CheersMan

Now might be a good time to cut bait with a few of these underperforming Dmen, as a few here have been preaching. Trade them now while they have a pulse, get some more kids in here, or maybe some draft picks in return. We could throw Grat’s in to sweeten the deal too. We could bring up a few Dmen from ADDY to replace them. We could shelter them all and give them all favourable zone starts. LMAO! LMAO!

Agreed. If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

Well…. we outshot the Habs 38-19 and lost 2-1 in the SO. We were 0/7 on the power play. Hartley had 3 dmen on the PP atleast once to generate offense. I don’t think you can blame the defense on this one. Hey, someone has to stand up for defense, sadly, most here want to trade half of them away.

Most of the grumblings here have been about 3 Dmen, Wideman, Smid and Engelland. Let’s not forget how they all got here. ----------- Wideman was acquired for cash, no players exchanged. ----------- Smid was acquired via trade for Horak, a small forward who had his look here but was never going to make this team. Horak couldn’t make the team to the north either and is presently playing in the KHL. ---------- Engelland was acquired for cash, no players exchanged. ----------- That’s 3 NHL caliber Dmen who were acquired without giving up significant players or prospects, only cash. The amount of cash should not matter because we presently have oodles of cap space and will have for the foreseeable future. ---------------- For those of you who look at this as failure because we were forced to bring in hired help rather than build from within, don’t forget about our home grown Gio and Brodie. -------------- All the while, the Flames were drafting 9 Dmen over the last 3 years. This would seem like a reasonable effort in an attempt to keep our cupboards full with potential Dmen. --------------- We could have used our last two 1st picks and drafted Dmen with higher upside but that would have been at the expense of Monahan and Bennett. --------------- Tim Erikson, our 1st pick in 09 refused to sign with the Flames which never helped either. -------------- People say “Trade Wideman”. I’ll ask “For What”? Do you think you’re going to get a young grade A prospect dman back? If we could, I’d be all for it, but I’m thinking we would end up with something less. ------------- So, there you have it. We are where we are with the defense and IMO it’s not that bad.

Defense starts in net. Pretty solid duo. Hiller has been an upgrade from Berra. Ramo carrying on from where he left off last year, maybe better. Gio and Brodie, pretty solid 1st pairing, starting to get the league wide respect they deserve. Wideman and Russell, pretty solid 2nd pairing. Are the whispers starting? Are they becoming one of the best second pairing D in the league? It would be awesome if we started hearing that in the mainstream soon. Don’t look now but today these 4 Dmen are in the top 12 point producing Dmen in the NHL. There combined plus/minus is a respectable +15 as well. As Hartley would say “SSHHHhhh, this will be our little secret”. Smid and Englland, 3rd pairing, tough, crashing, banging, fighting, shot blocking type Dmen that have a purpose.

Or is it the offense? Many people have been crapping on the Flames D recently, fairly or unfairly. We’re only 9 games in, BUT 9 games is a significant chunk (11%) of the season and to the surprise of many, we have only lost 3 games thus far. We're getting tremendous goaltending, but Hartley has this team playing entertaining, exciting and winning hockey. So let’s talk about the D. What do you like? What do you dislike? Below is a snap shot of the top point producers thus far for the Flames.

Your right! Straight black. He seems to be a pretty modest guy, not flashy. I think some Flames/Fire would look great on his mask.

Okay, that's it! I've seen enough! I've been biting my tongue long enough but no more. It's been 3 months now. It's time! It's time for Hiller to dawn some bad checking from behind mask! This solid red mask has to go.

I'll 3rd that. Right now Ramo is the guy, Ortio needs more games played in the A. He's not going to improve playing backup on the big team. Flames have already said this is the mandate. We need to find a backup that will push Ramo, right now we don't have that guy.

Over the last couple of season JMac has filled the need as backup goaltender for the Flames. But let’s face it, he has had his 34th bday and is on the tail end of his career. The culture Hartley has created with this team is all about competition at every position including goal. JMac has proven he can win, but is he the guy to push Ramo to the next level? As previous posters have mentioned, there could be several goaltenders available that would provide more competition for Ramo. Heck, maybe one can even steal Ramo’s job, but I doubt JMac will steal it. As Burkie says, the RB is all about baby steps, I think this is time to make a step and improve our goaltending situation.

Bingo! That's how I seen it as well. Berra did get a block of 10 games or so but he was playing well at the time. He was also lights out in the shootout, unbeatable in fact. Ramo got his opportunity again mid Feb and he never gave it back.

Ramo was signed for two years. Berra was to become a UFA at seasons end. The Flames leaned on Berra to learn what they had in him. Hence Berra is gone.

The Flames had a four goaltender tryout this year. Ramo emerged as the best goaltender amongst the four. Burke only said the obvious, Ramo has earned the starting position next year, which I agree with. Ramo finished the year with a winning record at 2 games above 0.50 plus a 0.911 SV%, which is very respectable for a 27th placed team. MacDonald at 34 yrs is obviously not our future, as a result he was only given 9 starts in year one of the RB, but he too finished with a winning record. Combined, these two goaltenders finished with a winning record on a 27th placed team. IMO our goaltending is in decent hands going into year 2 of a RB. MacDonald however is a UFA, we’ll have to wait and see how that plays out. Hartley's philosophy is that the hot goaltender plays regardless of the name and number on the back, just like all positions.

Hartley has handled Ramo beautifully this year. He has allowed him to adapt to the NHL slowly but in a competitive environment. Every position on this team has been a competition, if you want it then you have to earn it! Ramo has earned that job and his teammates look relaxed and comfortable when he's in net. We need to look no further for our future #1 goaltender, Ramo is here and his backups are here as well. Thanks Jay!