jjgallow
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Everything posted by jjgallow
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Well, and the ever-optimist that I am, I don't expect it to continue (sorry). But... I am pretty excited that Ortio got another shutout and, sans a few bad early games, is shaping up to be one of the AHL's top goaltenders for the 2nd year in a row! And Jon Gillies with three recent shutouts.....that's 5 shutouts already between our two top goaltending prospects! http://www.uscho.com/stats/player/mid,21374/jon-gillies/
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Shutouts recently from Ramo, Gillies, and Ortio. Impressive all around.
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Ortio's coming around now. He had me worried too. But he's had four very solid games in a row now, and just recorded his first shutout: http://theahl.com/stats/gamebygame.php?id=4090 I think we're in good shape again. I kind of wonder if the Hiller signing affected him. But in any case, he's back where he was and as long as he keeps doing what he's doing he'll be up on the leaderboard soon enough.
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Totally agree. Except for Macdonald? Gillies now has three solid games in a row. Some exceptional, actually. It'll take a few more weeks of that to get him back on top of the leaderboard, but it looks like he still has a good season ahead of him: http://www.uscho.com/stats/player/mid,21374/jon-gillies/ Ortio.... has two okay games in now. http://theahl.com/stats/gamebygame.php?id=4090 It looks like Gillies had a momentary lapse, whereas Ortio may have really started the season a step back, and is improving quickly but isn't yet where he was last year. I'm sure there are side-stories to both we'll never hear about. I am quite sure that their confidence both took a hit in the offseason. Ortio by the signing of Hiller, and Gillies by the lack of signing altogether. But whatever the case, Gillies is coming around quickly and Ortio is headed in the right direction as well.
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Nice to see Ortio getting a solid performance over the weekend. Hopefully he's turning a corner and we can get both Ortio and Gillies back to where they should be. http://theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1013620
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I gotta be honest....Ramo is a backup goaltender at best. Hiller is likely going to be our starter for the rest of the season, and while I've always liked him, he has been on the decline career-wise. Obviously, not during the last few games. wow. If Hiller were to somehow re-invent himself and give us another 5-8 years of starter-quality play, then we'd really have something. I'm not holding my breath, however. Usually once a decline starts, it doesn't stop. What's of more interest to me, at least, is Ortio and Gillies. After horrendous starts from both of them, Gillies looks to be coming around with a couple strong wins: http://www.uscho.com/stats/player/mid,21374/jon-gillies Really glad to see this, I hope he keeps it up and the first few games can become a forgotten bump in the road. Ortio probably plays tonight. I've got my fingers crossed. His poor play has been oddly sustained over a number of games. Really strange, hope he gets going again soon.
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Okay, then perhaps something has changed from last year. To be honest, I've barely seen any games this year as I've been pretty busy. Hoping November is better. If Brodie's defense is up, then yes, that's the discrepancy. I'm not expecting Wideman to get traded either right now (and I'd also support it). But...what's this about us in a playoff hunt? We've won 5 games out of 11 played. Is this a new kind of math? Or just going by current standings? We're already out of the playoffs with pre-injury play and we're over-achieving. This is not going to be a pretty year. I suppose that if we won out next couple games, we would technically be in the playoff hunt. But that is both unlikly, and as well as a short-lived projection. If anything, out current projection (which has us out of the playoffs) is flattering. I agree, they won't. They probably should, but they won't. They will wait to the deadline. It will depend on his health and performance at that time, whether he still has value.
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Well maybe I am. kehatch cannot be free of bias due to a certain hockey pool lol. But he's clearly not the only one who thinks so. Brodie has 11 goals in his entire NHL career. Now consider that his strongest asset is offense. His D is okay but definitely questionable, at the least, for top 4. To me, D is pretty important. Especially for D. But if he's that good, then awesome. Even with that, D is still our biggest shortcoming in terms of the rebuild. I support the talk on here of trading Wideman for a D prospect.
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Soooo... Anybody know what's up with Gillies and Ortio? I've got patience. But their combined performances are not exactly what we'd hoped for.
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Hmm. I dunno. Do you honestly think he'd be able to dislodge one of Muzzin, Martinez, or Regher? I can see some making the arguement for him dislodging Regher. I would disagree. But even then, I feel like they have way better talent who would dislodge Regehr before giving Brodie a chance. Honestly I don't think they'd have room for him in the top 4. And I think they have better, younger talent knocking on the door. I think it would be tough for Brodie on a contender's top 4. Almost good enough, but not quite. Almost young enough for the team to have patience. But not quite. That being said, he is still young enough to get better. I do think it is possible for him to be a solid second-liner on a contending team if he continues to improve. I don't see him a a first-liner on a contender. Which is fine, it's just something the Flames need to address soon.
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Thanks kehatch, Maybe I am being a little hard on Brodie. I'm on the fence. Here's the thing: When we're thinking of a rebuild, I feel we should think in terms of where the players will project on a contender. So when I project Brodie out, I'm thinking more of where he would fit in on the LA Kings roster, than how he fit in here last year.
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It's been a great start to the season and fun to watch, but I think it needs to be said that, from a rebuild perspective, we have major holes at defense. #1 reason: Gio and Wideman really won't be in their prime (if they're even in the NHL) for the best years of the rebuild. My guess is Wideman will have retired, and Gio might be a heart-and-soul 2nd or 3rd string defenseman by that time. #2 reason: We're over-achieving, which is common for a young team a the beginning of the year. IMHO, Gio is our only true first-string defenseman. Wideman, Russell, and Brodie are all currently over-achieving. And that's great. But we should temper our expectations a bit. If Brodie and/or Russell can continue their excellent play, they may solidify themselves as true second-line defencemen. Playing the odds, I think we can expect that one of Brodie or Russell will emerge as a strong second-string defenseman and still be in their prime for the peak years of our rebuild. Which means, that in our top four positions, we can say we have One of the four covered. Maybe two, if we're really, really lucky. But IMHO, we are still missing two first-string defensive prospects and this is probably the organization's greatest pressing need to solidify the success of the rebuild.
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Well that's certainly the color of the kool-aid right now. IMHO, two back ups don't make a starter. And two backups definitely don't make two starters. But it'll do for next year. After all, it's a crucial draft year for our rebuild. Probably the most crucial.
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That is correct. I said we needed a real starter. And the Flames attempted to get one in Jonas Hiller, who is effectively our starter now. Sure, I imagine there will be much debate about this. In fact I don't even agree with it. But he is.
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I gotta say, I don't think anyone on these boards has pumped Ortio more than me. But....I still don't see him as our bonafide future. I see it as a tie between him and Gillies. An extremely close tie, that, if anythying, Gillies might have the edge on right now. Gillies had a bad month. So what. Ortio had a rough start in the AHL a few years back. So what. I really think there is a tendancy here, especially within the organization, to judge young goalies by their worst games. Judging Gillies and Ortio at their best, I think we have to call our goalie future promising, but undecided at this point.
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Well I'm glad Somebody caught it, lol. I don't actually like debating as much as I end up doing. I agree 100%. Especially on your last sentence. Our biggest concern now and in the future is at D.
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kehatch, why did I bring Ramo up? Because Ortio's .891 was described as not NHL quality (even as a backup). So I compared their first 9 games. Ortio won. People got upset. The point is getting lost over emotional semantics. I have no interest in spending significant time debating the value of .911 on this team. I'm simply asking why .911 is starter material and .891 is not NHL quality. I'm simply asking why we give a 26 year old a full season's patience and believe he will continue to improve each year, when a 22 year old has an easier and more successful time than him breaking into the league. Just asking. I don't have "my guys". I ask questions about performance and it upsets people.
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On a Really bad team maybe (and I'm talking about his best months). Like nowhere near the playoffs. Is it fair to call those starter numbers? Maybe it's semantics but to me that's not a starter. I think an arguement could be made either way. My arguement would just win, is all Keep in mind we only discuss Ramo's save percentage to be fair to him and give him the benefit of the doubt. The GAA is scary bad, and consistent from season's start to finish. Honestly 9 games is not enough to claim there's a trend. In Ortio's 8th game he was .929.
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er.....then why is Ramo our starter at .911? Compare Ortio's first 9 games to Ramo's: http://flames.nhl.com/club/player.htm?id=8471403&season=20132014&view=gamelog http://flames.nhl.com/club/player.htm?id=8475299&season=20132014&view=gamelog Ortio was pulled for one game, Ramo was pulled for two games. Ortio: .891 Ramo: .884 None of these stats, including the .911, are anywhere near good enough for us to be talking about true starters. We don't have a starter right now. We have at least two goalies who could develop into them. And I fail to see why we think Ramo is going to come in stronger at training camp than Ortio. Ramo is well past his development years. There is Every possibility that Ortio comes into training camp twice as good as he finished last year.
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Gillies had a couple bad months in Dec/Jan and, like kehatch aludes to, may have been injury related. He returned to form in Feb/March. 6 straight wins, followed by one loss and then a shutout. http://www.uscho.com/stats/player/mid,21374/jon-gillies/ On that team, highly impressive. Like kehatch says...for better or worse, it's a moot point now for next season (I would question what he has left to learn in US College). Long-term, we have every reason to be excited about this kid.
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Thanks, I didn't know that. The article doesn't mention Ortio, though. Don' you think that will be a training camp decision? Calgary's confirmed this?
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Has he? I thought Burke had just speculated that they wouldn't sign him yet? I didn't put too much stock into that because we have a new GM now and much has changed. If he's committed, then I would say our hole should be on the Heat. Ortio has played many years of AHL-level hockey already. He needs to learn the NHL and he's ready, imho. Why not just pick up a young guy to start for the Heat? It's the one position where there's always ample undrafted talent. Probably due to the longer development. Melvin Nyffeler http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=85309 Joachim Svenson http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=73407
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.....I have to weigh in, and this won't be a popular post. IMHO we don't need a backup. We have one in Ramo. We need a starting goaltender. A young starting goaltender that can carry us for the next 10 years. Between Gillies and Ortio, odds are reasonable that we will have one. Now we need to do something we're not used to, having lived through the Kipper era: Play them. (Ortios sharing minutes with Ramo, Gillies....I'd like to see him start for the Heat) It may not be pretty. But the reallity is that next year just isn't going to be pretty. The more we develop them, the sooner we get where we need to be.
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Since we're going off one-game assessments... http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/2014/3/28/5559152/ncaa-hockey-tournament-east-regional-providence-quinnipiac-recap-jon-gillies-nate-leaman Any wraparounds that bothered anyone in this game?
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I did not see any goals which should never go in. The wraparound itself can't happen like that, imho. Does Gillies have some awkward moments with his huge frame? Yes. But IMHO, the best place for him to work on that is with the Heat, where he will receive the professional development he needs. He could have some tough decisions ahead of him, for sure. Could he get punted off the Heat and end up in the ECHL? It's a risk. But so is playing in a league/team that has no experience developing the kind of lateral movement a goalie his size needs.
