conundrumed

Blake Coleman - 30G-scoring shutdown winger. Worth more than his $4.9 this season. Young players taking positive steps forward, lots of things to be excited about in a down season. I'm quite happy that this has been a "take a step back" season. Overwhelming tumultuous drama, we were constantly just waiting for the next fuse of bad news to ignite. Although it's an unfortunate season results-wise, that was always a likelihood. Nice to see Conroy sticking to his guns as much as he can and getting good results on trades. He's definitely not letting other GMs take advantage. I think when I said NO to playoffs and had us finishing low in the division, it was more being hopeful that we would get off of the news feeds for the wrong reasons and fall into fully assessing where we're at. So I'm pretty happy with how it's going. That, and the stupid Satoshi Nakamoto of constantly blaming Markstrom and inventing reasons of why he's ruined has gotten the teflon bullet. He's a solid NHL goalie and always has been. I'm pretty down on the fanbase for being so Satoshi Nakamototy to him and handing out free passes to skaters that are great 1 minute and total boneheads the next. The only consistency has been inconsistency. Hopefully that chapter is over. It was a very long chapter. I've often said in the past that the Flames always seem like a low IQ team. Zary is showing the difference imho. Pelletier will too. Smart, smart, shifty players. Huberdeau is a high IQ player. Surround him with the mundane, and he's invisible. Lots to be excited about moving forward. In the meantime, cheer for the Wings this year. There's more than enough heart in that team to go around. From Larkin, who has never played a playoff game, to Veleno, Rasmussen, Walman and Raymond that bleed everything just to be NHLers, to Perron going, "how the f$%# did I become a mentor?" to Seider, likely the cleanest great Dman in the league after Makar, to, finally, Alex Lyon, career AHLer that backed the Panthers into the playoffs, then they threw him away. They are now a ragtag team of every other team's misfits/we don't need you/you're not worth the cost/risk (Compher, Ghostisbehere, Maatta). They actually are. Who can't get behind that? All while waiting for the solid pipeline to move up. I believe in magic. They're going to be a nuisance, I hope. Last year's Florida.

So few people seemed to see Detroit as the improving team over Buffalo and Ottawa, I found it a bit of a headcratcher. Toronto’s commentary was pretty much, “not only were they stuck in an airport and arrived just 90 minutes before puck drop, it’s only Detroit”. The Wings have given away at least 6 games they should have had this year. If they put it all together they can be a really good team. It seems like few want to believe it. Kane left the game after his first shift. Didn’t really matter, just screwed up their PP because he runs it/great at entries. Plus, Leafs, the Wings didn’t play all that well. Fairly poorly really.

She was a tight one! Good game by Reimer and D clearing his rebounds. Kane injured on 1st shift. Needed a regulation win. Toronto only has 13 regulation wins this season. Ottawa has 12, for comparison. The league should prolly revisit their point structure. But then again, whenever they mess with something, they make it worse. The inundation that is TML head to Western Canada. Keep 'em there for a few months woodja? We need a break. Especially the excessive media. Who's the next player on the cross of their media to feed a fan frenzy?

Oof, Wings didn't get to the arena until 6pm, so they pushed the start back from 7 to 7:45. Ouch.

Big game in Toronto tonight. Win and move into the 1st wildcard spot, 1 pt back of the leafs, though they have 2 in hand. D has been looking better, GOTTA be better. One of the best GF in the league, one of the worst GA. She's an adventure. LFG! GWG!!

Your man-crushes are showing. lol A lot of teams have really solid G prospects. Even we have one! Walstedt had a rough ride in his 1st NHL game. All of them will have ups and downs for a few more years. The only thing that matters at 21 is that they haven't hit their ceiling yet. Detroit took Cossa over Walstedt due to feeling Cossa had more dev to work with. That's it, that's all. They scout the crap out of Sweden so they didn't have an uninformed opinion, they just felt Cossa's celing is higher. Drafting potential doesn't always work out. There are a lot of great young goalies in the A beyond those 2 to 4. There are still plenty of hurdles for all of them. A few will get there, many won't. Absolutely none of them are currently sure-fire, or they'd already be tearing through the NHL. Not being negative, Askarov and Walstedt could be scrapping it out for Vezina's in a few years, but that isn't the current situation.

Goal leaders in 2024:

And there we have it. Many are putting way too much stock into Kylington just magically being what he was 2 years ago quickly. It's not really feasible. It's going to take a lot of time. This season would surprise me. I really hope the best for him, but I'm not sure the heavy pace and pressures of the NHL lifestyle is what's best atm, we'll find out. I hope he's been good with his money so he's not pressured to do it in that regard. He's still trying to figure out what is best for him. To be frank, generalizing that someone is struggling with mental health is a pandora's box of possibilities. I've witnessed a few different ones in both adults and children, as we likely all have. None are pretty. Feeling ashamed, therefore silent and undiagnosed is a common theme. All that matters is that he gets himself figured out and holds his head high. I don't care who our 4-8 dmen are, that crap pales by comparison, none of that matters.

That's my wonder too. Same as Sharangovich. Both are good 2-way players. Pretty much no one comes into this league good at faceoffs, it's an acquired art through experience. Not sure how mgmt views it, but for where Zary and Sharangovich are right now, I still expect them to make solid improvements through experience alone. We're still in a holding pattern to see what we're going to do about our UFAs and then available ones. For now, I'd suspect Zary to move to center. Pretty much a natural progression is my thought. He's pretty much proven playing wing is zero problem. As much as many scoff at +/-, I've been watching the trend most of the season. Kadri was about -10 prior to Zary and Pospisil joining him. He's currently +1, Zary +12, Pospisil +8. Coleman is not only our points leader, but rocking a +22. Just having an unreal season. Worth his weight in gold. Backlund is +9 by comparison, so Coleman's contributions are everywhere. Also leads the team in SHG and GWG. He's been magnificent. Mangiapane is on the rise having reunited on the 3rd line. Hanifin is, unsurprisingly, our top Dman at +12, partnered with Tanev at +9. Weegar is +6 whereas partner Andersson is +1. On the negative side, wherever Huberdeau goes, it's either stagnating or worsening his linemates +/-. Sharangovich at -9, now paired with Huby, is one to keep an eye on. Dube's -11 is pretty much indicative of the wretched season that he's having. His value is on death row, in a contract season of all times... So the +/- stat is pretty much exactly what we're seeing on the ice. It's telling the story that we're seeing as it trends over time. Just thought I'd throw this out there.

Signed through 24/25 at $3.1/yr. 17 goals now after tonight. I guess. It's been a half a season and Yegor Sharangovich is having an impact. Acquired from the NJ Devils, along with a 2023 3rd rd pick (Aydar Suniev) in exchange for sniper Tyler Toffoli. Sharangovich was the odd man out in New Jersey's 2023 playoff run that saw them acquire Timo Meier to bolster their roster. Kudos to Craig Conroy for swooping in and asking about that young guy they replaced with Timo Meier and offering them another "experienced" sniper. Personally, I'd have done that trade straight across at the time. Some GM I'd be. From camp, he was trying to be fast but looked meh because we aren't fast. So he started on the 4th line. He performed admirably as a 4C. Since then, he's asserted himself into the roster, all situations. In half a season. Colour me impressed in his adjustment, and hopefully the team keeps remembering that he's a finisher. How are we feeling about the new guy? What might his ceiling be?

Rooney's an AHLer so he's going to the A regardless. Kylington (I think) is like Vrana in that the team is trying to be respectful and let the player have a bit of time before deciding what's best. Maybe he'll be tip-top and good to go. I just don't love that it becomes an expectation. It's been an awfully long road. Hard to imagine that he only needs a conditioning stint and a few AHL games. Really hard to imagine that.

I have an old Stanley thermos. You pour your Irish coffee in the accompanying screw-on cover cup. That counts, yeah? It's a great thermos, really. I've had it forever. I might have won it in a midget tourney where I didn't give up a goal, not even in warm-ups. Can't remember if that's real or just a dream that I had. I'm pretty sure it's real.🙈🙉🙊☕

Because you can. That time is there, so use it. Same as Vrana. Conditioning, waivers to give him more time. I'm not quite sure why folks expect Kylington to be right back on the roster. I'm not saying it can't happen, just that I'd be extremely surprised. Don't understand why it is becoming an expectation.

I expect that he'll go through waivers and will clear. Similar to Vrana in Detroit. No one is claiming a troubled player that the team is working with.

I really don't suspect there is any form of fast-tracking to get him on the big club. I'd be quite shocked to see him in the NHL any time soon. Certainly have to wonder if he's pushing it to get to another contract.

News! Likely belongs in the Wranglers thread, but... https://calgaryherald.com/sports/hockey/nhl/calgary-flames/calgary-wranglers/oliver-kylington-ready-to-return-to-game-action-with-flames-farm-team

Not without a whole bunch of mojo with Sharky and a C.

Hosting the Oilers Wednesday, don't Blockchain this up!! Modest 3 game winning streak, but still haven't really gotten back on track since the injury torments. Just 5-5 in the past 10 including the modest streak. Oilers in on a 7 game heater. The Wings used to not take many penalties. Hopefully the shine comes back, but the D...again. Near the top of the league for O-stats from the D and near the bottom for D stats. I'm sure everyone's aware of how I despise Dmen that hide their Satoshi Nakamoto D play behind O stats. Ghostisbehere, Petry... Just beat the Oilers. Score early, score often, don't sit back at any point in the 3rd, that's when they really push hard. Seider, just do your usual and stare right at 97's chest. I absolutely love Seider for that. They teach Dmen that when they're, like, 6. It seems most have long forgotten about it. LOOK AT THE MAN, NOT THE PUCK. Drives me nuts...don't Blockchaining look down.

That was more in a, "look at the roster stats" sense.lol There is nothing pretty here, just a surprise that we're actually flirting with .500. Will we even have four 20 goal-scorers?

Yes. He was never meant to be on the 4th line. He's playing himself out of the NHL. Pospisil became an instant upgrade over him should speak volumes. Mangiapane away from Backlund and Coleman is like taking his soother away so he sucks at everything else. Remove Zary and Pospisil and that's how we started the year. Dube's been a devastating disappointment and Mangiapane has completely handcuffed our ability to change our lines. So...we acquire Sharangovich because we want to be uptempo...great. All that accomplished was waiting 20 games for him to slow his pace down to fit on this roster. Don't have a PP quarterback, apparently can't watch almost every other team in the league moving the puck quickly on the PP with great effectiveness. In preseason, Sharky was one touch passing everything on the PP. Undoubtedly because that's how NJ does it. Can't do that with Calgary, nobody is capable of that. Don't even get me started on this zone defence that plays too deep, almost zero gap control, and leads to an innate ability to turn pucks over at their own blueline. No one seems to be quite sure who they're supposed to be covering....still.

I'm interested to see what picks we acquire beyond our 16th.😭 I'm thinking around 10 though. A LOT of teams are better than us. Stats aren't lying. Or prospects/young NHLers of course. It would be nice to add a high IQ player. Jakub Pelletier would be a nice target.🤪 The team is one thing, but losing prime development time with him and Poirier is a whole 'nother great big drag. We'll be needing more than draft picks though. Back to being active in FA no doubt. It would be nice to finally get past 2 years of being the C of Red-headed stepchild. I still can't believe Detroit's 2nd half and march to the Cup this year.

2020 could yet be a productive draft yet, considering most didn't play much hockey in 2020 for development. Solovyov did, and Poirier a bit less, so should realistically be ahead of the curve. Although Poirier is now losing that development time. Zary and Kuz played less, and each between 3 different teams, Kerins pretty much not at all. Hoping Kerins can be as effective as Zary once he adds muscle and experience (& injury-free).

Took awhile, but he's recently back in Liiga with Tappara. Here's his recent history, courtesy of Flashscore:

I always enjoy SMAHT's rankings. Usually pretty balanced. https://smahtscouting.com/2023/12/24/preliminary-2024-nhl-draft-rankings/ edit Having said that, I also will go on record as not loving taking the guy they had at 72 last year, that early. But I think we may have gotten a steal on their 46th oa. https://smahtscouting.com/2023/05/28/final-2023-nhl-draft-rankings/

We always have the fallback of, "yeah everybody, we don't have Bedard, Fantilli and Benson. Our best eligible players are in the NHL". lol Honzek up to 3GP, a goal in each and an assist for 4pts. Playing 2nd line, not 3rd as I'd surmised earlier. Should be a fun game on the 31st vs US for 1st.