AlbertaBoy12

I dont think we are going to trade johnson, if anything they will keep gilles, rittich, and johnson(if he continues this pace) into the next training camp see where that takes us. It would be interesting training camp next year if they all stay on this pace. Im not sure why you think johnson cant sustain this pace, he played just as well in buffalo last year. Its not like this is a one month stand or something. If anyone gets traded at the deadline I would assume its elliot, and like I said I would assume the flames want one of rittich or gilles in calgary next year as we need to make room in the AAA for other goalies.

You are right no one is talking about how good he has been. The NHL has not acknowledged how good he has been, by this I mean the media/reporters outside of calgary.

Im not just pointing the finger at you, but I think people need to stop pointing the finger asking why ferland and hamilton arent being played more then they are. They are both playing well in the mins they are getting, hamilton is getting pp time and pk time unlike last year. Im assuming whats happening is, they dont want to throw hammy to the wolves by giving him 1st unit pk mins, big even strength mins and then pk mins on top of that. When we look at the last game against anaheim we are talking a minute in difference for ice time between him and wideman, Minnesota it was the same thing. We already have brodie and gio playing big mins, I dont think this is the same situation as BH where wideman is getting 6 more mins a night then hammy, its not the end of the world in my opinion. Would I like to see hammy play more, sure. But at this point im assuming there its more like balancing the mins for hammy and the other D men then GG having a hate on. Some players just play better in less mins, its not a bad thing.

No offence to you TD, but many people have stated they are tired of veterans taking spots from the young guys on D. I dont think nak is similar to wideman(hes the only defender I dont like), but hes not better then anyone we have in our lineup right now, and personally I dont think we will need him next year, as kulak among others will be that much more ready.

This is the truth. Honestly ive said it since the beginning our team is not that bad, and the system isent that bad, it kinda reminds me of when the islanders struggled a couple seasons back, or the ducks struggling a couple seasons back, when they didnt make the playoffs. I could go even deeper and point out when the ducks were struggling last year to start the year, and it just is what it is, not much you can do about it but ride it out till the team starts executing.

Im really starting to wonder if the flames trade Gio, if kulak keeps trending in the right direction. I know hes our captain but his NTC doesnt kick in for a few years, and if Kulak continues to become a top 4 defender do we get rid of Gio or trade kulak, thats where im curious to see what BT does.

What exactly are we trading for one or two more elite defencemen? and where are we getting these players from?

No no you misunderstand me..I said the goaltending last year was BT's fault. This team is not BT's fault, I dont think there is anything wrong with this team, and I certainly dont think there is anything wrong with coach. I like the direction we are going and I like what GG is doing. We would not have won hockey games without our best players going under BH, we are playing a much better hockey game now, the results are coming, im optimistic.

what? BH had more time then 14 games he had 3 seasons, 3 full seasons that is to work with this team, and showed no improvement. The playoff run was a fluke no matter how you look at it, the underlying numbers were crap. Now the underlying numbers are starting to improve in alot of categories. Im sorry I seem to remember you saying BH should have stuck around because the goaltending was BTs fault, and BH deserved a chances, not that he would be fired.

He only signed a one year deal? hmmm I was unaware of that.Either way it doesnt set a good precendent when you fire your coach after 14 games because you didnt start off on a crazy big winning streak.

Lol does no one get we are 14 games into the season with a new coach. This doesn't turn around over night, as cross has said in other threads and I've said, the team has looked great when they play the way they are supposed to, When they lose their way it's a little different, and this is without our top players firing on all cylinders. ON another note I really doubt GG is going to lose his job this early in the season no matter how much all the fans on these forums think he's an idiot. Ownership is not going to pay another coach to sit around. THere have been countless teams that undergo coaching changes and struggle for a bit at the beginning, there has been teams that don't struggle in coaching changes. It doesn't mean that it's time to blow things up and start a riot. for the record I'm not just replying to you JJ, I just am curious to see what people are even thinking. Like the flames should fire GG and BT because of this start, trade gio and call it a day. TLDR: give it a rest, the flames will be under this regime for a little while. Some teams struggle under coaching changes, doesn't mean they are bad.

Gaudreau to me, looks like a player who is frustrated and cant find his game. Ive been watching him play, and while he is making moves like you say, I still think hes trying to force it way too much. Hes making passes that arent there, I think he will be fine he just needs some time to adjust. I dont think the problem is chiasson or mony, although mony could play better. I dont wanna pass judgement on JH, but no one on that line is going to the front of the net right now, or very rarely. They need to get some dirty goals, instead of looking for the perfect play.

I would agree there is issues but the improvements are coming. This team is getting better. No matter what you say about these D pairings the flames team D is not near as big of a tire fire as it was last year

Our team D has looked much improved this year. Our top D struggling has not helped but overall the team has looked better which is important. Further our PP was at 25% the past few games they were saying on sports net the other night. Yes we still have work to do but this team is getting better, it's no tire fire

Whats wrong with our D exactly? Im really tired of people saying player X or person Y is the problem. Our D has looked good, its not like we are having loads of breakdowns. People need to stop trying to fix a problem that isent there.

Im not a huge wideman fan either, he just seems like a spoiled nhler wondering if it has anything to do with him not being on the PP tonight.

Oh I was reading the comments on the post. as Mac said I'm surprised how many people are hating on GG so early

http://flamesnation.ca/2016/11/1/who-s-better-at-making-defensive-pairings-glen-gulutzan-or-dice Apparantly some people think our D pairings are garbage.

Its not a head scratcher, the grossman signing takes us right to the cap or 8000$ away from it I wanna say. This means when smid gets put on LTIR, if he does we get the full bonus of it where as if we didnt have the grossman signing we wouldnt get the full bonus of LTIR. There was an article on flames nation about it.

Can he even buyout wideman at this point? I thought there was the specific periods for buyouts. On another note I as well see the 10 posts from TD about the same thing.

Well every coach has to give their veteran players a shot he cant have wideman sit in the pressbox the rest of the season. At the same time two seasons ago BH had wideman sit in the pressbox and he had his best season, so who knows. I feel like GG is a better coach then BH, so we will see what he does with wideman.

Yea I agree. But we payed the market standard for a player in free agency that I guess we thought we needed at the time. There is nothing much we can do with it at this time. If Engelland was paid 1 million a year I dont think anyone would talk about him, but like I said not much we can do. I listened to Rob Kerr and Pat Steinberg talk about how they were dissapointed that no flames prospects made a big push at camp even though the opportunities were there for the taking. This team is going to look different next year when alot of contracts come off the books.

And what are we doing with engelland and his 3 million dollar contract to give these prospects a chance? Engelland is overpriced for a 5/6 D men but hes been nothing but successful in calgary since hes been here, hes good for his role. I dont agree that we have loads of prospects missing out on opportunities, I dont think any of the players that got sent to the A are ready for NHL action, none of them looked good in the preseason which is lesser competition, some might be ready soon but even kulak who was the best of the D prospects group didnt look amazing last night, just fine.

Flames sign goalie tom Mccollum to a 2 year 2 way deal. Im left wondering if a trade is in the works or if macdonald is being sent back to junior. http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/flames-sign-mccollum-to-two-year-two-way-contract

Im assuming its because the top snipers have such quick releases and the puck is on their stick then off the stick it doesnt really register black vs white tape, but im not an NHL goaltender lmao.