conundrumed

Sad to think Sutter never would have let Hathaway and Lomberg walk. Oh well, glad we're treating the bottom 6 seriously now regardless. I love the Looch-Ruckzicka-Lewis look. Hope we stay with it. Only Ritchie could play his way down and off of the 4th line.....somehow to the 3rd line.

Hathaway for Ritchie.lol

Uh-oh, here comes my scouting meltdown.lol examples of my hairy eyeball: Chychrun - they all took the section at Sarnia's 2 period D zone. Galchenyuk/Yakupov - they all sat in the Yakupov O-side. It's like every job in life. 20% abilitiy, 80% people like you. They all work together, they all travel together. Everybody knows every other teams intention. It's like a convention.lol Imagine the countless distraction. It is. I see it all of the time.

The problem with an experience-laden team is they all know the grind and want it. It's a good problem to have. There isn't much space. Ruzicka got lucky that Richardson just wasn't there (but he can coach) and he only has to be better than Gawdin. Ritchie should be replaced. That's my roster change. He's on the 3rd line. Should be taxi squad at best.

You know this will never happen.lol Wish we'd waive Ritchie though. I think Pelletier should get a call up and a look with Baclund and either Coleman or Dube. He's waiver ineligible so that's whatever. People talk about hurting development, but I disagree. If he isn't ready to make the team a bit better, whatevs, he's got lots of time. We should do it ahead of TDL. Even if he doesn't see a game, see what that looks like in practices to get a different look at everything you have before spending.

Love the W's Love this too.

Sickeningly middle-of-the-road.

Goal and 3 assists for Tanev, offence juggernaut.lol

Okay Coleman, time for a hatty:)

Shocking.

Coleman with the bonecrusher.

Late to the thread, all caught up! Thanks for the thread travel dube! Thanks for the fight Guddy. Most of the bottom feeders have been playing a lot better lately. My Wings let me down...McDavid got lit by Hathaway:) Let's do this thing.

Get er done, take a break. Ode to Sutter, because he's seriously confused me this year, in all of the good ways.

His international efforts were the same. His English is great.

My sentiments to a tee. I want Dube to stay RW, I really like him as a player, but I'd like him more if he took an extra split second in almost everything he does. His timing seems off to me. Like he's fast enough to buy a bit of time but doesn't use it. I hope it comes around for him. Mangiapane's really struggling to find space imo. He's got some things to figure out too. I like him with Dube, but Sutter doesn't, so that's that. All Backlund does is shoot at the goalie to get the faceoff for our 1st line. Which is fine, but it also stifles Mangiapane I think.

It's also that old adage of, "let the play come to you". If you aren't elite in this league you aren't forcing play. I'd point at all of our dmen outside of Gudbranson. When they try to force play is when they make mistakes. Not saying never take a risk, but they can really try to force things that just aren't there. Gudbranson near always plays it safe and that's his success here imo. Rozie will always get chances, turnovers and all of that but he won't really be able to force them. Capitalize on the other team's mistakes, don't let them capitalize on yours by forcing it or trying to do too much. Only Johnny's allowed to do that. I want this to work out for purely selfish reasons.lol

Yeah I know you were, nothing wrong with that. How many times I'd watch him thinking, jesus man, snap out of it. He's been getting more consistent with the Flames so good to see. Sutter said it's up to him to understand the details, but having Sutter teach him the details is a big deal. I always thought it was coaching. When he was bad, he was bad. But I always thought he looked lost in uncertainty more than no good. Couldn't make a decision, then when he did it would bite him and he'd get even more tentative. He's looking like a nice add right now though. **edit I should say likely Lewis and Richardson as much as Sutter. Always thought those 2 were good adds as player/coaches. Richardson doesn't have to be in the lineup to be a good coach.

It's been like turning a freighter in a canal, to be clear.lol In jr and International, he'd almost get frozen to commit one way or the other and he'd turn altogether useless. Don't let stats fool you. He's got really good skills for a 6'3" guy, great coordination, but he needed to badly work on his purpose every shift. Looking good.

That win last night was a huge character win. Needed to reboot this. I'm very unclear if there is a trade that we need to make. It's all addition by subtraction to me. Chychrun I'd do most days, but only in removing Z. I'm not sure... I am LOVING this season though, huge surprise.

Finally graduating another prospect. I don't see how he loses his seat now. He's had an impact on the bottom 6. I really wanted to see a 4th line of him, Looch and Lewis. Glad Sutter went with it. I know some didn't really like him as a player due to the ever-present on-off switch, but it seems he's overcome that. Plus, my Sarnia friends and fam saying, "Is that Adam Ruzicka? Wondered what happened to him" is pretty special too. Jr fans tend to cheer for teams that have their guys. He's waiver-exempt scares me a bit, but that's a solid 4th line imo.

No. Smith was on a great team

They call him small, but his frame reminds me of likely Datsyuk size, which I don't consider small. Build up muscle mass and he should be 5'11"/190-195ish I'm guessing. That perfect tank size for a C. I know I'm getting ahead of things, but health stay with him and he's going to transition really well I think. His interviews show a very smart and determined kid. So far we pounded this one right out of the park. Find 0.9ppg Jr rookies. Draft them late. Sit back and smile.lol

His D+1 was 4 games with Stockton. It seems like it had a huge positive impact on him, and he says it that way too. A 6th rder. Wow. Nice grab. Top 3 prospect for me. Middle 6 C imo.

AHL, no question. He's his team leader and they are a huge threat. There will be nothing left for him to prove next yr in the O.

I can't wait until March, I'm going to sit behind their bench with my Mony jersey but I'm going to put a fake Kerins nameplate on it. He's #23. Should be good for some chuckles. My cuz is from the Soo and scouts for the Pens. He's choked that he lost the battle, but he lives in Calgary (did his HC training there, GM'd the jrs to gold years ago) so he likes that we took him. One of my bro-in-law's besties is the Flames scout that BT said would punch him in the face if he didn't draft Mangiapane.lol It's drama, he isn't punching anyone in the face.lol He's a good scout though. Anything Ontario, Michigan, Minnesota is generally him. My bro-in-law played with Ciccarelli and was generally always the leading scorer. Broke his leg vs London when he was 17 and the dream died. We were in Dino's (Sting owner at the time) boxseats and they announced the Shoot-a-roo numbers. It was my bro-in-law. We were hammered. They put the plywood across the net with the puck-hole cut out bottom middle. He took a slapshot.lol It went about chest high and came down right in the hole. They mic'd him up, he pointed his stick at Dino and said, "Dino Ciccarelli taught me everything I know about hockey". He comes back to the box, Dino says, "you're an Hash Rate". He says, "you taught me that too". He was wrecked, I couldn't believe it. $700 win. Missing the Silver Stick tourney, huge. They've re-booked it for late Feb. I really hope it goes. Canada teams only though, which sucks but better than nothing. If we're in lockdown 12, they are cancelling it. Again. It's our mega-Midget championship tourney. Best Midget teams from all over NA. And Atom. Gretzky lit it right up here as an Atom.lol My oldest bro used to play hockey and baseball against him. He was a really good baller too. I was the batboy.lol Outside of the side-stories, I'm really excited for Kerins. Our 6th rder is leading the O in pts. When do you EVER see that? He seems quite mature and focused too. And the Flames talk to him regularly. They say in the article Mangiapane is the closest comparable from their list, but I'd argue that it's Trochek, not Mangiapane. I've always been a big fan of Trochek and now I think we have one.