travel_dude

Don't read too much into the UFA comment. It's an extreme statement. When have we signed 7? But, I also don't think we will look for answers solely in FA. There are players that are probably going to be shopped. What that does is free up cap or solve player problems. We have bot, but I don't agree (with some) who is the problem. With the new GM, there is going to be a tendency to build around the top players. Find the right player for Kadri (Nichushkin?). Have we tried Huberdeau enough on the wrong wing and the wrong C to build that top line? Anyway, I think that we have to find the right balance. We maybe are close, success rate not withstanding. Not exactly a fit with some players.

I guess WPG had a big problem that he couldn't fix. Seems like the new guy was as frustrated as PM. As much as I am glad to see FLA on the cusp of the SCF, it pains me to see who is playing a big part there. Not that I think we ever would get by the second round had we made the playoffs, but it would have been fun to face FLA in the finals. Ah, next year. Right???

I think he was actually good in the playoffs, but Sutter killed his offense. Sutter even said as much about being a good player. Suggested that it was more important to play two way. For a UFA, that doesn't get you many offers. You would think he would take a Flames offer to be with his cousin, but maybe another coach casualty.

Unless there is a stud they really want, I would think they would go for a F first in that scenario.

That's the problem isn't it. The system limits the ability to break games open. Maloney was saying that they wanted more goals and less 2-1, 3-2 games. I do kinda agree about not wanting to pay while SUtter is making bank. But I think they bought out his deal, not continuing to pay him 4 per year. It would allow him to return to the game in another aspect for another team. Not that he is looking to do that, but I also think he wanted out. They have been paying for coaching at the same time for years, unfortunately. Ward and Sutter. Gully and BP. BH and Gully. AT least that's what I thought.

Maybe, but I think they looked at him during the playoffs and felt he was better than he actually was. Not exactly used to playing a Sutter system.

I don't know the private side of Conroy, but the public side is very player friendly. He would have learned the hard side of negotiations, but I sense he was the good cop. Whatever he is, we need to shed this supposed idea that the team is nickle and dime with players in talks. I don't know if true, but it sure seems the narrative here at times. Not my biggest concern. I am fed up with the targeting of lesser players. Rooney, Lewis, Ritchie's, Lucic, etc. Some of these guys may have their place on a roster, but not as a UFA signing, nor a everyday roster spot. You want to bring them in on a PTO, fine. See if they are currently better than a fringe prospect that hasn't shown up well at camp. But, FFS stop gifting them 82 games. They are role players and you may need them at times, but waive them and briong them up as required. If you are signing them, they are getting the same money in the AHL. Rant over. My hope is that Nonis, Conroy, Maloney and (maybe) Iggy can put together a decent list of coaches that we should consider. Please don't start talking about Muller and Greene as good coaches that we should be looking at.

Maybe Love is the best thing for this team, but I have my questions about him. Is his style too closely linked to the Flames last style? More volume shooting from low danger areas? AHL coach of the year, gets the most out of the limited talent, but a consistent set of players (less call ups). I don't know how much is fact, but had heard that Love is very demanding and penalizes players by sitting them. Does that work well with a mostly vet team? I'm asking this stuff because I just don't know. We have gone from an old school coach to a young one, back to an older school one to a younger one to an old school one. Does it make sense to go from a vet coach to a rookie one without him having a year to learn the league? Gully and Ward both were A/coaches before we brought them in. Other than recently fired coaches, A/coaches on some teams, and rookie ones, are there any out there that would work here?

I wonder if the similiarity of the Wranglers under Love and the Flames under Sutter works against Love. Love is a success story no doubt, but do the Flames see the NHL game different now, where scoring really hurt us. Brunette would be my preference for a coach that brings an offense faster game. Bob is playing better this year, so I don't know that PM turned them into a cup contender. Anyway, just thinking out loud. I'm concerned about the talk of Tanguay due to the Iggy connection. And the Love talk due to the connection to the Wranglers. We can't just make the cheap choice.

The general consensus is he didn't belong on the Flames, so I am not surprised at your comment. Was okay in NY, but maybe that was playing on a team that used offense first.

I think he did what he was told by the owners. Nothing BT did changed his mind. Virtue signaling or honestly a changed man? Could have gone either way. Considering he chose to shut the door on Pelletier after one bad OT shift, I lean towards the former. Perhaps unfair, just I never bought his reasons for the What number is he thingy. To me that was an apology without adminting it.

Start of the season so many are waived and not taken, but I agree there was not much value then. Late in the season, you might have seen a tanker take him if waived, but not worth much in a trade.

I heard some similar speculation about Iggy if Conroy was brought in. I'm not sure if he would be part of the pro scouting part, but he is definitely the name that adds credibility to the team. We let go guys that are now part of thoer teams' dynasty. Big Al and Newy to think of two. Let go is a bit of a stretch, but these guys went on to become part of the legends of the teams. I believe we will need some experienced front office staff. Promoting from within is fine, but I don't see the fit anymore. We need to revamp the management of this team. I do hope that the coach search is more than the settling we have seen in the past.

I think you need to trade Vladar for a roster player. Not sure his value, but if we truly embrace Wolf, then we need to trade him (or Markstrom if we really want to embrace change). I would be okay in either scenario as I think both goalies will see a rebound this season. I agree that the mix is wrong, but hard to tell exactly what is wrong since a lot of it was coaching. I think we need a player like Nylander though. Too many smaller guys that aren't snipers. Nothing wrong with Pelts abd Mange and Dube, but none of them are snipers and have breakaway speed. I would never trade Lindholm for Nylander though. Maybe Hanifin, so that Toronto can boast about having Calgary East.

Starting backwards. I think the culture improved since Gio left. There I said it. Maybe not directly related to him, just the timing. We had Brodie and Hammy that used to laugh when they got to the bench after a dumb play. We had guys skating off the ice when Tkachuk was fueding with the Kings. What the heck? What kind of team is that, whether you agree with him or not. Gaudreau gets chopped down by Staal and nobody does dick about it. Broken finger after the 21 hack salute. That was the culture. If anything, guys like Kadri are like Tkachuk was then. A bit over the top. Getting so wound up with frustration, they go a little nuts. The team backed him up when Trouba blindsided him. Kucic didn't fight much, but others stood up. They were tight, even if the coach was in a different head space. The west is a different beast for playoff making. You have teams that cycle up and down each year. Vegas was good this year and was broken last year. EDM was near the top this year and meh last year. Seattle was poor last year and good this year. AVS were all over the map. Dallas was good but easier to beat. Ducks only played good as a spoiler. In other words, I would suggest there are very few actual contenders that stay that way every year in the west. A stud goalie one year and back to just okay the next. We suffered the same fate.

I doubt there was any trade value for a pending UFA smallish AHL player with 2 games of NHL experience. I think the real problem is that you had a coach that prefers to play the boss card when given assets to use. Player X comes up from the farm on a tear. Player X sits in the press box because the existing goons are trusted, even though scoring had dried up and the goons were responsible for more scoring against than for. Both Pelts and Phillips were sat until the excitement of bringing them up had worn off. Hey look, I played Phillips 9 minutes in two games and all he did was hit the post and take a penalty. I was right, gosh darn it. The hype was wrong. Pelts played two games at 7 minutes and looked better on the 4th line. Think he played with Zohorna but frnakly I can't remember. He got bumped to 14+ minues until he got a point in game 7. Puting him on LW with Hubey on RW was a big mistake, but at least he was able to produce. Honestly, I have no idea if Phillips would ever succeed in the NHL, but there is no way to tell given his usage here. Playing him was a big middle finger to the fans and media suggesting he should get a look. Same way Pelletier's bump to the top line was. Not ready for that. Was Huberdeau somehow incapable of playing LW on a top line? I tend to agree that too many smaller players is not a good thing. Using Phillips to replace a small player is reasonable, but not to replace Lucic or Zohorna. You have to have the spot that allows them to be used effectively, if at all.

I'm hoping they don't overlook signing Beck with all the other things going on. We are finding gems in the later rounds, so I also hope that continues.

Haha. I was thinking that about any games I have watched in the playoffs. It's not even the first shots going in glove side high, which was a huge problem. Those 2nd chances would have been in. Here's what bothers me about Tkachuk's play and I don't know the reasons for it. He was deadly in round 1. Not so much in round 2. In round 3, he is the Gelinas. I get that he is a game breaker that finds the holes in coverage or goaltending. Why was he so useless against EDM with us? Was that a result of Sutter? I look at Bennett and see the same player trying to do it all himself. Same types of penalties. He is able to do something in FLA. Obviously better line mates. Given minutes to do something other than being gritty. FLA has a better roster this year than the Flames did last year, but not by leaps and bounds. The only thing I can suggest is that either the East was an easier route to the conference final or our goaltending and coaching was so bad we never had a chance.

The bolded is BS. I don't want Conroy, even if Iggy is likely to join the organization. He's very much an understudy of BT, so if we are looking to go a different direction, he is the wrong choice. I would welcome Dubas over him, and I really don't want Dubas. Conroy is too much of a players GM, so I don't think he has the business toughness to succeed. The coach couldn't do anything with the players he got, but the GM was getting the players that he wanted. Jarnkrok may have been the right player but the wrong coach. Didn't fit the way the lines were set. Or maybe the game style. I don't think the Leafs are a shining example of good GM and coach, since they are built backwards like the Oilers. They are built for offense. We are perhaps built better, but lack players that can play on a 2-1 team. We don't have the goalies to do it. We didn't have the 4th line to roll 4. A 2-1 team has to be built around superior goaltending and solid defense. All this to say that we got rid of one of the problems. Now we need the GM to bring in a progressive coach and make the serious roster decisions. We lost a year of prospect NHL development when we needed to find the next ones. We kept together a group that was failing to get the job done, with some of the pieces on expiring deals. We neither went for it nor sold it off. 16th is about as mediocre as you can get.

Couldn't find a thread about the 6th rounder. Decent year. Captain of the WHL Champ T-Birds. Signed last fall. Yep, another winger, but a big one at that.

This one I believe. They can still say he can't run the draft at a new place. Maybe this is a two way street. We get the A/GM from them, they get our old GM. Much better prospect than Bowman or Nonis or Bergevin. Blech.

I would prefer the Yotes stay, as I hope to see games there when I retire. If I am going to live in a landlocked province, I might as well spend the winters where it is warm.

I don't think anyone wants the team to just run it back. Getting a round at most is not a great idea for revenue. This year we had the Panthers type playoff team, albeit less talent and a poor coach. We had the makings of a team that could make some noise. That is done. And then I laughed. It was a roster on paper that could have made some noise. Goaltending not good enough. Poor coaching such that we would put out 4th line against McDavid. Mismatched players on lines.

Mr. Blackberry proved that Bettman was under the thumb of the TML. Well, okay it was both trying to grow the game, but TML were probably the biggest reason.

Yeah, I was a little worried that Love was a carbon copy of Sutter's systems. Muller was a big concern, so I hope regardless that he is replaced.