ABC923

I would be surprised. He isn't any better than Leivo or anyone else we have currently.

My expectation is that Sutter will identify where the problems in the roster are this season, and barring a miraculous turnaround in play we will see at least one major piece moved in the offseason if not more. It's not going to be easy, as our contract structure suggests that next season is the last window for this core, with Johnny, Tkachuk and Gio's contracts all coming due (not to mention Mangiapane as well). The following season it is Monahan and Lucic (and maybe Tkachuk again), then Backlund, Lindholm, Hanifin and Tanev the following year. So the question is, can we win with this group, not just can we be a playoff team. If the answer is no, then we need to decide when our next window is. Do we trade draft picks and offload a guy like Bennett to go for it in Johnny's last season before UFA? If not, we have to trade him unless he's happy to sign here this summer. Is it the following year? If not, maybe it's best to move on from Monahan too. Those two guys could bring back some nice young assets this offseason who may be ready to be impact players in 2023-24. That season will see Lucic come off the books, so we will have plenty of capspace to pay players like Tkachuk, and this is the year I would personally look for us to be good again. Of course, that's beyond Sutter's current contract, and I don't get the sense he's looking to be a development coach...

This year's draft is likely to be a bit of a crap shoot, with significantly shortened seasons (at least in NA) over which to evaluate players. My prediction is that there will be a higher rate of busts in the first round than usual, along with a higher rate of hits in later rounds.

You're probably right. I'm still hoping for some kind of retool at least, I'm not sold that Sutter can turn this ship around with the current roster.

Huh. Not sure what I think about that. On the one hand, it means this isn’t strictly a save the season move. On the other, it seems a bit panicked to do this now, and 3 years may have been the price we had to pay for Sutter now. I really hope that we trade Gaudreau this offseason. He’s the opposite of a Sutter player, and there’s no way he resigns here to play under him. If I’m putting on my optimist hat, this move signals the coming rebuild. Sutter is a very solid, defense first, work hard coach. He gets a lot out of power forwards and modest skill players, but typically stifles high skill players. Not a bad choice for young players learning to play the game right.

Sam is definitely a Sutter style player. It could be a real boon for him.

It is desperation, but our coach options were limited. If we were determined to change coaches, we needed someone already in Canada. Daryl is probably the best available under those circumstances.

And so the tenure of the Flames 18th head coach comes to an end. I wish Ward the best in his future endeavours.

Wow, I wonder if management reads these boards after all! I feel bad seeing this after a win, but at least it shows Tre has seen enough. We’ll see how Sutter does though. He’s an old school, crash and bang coach. Not sure this is a Sutter team.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying I wish we still had Hartley, that he was a good coach, or anything like that. Just that the team had an identity that matched the skills they had; we had a quick strike offense with poor puck control and a lackluster defense. We played mostly in our own zone, pushing things to the outside and waiting for the opposition to give up an odd-man rush. We would get outshot and outchanced, but were very dangerous on the rush. It was exciting. Now we are a terrible rush team, we still don't win puck battles or control the play well in the opposition zone and rely on low percentage shots from the point or boards. We can't skate the puck out of our own zone (or just don't). We aren't tough or physical, we don't control the play. We are boring to watch at best, and disasterous at worse.

I miss Hartley hockey. At least it was exciting, and he seemed to know what kind of players we had (skilled passers and shooters that are weak as kittens in the corners).

To me the statement is pretty meaningless. Wouldn’t every GM claim their identity is ‘hard working, skilled, tough to play against, etc?’. It’s a stock answer with no meaning. He may as well have said ‘The team is built to score more goals than their opponents do’.

Don't forget, Bennett missed an entire season for shoulder surgery. Who knows what he might have been otherwise.

Just because we are just under .500 so far doesn’t mean we are going to stay that way. This team is collapsing, if we win 2 games in a row at any point from here on out I will be surprised. I’ll be watching Schneider’s career. He was a guy I was quietly hoping would fall to us in the draft, and was pretty disappointed when he did only for us to trade down. As for in season moves, maybe we trade guys like Ryan or Bennett. I still think JG could move, especially if we agree to retain Salary, and could net us a big return. But the tear down (and that’s what we need imo) will have to wait.

Not sure what there is to say. He failed to shake the core during the off-season the way he needed too. We got saddled with a subpar coach because no one better wanted to come here (imo, especially with the border closed). The team has no leadership, the players don’t like each other, their confidence is non existent. The season is lost, and all that’s left is to tank for last place, which can easily be done by doing nothing, no trades required. There’s no fixing this in season, so what’s the GM gonna say? Ownership probably doesn’t even care this season, as making the playoffs won’t boost the bottom line with no fans in attendance, so they cut their losses by not firing anyone (since they would then have to pay someone else).

Markstrom has played 15 games this season, Talbot only 7. We overworked the guy. Up until his last two games, he was sporting a .924 save percentage through 13, almost the exact same as Talbot currently (.926). I will admit I preferred the thought of signing Talbot to a shorter and cheaper deal than Markstrom for cap reasons, but to suggest we would be ahead of where we are with Talbot instead of Markstrom is kinda silly.

I mostly agree. I think we could make one big in season trade as part of a rebuild (JG would possibly fetch more as the acquiring team gets two playoff runs with him now), but the in season market couldn’t absorb more than that. At least losing one core piece increases our odds of finishing at the bottom, and gives us more expansion draft options. The full tear down will have to wait.

There’s been a big problem in the room for years imo. Not sure if it’s Gio and a lack of leadership, Mony and Johnny and their lack of mental toughness, Bennett and Dube and their frustration of usage, etc. We’ve been through a lot of coaches with this group, and while the current HC is questionable, at some point you gotta say it’s the players. That’s why I say blow it up. Maybe don’t trade everybody, but offload at least three pieces. I would probably move Johnny and Mony, as they will bring back good returns. Try to get good young prospects who haven’t broken in yet (Cozens has been mentioned for example). I would also move Backlund, he carries a big salary and his age puts him outside our new window. Run with Lindholm and Bennett as your top 2 centres. We will be bad, but after next season some of our prospects will start breaking in, Gio’s contract ends and we’ll have tons of cap space (more than enough to extend Tkachuk and carry Looch one more season, plus make some moves). We’ll have two high drafts, and if all goes well we will be very competitive in three seasons time.

We are a team whose top players are built for fast strike offence on the rush, with great shots and some excellent passers. What we don’t have are grinders, players who win pucks out of the corners and cause turnovers (exception goes to Mang). So we are playing a dump and chase style, effectively forgoing the rush altogether. Brilliant.

I actually don’t think coach pay was a problem this year. If ownership was that concerned about penny pinching we would have just res-signed Talbot and held off on Tanev. The salary for those two dwarfs whatever you would pay a coach. Unfortunately it may be that nobody wanted to come here. That would be pretty likely for any coach living in the states, as they would be completely unable to see family living down there all season (and no one could come visit them). The fact we waited so long to confirm Ward tells me Tre explored every avenue trying to upgrade the coach.

Interesting how Mtl started so hot, then goes .500 over a 10 game stretch that culminates in a pair of OT losses to the Sens, and the coach gets canned, meanwhile in Calgary...

Gotta agree. Chucky's a shadow of his normal self this season, particularly since the last game against the leafs. He still drives the net from time to time and mucks things up, but he isn't drawing nearly as many penalties or playing with much of an edge at all. This is reflected in his offensive production too, which is way down 5v5. He's saying the right things of course, and I do believe he wants to win, but I genuinely think he is disenchanted with his teammates and doesn't see the point in getting his beak dirty if no one else is going to back him up.

It sure seems like the room is broken. It’s tough, in a normal year maybe you go shoot each other with paintball or something, but this year you’re not even allowed to play a few rounds of CoD in a hotel room together. No team bonding, so problems can fester. I wouldn’t be shocked if we start hearing a few more trade requests soon, Tkachuk seems checked out for instance.

I’d like to see Johnny and Mony shipped out. They are mentally weak it seems, and Monahan is en route to a repeat of last year. The forward core is built around them, and our lack of team cohesion stems from that imo. I would look at tanking the next two seasons, so trade those two for bad contracts on other teams and stockpile draft picks and prospects. Retain salary if you have to, just make sure players you acquire don’t have too many years left. I would even consider trading Johnny to Edm for Neal and just burying Neal in exchange for a 2022 first, Philip Broberg, and another asset. Trade Mony to Vancouver for Brandon Sutter, Hoglander, 2022 1st and maybe a 2nd. That’s just for starters, but if we are going to be bad, then let’s be bad and try again.

Frolik is no longer the player he was. I think he’s currently riding Mtl’s taxi squad. I do miss Hamilton a bit, but seeing as he’s a UFA after this season I don’t miss him too much. I doubt having him over Hanifin and Lindholm would have made us a cup contender this year (or previous years), so we would probably be looking at holding on to him for a playoff run this season (maybe) then losing him for nothing.