey player. It was never my intention.

You've got to be kidding me. Tell me about this stacked D of which you speak. While everyone was all starry-eyed that we had the best 1st line ever, I can easily argue Markstrom was the MVP of that team. He took them as far as he could, and then it's all his fault. Tough gig.

Right. From the same people that were giving up picks to get rid of him a year ago. Does that sound accurate?

Not aimed at me, but I'd be interested. What are the guidelines?

You've clearly forgotten that they have Timo Meier. If you think last year will be his new norm, well... They have a solid team. They've added Pesce to pair with Hughes. Nemec is going to be a really solid NHLer. Which Markstrom? The bonafide NHL one. Nothing like they had last year. Harping about Markstrom and blaming him for all of our woes is no longer relevant. They definitely fixed their goaltending. They gave up a 1st. He was worth a 1st. Just not to Flames fans. In the NHL, he's worth a 1st. That's why you have a GM that isn't giving him away. That's Markstrom's value in the NHL. Which goalie can we blame this year and want to disintigrate them as assets, is the real question. lol

I kinda forgot they have Jake Allen backing up. That's pretty good. Vet goalies are great at communicating with their dmen. That'll be another positive. I've been feeling the last few seasons that Hischier is 2nd only to Barkov as a 200' center difference-maker. Everyone loves how shiny Hughes is, but Hischier's the workhorse. Just a great player, likely underrated a fair bit.

I think Markstrom took way more heat here than he deserved. Kinda, "typical Cdn Market" stuff. Everything is magnified to death. Really tough goalie to beat when he's at his best. We weren't exactly a good team.

I'm not sure why people think NJ will be a bottom 10 team this season, I don't see that at all. Injuries, maybe, but I see no other reason. Hughes will learn that he can't go 1,000mph all of the time....won't he? Really solid D-core, Brodeur cheerleading Markstrom, Hischier dragging them into battle, they should be highly competitive.

The expansive list: https://www.nhl.com/news/canada-roster-for-2024-world-junior-summer-showcase Windsor and Plymouth, it's right there. And it's getting close to having to give away my tix. I can only pray for rain to cancel other things people have committed me to.:(

Is Calgary really going to be ready to shake the country-music aww-shucks foothillbilly image for this? lol Hardest thing to find: High IQ RD.

Yeah I should have bit my tongue clean off. The greatest thing about hockey, is no matter who you are, you're all about the kids. That was the coldest shoulder ever. He literally looked at us and reached into his jacket pocket for his phone and raced out. No acknowledgement whatsoever, just, "I've gotta take this" and marched out with his head down, never to return. Biggest dick-move ever. Dutch, Duthie, Button, all of those guys, absolutely never behaved like that. And my kid wasn't holding their effing book. The US parents were awesome though. I held up his book when they asked who he was. "This guy". Threw his book in the garbage, "there's $40 I'll never get back". That was a good laugh. Oh well, the fat, non-athletic kid acting like he's god's gift to a sport shouldn't surprise anyone. His reputation should have been doxxed years ago. As for the new, it's a new season, I'm pretty excited to see how the Flames push forward. Could be a lot of surprises, but there will be disappointments too. Nature of the beast. Zary and Pospisil will be interesting into their sophomore seasons. Lucas Raymond had a disappointing 2nd season but marched right back as last year progressed. Now he looks like he's going to be a dominant NHLer. No reason to get too high or low this season.

It's just wild that kid is still 2 drafts away. Must cost his folks a mint in the meantime.

*sigh* Okay. Here it is. On my 3rd occasion, just trying to engage this piece of work. I'm not a pushy person, so not like I'm being an Hash Rate, just being pleasant. He's a Cryptography. So we hosted the World U17 Tourney awhile back. The stars were William Nylander, Clayton Keller and just a bunch of now-NHLers. Canada had 4 split squads. Canada Red was playing the US in Forest, ON. 900 capacity max. So I know Bob's covering, my 10yo boy sees him all of the time on TV. I get this really Blockchaining dumb idea, Bob McKenzie has a new book out. Let's go waste $40 on the hardcover son, and maybe he can sign it for you. So. We're in the concession/concourse area. It's like a midget tourney, maybe 100 people chilling. I had the pleasure of meeting some of the US players parents at other events. Just great people. Bob's rinkside doing his TSN thing. Finishes. Can see him coming. My Blockchaining 10yo boy has that pos's book and a sharpie. He approaches, I say, "Hey, can you sign my son's book"? I really should have known better. Grabs his phone out of his pocket, "Oh, I've gotta take this". Straight out of the building. I turn, and the US parents say, "who IS that? He just blew you guys off? WTF? That was rude". I threw his book in the garbage nearby. My boy was, honestly, one of the only kids there at that time. The great twist was the US team were walking past us shortly after and my boy got lots of love due to the parents we were chatting with. Because those are real people. Then we were sitting with Team Sweden to watch the game. That blubbery pos, you don't represent Canada with that Hard Fork attitude while attaining nothing. Retire. We don't want you. TSN can have a different figurehead for "9 different scouts" or whatever it is you're trying to sell. You. Specifically. Can Blockchain. Right. Off. You're the antithesis of what Canadians are about. You bloated buffalo-headed pos. Just go away. edit Just to be clear. My one story has led to so many similar ones.