Khrox

I was so stoked about that Zagidulin signing. Yeah, he was a 1b on a fairly good KHL team, and goalies tend to look really good in the KHL (because of the style played), but his play and fundamentals reminded me a lot of Rittich as well (all the tools, and the skills, to make the NHL. Maybe not the flashiest, but definitely a good goaltender). Really hoping in a couple years we have a medium-term (I say medium, but like 4-5 years) duo of Big Save Dave and Big Snag Zag in net.

I wouldn't say full on workhorse, but definitely a starters load (60 games or so). That gives him 3 out of every 4. If he starts to falter we can cut him back to 2 out of every 3 or so (or even just 1 out of every 2, if he falters and Talbot heats up at the same time). I don't want to work him quite the way we did Kipper (who was doing 70+ games a year and seemed to just be too tired for playoffs).

Yes, Edmonton wanted Neal because next to McD, it's hard for him not to score 20 (he regularly makes 4th liners 20g players. Look at Chiasson who was a 4th liner here, 3rd liner Dallas, 3rd/4th liner in Ottawa, 4th liner/13th forward in Washington. 1st line and 22 goals in Edmonton). Neal is automatically one of their best wingers (and their best RW). It's hard to see him not stapled to McD and 1st PP. At worst he is playing on second line with Drai (who spends about half the season as 2nd C, the other half 1st LW) or RNH. Both of which are more than capable of doing the heavy lifting so Neal can be the triggerman. I'd be hard pressed to bet against 20g next season for him. In Calgary he was a 3rd/4th line winger, who could be replaced in house. With his 8-10 minutes a night 5v5 and 2-4 minutes on the second PP unit, he realistically wasn't going to score 20g here (and I'd say 15 would be the upper limit with that ice time). And in that much of a limited role, with his lack of physicality and poor defensive play, he doesn't fit that 3rd-4th line player we needed. Lucic on the other hand, fits what we need. A 3rd-4th line winger, who can chip in 20 points and crash and bang. He can kill penalties in emergencies (with how good our defensive forwards are, I'd imagine it'd take multiple injuries or multiple penalties by our PK'ers to ever have him out there), and he can take Neals spot on the 2nd PP in front of the net (and in honestly, if we're parking in front of the net, Lucic probably does better than Neal, I believe Neal should have been a shooter on the 2nd PP, not the net-front presence). Yes Neal probably looks a lot better next year. But for the roles and ice-time Neal vs Lucic would get in Calgary, Lucic fills our needs more. I don't believe it was a good trade. This was a sideways trade at best for Calgary. Toxic contract for Toxic contract. At this point though, Lucic is a Flame, so I'm gonna hope he just comes here, plays his game, and does well for us. If he hits 20-25 points and 200+ hits (which isn't unreasonable. Hathaway lead the team last year with 200, Lucic finished with like 240), he'll replace Neals points and Hathaways hits. And hopefully he has a small breakout next year (most players do recently when leaving Edmonton. Look at Perron, Petry, and Dubnyk for more recent examples).

Gonna quote myself from the HF Flames board on this topic: I definitely went through the stages of grief after hearing about this trade. I did NOT want Lucic here, but, I did not want Neal here either after his efforts. I truly believe Neal will be more likely to bounce back to that 15g+ range though. On the other hand, I do see why we did this. Neal as a third liner vs Lucic as a third liner, who do you think has more success? And in that case, I do feel like Lucic has more overall success in that role. Not happy about this, but Neal wasn't happy here, Lucic WANTS to be here (and has not only talked to Iggy about it, but also Big Ern, Cammi, and a few other former Flames as well). So we got the more effective third liner, and saved some cap space. Whether or not Neal scores 20+ next season, he'll be getting a lot more time on the 1st PP and top 6 in Edmonton. That was playing time he was NEVER going to get in Calgary. Lucic played some top 6 in Edmonton (which is a scary thought), but like Neal, that is playing time he is NEVER going to see here. Is Neal the better top6 talent? Absolutely. But as a bottom 6 guy, Neal is hot garbage. Lucic on the other hand, is actually a serviceable bottom 6 winger. His advanced (sorry, "fake") stats show that he can drive play. If he plays with Ryan (who can also drive play), it could help create a more effective third line. If Bennett plays there as well, I honestly feel like it could be the best third line (assuming you counted the DAG line last year as the 4th line) we've had in a while, and could actually help Bennett's game (I feel like Ryan can help bring out the best in them, while they can kind of split some faceoffs if needed. Lucic on the line means Bennett can actually focus on playing a bit more rather than being the toughest guy on the team). At this point, Lucic is a Flame. I hope he does well. A 10g-15a-25p stat line while being on the ice for more goals than he allows, and I'll be happy (because that's the kind of stat line Neal would have gotten in that same role, and he would have been on ice for a lot more goals against than for). Gonna quote myself on this topic from the HFFlames board:

If we're doing two Czech goalies, I'd make a move for Neuvirth. coming off a an injury, and semi-rough season in Philly (but much like Edmonton, Flyers goalies tend to do well outside the organization, look at Bob). Shouldn't be a big cost to get him, and at worst, gives us someone to push Gillies/Parsons.

Honestly, that Vali-Brodie pairing I think would have some real potential. Especially since Vali plays a game that is reminiscent of Gio, which means that especially with experience, Vali-Brodie should work as a pairing. Also, Fanta has been great. He is like Butler in that he doesn't stand out in really, any way (bad or good). Except unlike Butler, Fanta still does all the small things right that Butler would just not do.

Probably. You forget that even some of Chia's decisions were made for him by Nicholson and the Brain Trust they have back there (including MacTavish, Lowe, etc..). Including that genius Koskinen signing (one of the more recent ones).

It's not that Rieder sucks. It's that he has a career high of 16 goals, 37 points (2 years ago). And Edmonton signed him expecting those numbers. You don't sign 4th liners and expect 15 goals 40 points out of them, you're only gonna disappoint yourself. Especially when the depth of the team is as bad as theirs.

Playoff experience isn't necessarily about "experience" per se. I always figured it was getting used to the second grind. We always talk about how college kids are in for a shock their first and second pro seasons because they go from playing roughly 30 games a year to playing 80 games a year. Now, we have a bunch of guys who are used to playing 80 games a year, now we have to get them used to playing 105 games a year (I go for about 105, because I figure 16-7 on route to the cup win). It's still a big jump. Playoff experience to me, is experience in that extra time. That is still an extra 6-8 weeks of games and practices. That's an extra 6-8 weeks of flights and hotels. That's where that playoff experience comes in. Also, credit to the development staff (and Huska) on Andersson. Despite conditioning issues, they have turned him into a guy who looks to be key for our D in the future.

Holy crap, Andersson playing almost as many minutes as Gio. More minutes than Hamonic or Hanifin. The coach has some serious trust in that guy. Love everything about that. And I remember people being so doubtful about him making it to the NHL this year (or even with the Flames) and this guy is already getting ready to take over some big minutes.

And again, statistically, this season is one of the best seasons the Oilers have had since their cup final appearance in '06. That should say something about how bad it's been. It's definitely not just Chia, but the moves Chia made compared to the moves Tre made just compounded the issues. They trade a first and a second for Griffith Reinhart, we trade the same+an extra second for Dougie Hamilton. They trade Hall and Eberle for Larsson and Strome (Spooner). We trade Ferland and Hamilton for Lindholm and Hanifin. They make the playoffs once, we make it twice. They had a rebuild that was supposed to be finishing under Chia, while ours was just starting. Our rebuild is practically complete, and they basically are worse off than they started. As much as they have problems from the top down, it was just made that much worse from their biggest rivals down the block making similar moves and being successful from it.

Yeah, which is sad. But 2 of their top 4 seasons in the last 13 years came under Chia. And they fired him just over halfway through one. That is just how god-awful that organization is.

This is important to note. (Though this was done last night before we found out the GM got fired between periods).

Prout would likely be head and shoulders above the best Stockton D-man. Kylington was the only real prospect on D we had down there.

4th best forward on the team for a defenseman that can barely play third pairing. Seems legit. To top it off, Cag is apparently really close to McDavid (good friends, and even went to school together) while Manning broke McDavids collarbone and then made fun of him for it. How long before McDavid requests a trade? Like, this is the third time one of the players McD wants on the team got traded (Strome, Maroon, and now Caggiula). Also, Edmonton needs to dump salary soon, because if Sekera comes back from LTIR they are 3.3 mil over the cap