conundrumed

Sutter mentioned a few times last year that the team just doesn't have the mental toughness needed to be successful. That's why they brought in 4 forwards that bring exactly that. I get that people wanna see goal scorers and points signings, but I'm happy they did it this way. The team's weak mentality had to change. Now they've added guys to help that. Lewis and Richardson aren't here for 20 goals apiece from 7 mins/gm. They know how to play their roles. We've been lacking that.

I’m hoping for one big dogfight for playing time.

Now both of my teams, Flames and Wings, have an abundance of goalies in the system. I kinda love that.

Get over them. Most of the active ones are vintage, it's painful seeing hottest threads began in 2019 or earlier. Stay current.

I’d argue if you wanna build from the net out, don’t skip over the bottom lines. Has everyone forgotten our amazing UFA superstars of the past? I like this path.

Speaking of borderline NHLers, soft Derek Ryan epitomized our bottom 6. Now that was a bad signing....Peters.

Well said. Our bottom 6 needed a serious upgrade away from borderline NHL players. I’ve liked the moves. Especially the annoyed fan reactions.lol

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/flames-sign-brad-richardson/c-326098170

Ouch... https://www.brandonu.ca/news/2021/09/07/brandon-university-statement-on-honorary-doctorate-recipient-theo-fleury/

Tkachuk looks like he's getting a jag on.lol

Rookies/ELC's on the 15th (minus NCAA/ECHL), full squad on the 22nd. Getting close!!

I do agree JJ. Though as much as I love the Hedman's and Pietrangelo's, D has to be by committee. Sutter should be able to improve our neutral zone play which theoretically should improve our team D. The Sens dominated us last year by flying through the neutral zone. Then they just kept exploiting it.

Well said cross. I wasn't alluding to it hurting one team more than another. Just, like you say, not a season to draw conclusions from. I'm sure you and I and everyone else was frustration overload last year. But I'm really happy with the moves BT made. There was more to fix than trading out stars. I feel pretty comfortable that we are a better team overall now.

I think both Dube and Mangia match well with Tkachuk for passing and high IQ.

Dube is a RW. Tkachuk's a left.

I'm not really sure why Reider makes any sense. JG-Mony-Coleman Tkachuk-Lindholm-Dube Mangia-Backlund-Pitlck Lucic-Ruzicka-Lewis Froese-Phillips This is where I see Dvorak would really change things. JG-Mony-Lindholm Tkachuk-Dvorak-Coleman/Dube Mangia-Backlund-Dube/Coleman Lucic-Lewis/Ruzicka-Pitlick Either way, don't see Reider mattering.

the schedules haven't been normal in 1 1/2 years. Not regular hockey seasons. Should have taken advantage and just practiced.lol

Last year was such a lousy setup we should just forget the whole year. It sucked for everyone involved. Generated revenue, nothing else. Stupid little mini-tourneys, everyone's isolated in different ways. Schedule upended etc. Let's just forget that mess. No rhythm to any of it. Let's just blame that.

Sorry, I wasn't positive if that was for this year.

What makes it hard for JG to perform at his undoubtedly high skill level, imo, is there is no one else for the competition to focus on. Shut him down, shut the Flames down. Having more depth in the lineup helps a lot. We've had nothing to fall back on to offset it. Keep changing lines, etc, hasn't helped. JG has a target on his back all of the time and secondary scoring has been pitiful. Prospects like Pelletier and Zary could offset that, hopefully not too late. Coleman helps. Heck, even Pitlick helps if he's good for 15 goals. Every bit helps. A renewed Mony helps JG and Lindholm on the RW helps him. More threats that you can't leave open to double team Johnny. Tkachuk always likes to play behind the net, no point having him with JG. Pelletier would be good with Tkachuk, as would Zary...the wait sucks. Dube, for me, is our wild card rn. He's a threat at his best, fast and smart. I hope this is his year, we need him. Excellent playmaker and vision, make it consistent and he's my bust loose candidate. I've watched Kyrou a lot with the Sting. Dube's a better player than he is. I firmly believe that. But who is our 2C in this setup? Herein lies the problem. Can't dangle Backlund, he's our bonafide 3C. Hopefully Sutter will work this out. 2C's a big problem. If Mangia alone addresses it, I hate to do it, but yeah...

And Arsenii Sergeyev.

Tri-City could stockpile all of our Russian prospects!:) USHL is a fantastic jr league.

Likely around the 15th for the main group. Preseason games start the 26th.

Ahh didn't see that news. Looks like we'll have some loaners...

Vladar : NHL backup Werner-Wolf: AHL Parsons-Chechelev: ECHL No Problem.