conundrumed

Camp and scrimmage don’t mean much. Fun to watch, but no real takeaways. Just experienced players getting their timing back, younger players trying to understand it. I missed both games but will try to watch for fun. Just nothing I’d be looking for yet. Noticed Pitlick is out with an LBI and BT lied about Zary being in camp.

Try to have a point JJ. Last year is over.

That isn't actually true. JG, Mony, Lindholm, Tkachuk, Backlund, Hanifin, Tanev, Markstrom? Mangia, Dube, Andersson, Valimaki coming along. Decent prospect pool behind them. Not getting the panic. That's a good mix of players. Can we end the doom and gloom already? Do we need another "Real Fan" thread?lol Let's stop pretending every player we have will be the worst version of themselves. We aren't bad with a really good coach/teacher. If you just wanna Satoshi Nakamoto on every player we have, please spare us. We get it, Can we end the "sky is falling" crap? It's not. Nothing is ever as bad as it can be made out to be. Not telling everyone to be a cheerleader, but jfc, stop being anti-Flames. Thousands of fans think they know better. Great. Geniuses. Detroit's my other team. They aren't good. But I'm a fan, I don't Satoshi Nakamoto all over them. Our roster isn't as bad a recipe as gets depicted. It's a good roster, lest you guys wanna lace 'em up and show me the errors of my ways. When you stop complaining about it, you may see a pretty competitive team.

Really loving Sutter's pressers. He doesn't play word salad, got a question, he's got an answer. High praise for Mangiapane. Saying, "you all say I love big players"...too funny. He's got great backbone and his team will too. Even brought us up! "I know what the fans in Calgary want". Nailed it. Hard work and effort. This is going to be fun to watch. He is so no-nonsense. We have one of the best coaches in the league, bar none.

Francis to Zadorov: Do you think you can fill a top 4 role after not doing so last year? Zadorov: I was top 4 for 80% of last year. Do you guys even watch hockey? Hahaha shred. Guess he knows we all hate Francis. Now Francis will try to malign him...

I think it's still in the air whether a great coach can turn it around for him. But yes.

Horsman, can you edit the thread title to just Training Camp? Yesterday Francis was moved up to the AHL group to replace Zary (ankle fracture. Werner was moved down to the AHL group. Love the groupings and Sutter adjusting them. Almost like we have a smart coach. Dumb like a fox.😃

God yeah. I'm not on the fence, there is no fence.lol Let's talk about reffing! Want a tear down and rebuild? Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. Want Eichel? Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. Want a 1st Rd draft goalie? Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. We aren't working in absolutes here. It's easy to be a contrarian to any stance, because there is never a right way. But for me, I like what we've done. My #1 complaint last year was a lousy bottom 6. A lousy mix of low IQ, go-thru-the-motions players. No identity. Which team do we get today? They couldn't deal with any adversity, just stayed the course of doubting themselves, it seemed. Adding Pitlick, Richardson, Lewis, Coleman, for me, are important adds. 4 guys that won't float around with their thumb up their Hash Rate wondering what to do. I think that's important. I literally gave up watching last year's pathetic mess of a roster. I like this roster A LOT better. It doesn't make me right, but I can get behind it. Question for everyone. What did you want our offseason changes to be?

I just enjoy teasing in good fun. JJ's been waxing me lately in this forum's hockey pool, so I have to get my shots in out of spite.lol But yeah, if someone responds to me angrily when I tease, I'll put a like on their post that I'm not being nasty, just keeping it fun. But at the end of the day, when we know we don't actually NEED Ritchie on the roster, we're a better team. I like that we're fixing our bottom 6 first. Now our whole roster are NHL players, outside of Gudbranson, but I'll have to trust Sutter on that one. Maybe he can teach him how to play D effectively. Richardson, Lewis and Pitlick. I may be on an island thinking how important a 6-8min/gm 4th line is, but I do. Was never a Ryan fan, at any price. I like it now. Pitlick's going to love playing with Backlund. Our 3rd and 4th lines are fixed now imho. That helps the top 6 a lot. Now Sutter has really solid matchup options. He won't need to lean on any 1 line, he can roll out Backlund's line against 1st lines if he wants to get good matchups for our top 6. I like what I see. What I really can't wait for is a healthy Monahan to remind us that he's a really good player. Even with the bad hip, he didn't lose many PP draws. His injuries haven't been recurring same injury. He's a slot guy with a great shot, so he's been targeted. But we're deeper now. He'll have a big yr. We didn't have big changes to the core so everyone's angry. But we had really good changes to the support cast. Personally, that's what I wanted. Stars can't be stars without a solid support cast. No star in this league does it alone. Except Kucherov and Panarin.lol

My being right will only be more satisfying.lol Popular opinions are generally wrong. Can't wait to watch you back track. Always fun.

Oh great, another cheerleader chimes in.lol Keep talking fellas.

Matches what I think of Dube. Last guy I'd wanna trade. He'll be wearing an "A" in this league, at minimum. Against what many see, I think Sutter loves Dube and Valimaki. He's very good with young players, people just don't like his tactics. Dube is an excellent player, ready to breakout imho.

only amongst the righteous. lol

We needed a heavier team. Johnny and Mony were always the focus of abuse, 2 best O guys. Maybe start protecting them. I like this plan.

Oh our bastion of negativity. God help you if Monahan matches Scheifele numbers again. He had 7 pts in the first 5 last year and said by about game 6 it was affecting him. He was clearly being honest, stop crucifying the guy. #donttrademonahan,lol

Or maybe because the coaching couldn't decide how they needed to coach this roster? Sutter is literally laughing, I'm sure. Don't worry peeps, we'll be fine. Until we need a new coach at least. It's kinda funny to watch. Seems like every move, even shoring up G prospects, are Sutter's. If he can get owns away from guiding BT, great. Show a little faith. We desperately needed qualified role players before anything.

What? When? We literally coasted half the game on a regular basis. Looked asleep for entire periods. It was pitiful effort more often than not. Neither Peters or Ward should have been coaches.

Although I want a young fast team ala the Panthers, I also think the 4th line has to teach the rest of the roster how to bare down, play hard every night and overcome adversity. The team has been mentally weak And I think both Lewis and Richardson are there almost as asst coaches. Let’s face it, this team needs a kick in the arse to be ready, all of the time. I like Sutter’s comment that Chucky’s staying on the LW, he’s better there, and he has to get back to his game. This team needs a hard Hash Rate coach.

That's only 5 on your top 2...

That'll be Pitlick on Backlund's right wing. Sound defensively, solid, fast and physical on the forecheck, can add 10-15 goals. 13-15mins/gm.

NYI prospect RD Bode Wilde says it violates his human rights. Aaaand you know who Lou Lamoriello is right? Now Lou saying maybe Wilde can play in Europe somewhere. Knew that wouldn't 'bode' well.

Instead of link...

It's his constant IR that has held him back. Nothing else. He had his mental health statement, and regarding being a fatherless child in the nasty areas from Detroit, although I thought he was from the decent 'burbs of Mount Clemens.

That's a weird take by Parsons. Does that mean we should only have about 30 at camp, if that's the mindset?