ABC923

Some quick updates here. Forwards Since being returned from the Flames, Linden Vey has really lit up the score sheet. He has now catapulted himself into a 4-way tie for the team lead in points with 12. Morgan Klimchuk has slowed down his torrid pace from earlier in the season, but also has 12 points. Poirier has continued to struggle with scoring, and has the second lowest shooting percentage for forwards on the team at 5.3%. That said, he is playing with an edge and has racked up 25 PIMs, behind only Bollig and Lomberg. He also is starting to accumulate assists, tied for 3rd on the team with 7. Vey: 11 Games, 5 Goals, 7 Assists Klimchuk: 14 Games, 5 Goals, 7 Assists Mangiapane: 14 Games, 5 Goals, 7 Assists Jankowski: 13 Games, 3 Goals, 9 Assists Also of note, Brandon Bollig has found a scoring touch in the AHL, has a nice point streak going and is tied for the team lead in goals with 5. Defense: Andersson and Kylington continue to have solid seasons and lead the way for this team on the back end. Andersson is coming off back to back games with a goal, and leads the team in points from the defense. Wotherspoon is having a decent season so far, and Morrison is struggling. Andersson: 15 Games, 2 Goals, 8 Assists, +7 Kylington: 15 Games, 2 Goals, 6 Assists, +7 Wotherspoon: 15 Games, 1 Goal, 5 Assists, +8 Morrison: 15 Games, 1 Goal, 0 Assists, -7 Goal: Probably one of the nicer surprises so far this season is the play of David Rittich. He has an excellent few games last week, and even though his record stands at 3-3, his personal numbers are outstanding. Gilles on the other hand has struggled at times with consistency. Gilles: 5-2 Record, 3.12 GAA, 0.896 SV% Rittich: 3-3 Record, 1.67 GAA, 0.937 SV%, 2 Shut outs.

Same situation as Grossman really. Team tried to send him down, and he decided he had better options than playing for an AHL salary. End result is both sides part ways.

After a big couple of games, time for another update. Your team leaders so far this season are: Points: Kilmchuk (10), Jankowski (10), Mangiapane (9), Vey (9), Frattin (8) Goals: Klimchuk (5), Mangiapane (4), Shinkaruk (4), Frattin (4) Assists: Jankowski (7), Vey (6), Anderson (6), Klimchuk (5), Mangiapane (5), Kylington (5) +/-: Kylington (10), Klimchuk (9), Hathaway (5), Shinkaruk (5) PIM: Bollig (31), Lomberg (24), Morrisson (10), Hathaway (8) Shots: Frattin (25), Poirier (22), Mangiapane (20), Jankowski (19), Vey (19), Hathaway (19) Gilles (only goalie to play more than once): 2.98 GAA, 0.901 Sv%, 4 wins in 7 games. Hurt again, out short term. Some takeaways so far: -The heat are offensive powerhouses, racking up a ton of goals (37 in just 8 games). -Klimchuk is the surprise of the season, lighting the lamp more than anyone else while also carrying a great +/-. We should expect him to regress a bit when it comes to scoring, as his shooting percentage is 35%. -Kylington is having an impressive year, leading the team in plus/minus. He also is contributing offensively, which is nice to see. -Jankowski is having a pretty big impact as a playmaking centre so far. Great to see in his first year as a pro. -Poirier has put up a respectable 6 points in 8 games, but is shooting a lot. Hope to see the goals start to go in for him -Didn't expect Frattin to have the impact he has, but he's been one of the more productive skaters. Same goes for Vey.

Flames D ranked According to: P/60 (5v5): Hamilton, Jokipakka, Engelland, Wideman, Giordano, Brodie Corsi% (5v5): Hamilton (51.7), Wideman (48.5), Engelland (48), Giordano (47.3), Jokipakka (46.7), Brodie (45.5) D-Zone Starts (5v5): Brodie, Hamilton, Engelland, Jokipakka, Giordano, Wideman O-Zone Starts (5v5): Wideman, Giordano, Jokipakka, Brodie, Hamilton, Engelland +/-: Engelland (+4), Wideman (+4), Jokipakka (+2), Hamilton (+1), Giordano (-1), Brodie (-8) Points: Hamilton (6), Giordano (5), Wideman (4), Jokipakka (4), Engelland (2), Brodie (2) TOI per game: Giordano, Brodie, Wideman, Engelland, Hamilton, Jokipakka Some interesting conclusions can be made here. First off, there is a case to be made that Hamilton is our best defender this year. He clearly leads in offensive stats and drives possession better than anyone else at this juncture, all while having the second fewest O-zone starts (by percentage) and the second most D-zone starts (again by percentage. Arguably he should be getting more ice time. Second: Engelland is having a very good season. He leads the team in plus-minus, holds his own in possession, and is generally deployed in a defensive role. For what he is, we really can't ask for more. Third: Despite everything, Wideman is actually fairing better than most. While only Hamilton has a positive corsi, Wideman appears to be holding out just fine. He is tied for the lead in plus-minus, and is producing some points. That said, he has the most favourable zone starts on the team. Fourth: While both Gio and Brodie are off to bad starts, Brodie's is much worse. He produces the fewest points, is an anchor on possession this year, and has a team worst +/- (and not even close to the next worst at his position). He has some of the least favourable zone starts on the team, but he really needs to do better. Finally, on a more positive note, our total defense as a whole is +4 (Kulak is +2, Grossman -1), which indicates that as a team, we are actually doing alright 5v5. If we can even become average at special teams we might just win a few more games.

Based on overall ice time, Engelland is our number 3 defenseman. In terms of average ice time, our depth chart goes like this: Gio-Brodie-Wideman-Engelland-Hamilton-Jokipakka-Kulak-Grossman. I personally rank Engelland ahead of Wideman because he plays every game, Wideman does not. Hamilton is probably our number 4 at the moment, but splits his time between our middle and bottom pairing. As for retooling, I think that ship has sailed for this year. Next season we have Wideman, Engelland, Grossman all finished, so that in itself provides some opportunity to retool. Hopefully by then Kulak will have emerged fully. I would seriously consider trading Giordano if possible, as I think his value is still pretty high. I don't want to trade Brodie, and I think we would not get good value from trading Hamilton. Shattenkirk is a free agent next season, and while I would be shocked if we landed him we should at least make a pitch.

Our defense is just a couple grades above a garbage fire this year. We need to seriously retool it. When Engelland is your number 3 guy, there is a problem.

Klimchuk is definitely the surprise of the season so far, not just with 8 points in 5 games but also leading the team with a plus 8 rating. But there are plenty of other positives too. Jankowski continues to put up points (7 in 6 games), and Shinkaruk scored again the other night (4G, 2A in 6 games). Other players have also surprised with their performances, most notably Anderson (6A) and Colby Robak (5A and plus 8) (both defenseman). Things seem to be looking up in Stockton this year.

Quick update after 3 games. Gilles: 2-0-1, 1.64 GAA, .944 S%. Awesome so far. Jankowski: 1G, 3A, 4P. Team Points leader so far, which is encouraging. Skinkaruk: Tied with Poirier for most shots so far at 10. Difference is Shinkaruk has 2 goals, and leads the team in shooting %. Mangiapane: 1G, 2A. Tied for second in Points along with D-Man Colby Robak Robak: 3A, +3 Rating, Tied for most PIM with 4 Kylington: 2 Points, leads the team with a +4 rating, Tied for most PIM with 4 Kanzig: Assigned to Adirondak.

It's such a shame that Poirier hasn't panned out as he appeared. That injury really derailed him a couple years back; prior to that he was a hard nosed, in your face, play on the edge kind of guy with the potential to score. If he could have kept that edge, we might have seen him up with the club this year in place of a guy like Chiasson.

Cam Talbot has not been excellent, at best he has been okay. He boasts a .902 save percentage (28th out of 58) and a 3.32 GAA (40th out of 58), hardly stellar numbers. The oilers are only 4-1-0 because they boast the leagues best offense, scoring 4 goals per game, which is in part due to having the most dynamic offensive player in the league since Crosby and Ovi first started.

I think Hamilton is greatly underappreciated here. Not just by fans, but by coaching staff as well. By many statistical measures he is one off our best, including points per 60 and CF%, all while playing with a revolving door of partners of lesser caliber. Who was his most common partner last year? I think it was Russell, who we all know was a possession anchor last year. So lets give him a bit of slack here. He may not be flashy, but he is very good on both sides of the puck, will hopefully have a better partner this year with Jokipakka, and is still pretty young.

I actually think dougie's been our best d-man so far this season. He's taken more penalties than he should, but he does a lot of good things out there. I don't notice him cough up the puck as often as Gio or Brodie have this year, and he's generally well positioned. Not as physical as you would like, but he never has been. Did you know he leads the team in shots on goal (and it isn't even close)? I like him paired with Jokipakka, for the most part they make a good second pairing.

I actually think dougie's been our best d-man so far this season. He's taken more penalties than he should, but he does a lot of good things out there. I don't notice him cough up the puck as often as Gio or Brodie have this year, and he's generally well positioned. Not as physical as you would like, but he never has been. Did you know he leads the team in shots on goal (and it isn't even close)? I like him paired with Jokipakka, for the most part they make a good second pairing.

The clean-up is no small task and will take careful planning and execution. Funding must be established first, as well as an estimate for the cost and how much can be recuperated from what remains of the responsible parties. It has to be done right; if we start digging around willy-nilly we may make the problem worse. Containment may in fact be the best option to prevent widespread contamination of the bow. It isn't as simple as throwing dollars at it, and even if it was we are talking about costs of probably 100-200 dollars per albertan, or 250-500 dollars per Calgarian. Not cheap stuff.

These conversations are a bit different than you are portraying. It's more like this.Tenant: Hi, your house is too old. Can you build a new one so I can rent it from you? I'll even chip in a bit for you. Landlord: Well, maybe, but I'm a bit short right now. How much are you willing to pitch in? Tenant: Oh, about 20%. But I do want some benefits for doing so. Landlord: I guess that makes some sense. You want a break on rent? Tenant: That would be great! I think maybe free rent for the next 25 years or so seems fair. Landlord: But isn't that roughly equal to your 20% investment? How am I supposed to make money? Tenant: Don't worry, lots of other people will rent the house when I'm not home, they will pay. I'll even manage it for you. Landlord: well that sounds ok I guess. How much will that bring in? Tenant: Lots, don't worry. I will of course charge a small fee for my services in running the place. Landlord: I guess that's fair. What's your fee? Tenant: Should be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 90% of all revenues. Oh, and I want the money from selling the naming rights. Landlord: This sounds more like you own the building I spent 800 million on. How exactly do I benefit here? Tenant: Your house is going to be so awesome, trust me. Everyone will want to build houses around it just to be close, and since you own all the land you can charge them for it. Landlord: But then I will also have to build roads for them, and provide parking spaces and infrastructure for them. Besides, I own a lot of land and people already pay me to build on it. Wouldn't this just shift the investment from one spot to another? Tenant: Maybe, but I'm sure some new people will come too, it will be great. Besides, after 25 years I will start paying rent again, and you will make so much money it'll be sick! Landlord: Isn't the current house like, 30 years old right now? Won't you just me to build a new one in 25-30 years again? Tenant: Man, you just don't get it. If you don't want my awesome offer, I guess that's fine. I'm sure I can find someone else with a new house to live in, then you'll just have an empty house with no one living in it... Landlord:...

Not sure I agree about that. While Hiller did win the last two, Ramo was playing pretty well before he was puking in the laundry room. Now that he is recovered, it makes some sense to throw him back out there. Didn't see the ladt game though, so I guess I can't comment on Hiller's performance.

I guess my gut reaction is negative because of the dollars involved and the absolute fleecing of Edmonton by Katz. Having thought about it, I would support the city cleaning up the area and maybe building the field house (not really sure what that will look like). After that, beyond giving the flames tax incentives to build the complex, I would rather not contribute to the rest of the costs. This is a business venture, and the business should shoulder the risk as they will reap the greatest financial benefits.

Devil's in the details. Edmonton technically owns their new arena, but Katz gets the naming rights, almost all ticket revenue for all events (not just oilers games), and the only money he has to put up is rent (often reported as his contribution to the arena project, effectively meaning the oilers play there for free for 35 years). If these big arena deals made financial sense, why do they need our money anyway?

I'll grant you that McMahon is not the greatest, but I disagree about the dome. Do we really want to drop a billion dollars just so the washrooms are a bit bigger with nicer tvs above the urinals? And lets not kid ourselves, these numbers are likely a low ball estimate for the cost. While we are at it, lets break down how that funding is laid out. Ticket tax: In other words, higher ticket prices. Already costs an arm and a leg to go to a game, now I will have to drop a part of my torso too. Community Dev Levy: This is actually a tax. A tax the city would otherwise put toward general revenue, which they will instead give to the flames. Doing this comes with an opportunity cost. This is city money, it's just disguised as something else. Direct Funding: Slated at 250 million, this does not include 200-300 million remediation cost or the inevitable cost overurns that will probably be on the city. Tack on about 150-200 million more for that eventuality. How many shelters could be built? Schools? Community centres and arenas? As for world class facilities being a good investment, how often do these mega projects ever pay for themselves? I would recommend watching John Oliver's bit on stadiums for those who think stadiums provide sufficient economic and social spin offs for cities.

I'm totally in favour of cleaning up the area. It has to be done at some point, and the costs are unlikely to shrink any time soon. Beyond that I don't want a single tax dollar going toward this project. We already have a perfectly decent arena, and McMahon stadium is still fine for football. Why should the city shell out 3/4 of the project funding PLUS cleanup so a bunch of rich guys can make even more money?

I agree, our top four are fine. But what if one of them goes down? It would be nice to have another 4/5 guy on the roster who can step up. As it stands now, Smid/engelland/diaz are a terrifying option to play top 4 role if needed.