travel_dude

^^^^^^ So, just some thought. Can't do 3 buyouts a year. Neal was a buyout candidate that we traded for a non buyout player. Should have just kept him the 2nd year and bought him out then. Ahem, maybe not. EDM is still paying the 1.9M in buyout cap. Sutter was brought in as a leader. You need those guys to fill out the AHL roster, not a bunch but one or two. We kind of wasted the AHL as a place to go and spoil. Mostly the last coach who refused to use them. We had injuries and used the fringe NHL'ers instead of the prospects. And we drove some away, maybe we can save a couple now.

A tinfoli hat person would suggest Bettman is trying to keep as much interest in the West teams as long as possible. Increase TV revenue. Give them a chance to get to round 3...again. St 5v5, this puts EDM in a hole.

You can't expect to beat a team that wins because of powerplays if you give them 5 in a game. 3 on PP and one SH and they had 5 in total. Brossoit is better than he showed, but I think they need to switch goalies. When you have a goalie's number, no point in playing them. We didn't learn that against the Oilers last year.

If we could get another 1st rounder this season for Hanifin, it wouldn't even be considered the start of a rebuild. It's trading from an area that struggled at times but was paid well. But NYC has squandered all their assets on finishing pieces I doubt they can retail. They have a 1st COL's 3rd and 2x6th rounders. It gets worse in 2025.

We traded him before he even got a shot. Couple in the AHL and in ECHL. Traded as part of Smid trade. Nothing super, but it was a dumb throw in. Had better NHL upside than Ortio. I just think that if you have a waiver exempt goalie, you can find games for him to play. Not like he looked any worse than Markstrom.

I think that is going through Maloney's head right now. All the cap spending has done Richard all to get us closer to the cup. Fresh thinking required. Backlund might actually appreciate Det. Well structured, sanely coached, on the way up. We need a GM to come in with these kinds of ideas. I may sound like I am blaming BT, but we never ever seemed to sign the value guys or complete the smart trades. Tkes two to tango, but we were drgging the wrong one home after. When the lights came on we said Yikes. This is a critical offseason, so we have to be surgical. We can end up like EDM with Kenny the Cap-meister or try to rein it in.

I think most people see goaltending as 2 goalies for a season. There are so many teams where this isn't even the case. Some run 3-4 for the season. The goal is to have a young goalie learn and eventually replace the older one. So, you get Wolf up for 6 starts and evaluate after each one. Not 6 in a row, but 6 over a short course of time. Then you get him AHL games to keep it up.

You claimed Francis was our top prospect, well above Wolf and Pelletier wasn't close. Francis isn't even at the level of Phillips. Which is what I believe he was talking about. And Ortio. I know you know. Did we ruin Monahan, Tkachuk, Bennett, Gaudreau or Valimaki by playing them too soon? Maybe they turned out just fine. Maybe we gave up when they were down in the lineup. Maybe we had an a-hole coach that drove most or all of them away? Who knows.

Just stop.

The Leafs and Oilers basically do the same thing. They lose a series and it's one person's fault. Leafs, it was Kadri or Sandin or whatever. Oilers it was Bear or Smith or Talbot or Deharnais or or or.

Playoff Bennett got Lucic and Dube, IIRC. So far the count is 4th overall (Bennett) gone. 6th overall (Monahan) gone. Another 6th overall (Tkachuk) gone. 16th overall gone (waived).

The analysts decribed Skinner as built for playoffs. 5 goals against isn't exactly resounding. EDM had 2 PPG, which is typical. Hate Vegas, but hate EDM more so.

Or had Sutter managed to provide opportunity, then maybe we would never have traded Bennett. It was supposed to be a fresh start. There wasn't anything remotely like that. Maybe too late, but I never got the sense that Bennett had a chance under Sutter.

I know you are mad that the coach took the fall. You seem to still believe that only the players and GM were at fault, but the coach was just a bad person and treated them poorly. Once we have a new GM and coach and they define what the team looks like and how the team is going to play, then you can get back to trashing the players. Right now seems like the wrong time to predict how good or bad they will play. Maybe see what the team is made up of and which players come out of the AHL or in trades or UFA signings. Maybe hold off until camp or pre-season or game 1 of next season. Whatever changes Sutter made this year or whatever part of his previous cup winning strategies don't work anymore we won't really need to worry about now. We will go in a different direction and offense should be more of a priority than trying to hold a 2-1 lead for 40 minutes. But I am projecting. The players need to play and the coaches need to find the best line combos and usages. Nothing from last year really worked all that well.

I think what he said was that he will be better and return to that level. And he was looking forward to seeing him play like that. All of these comments are inappropriate before you hire a new GM. I had my issues about him saying anything about the team. You are at the funeral for the GM and talking about a team that underperformed. Unless you are a great judge of a team and have built winners in the past, all you are doing is saying stuff to divert away from the team failings.

Love it or hate it the Horsehead used on the reverse retro jersey should have been used over a W.

I would agree about Dube playing better on RW. I would also suggest that there was a number of things Sutter never bothered with. He believed Toffoli should only ever score every 2-3 games, even though he was top 3. That's only acceptable if you have 3 lines doing that. You want your top 3 players scoring one per game minimum. Between PP time and EV, they should be. At least that's how I view the world. I think there is no reason whatsoever that you split the top C and your top LW. None. The third man on the line is up for debate. Mostly because we rarely saw Huberdeau there.

Good team and don't need changes are mutually exclusive thoughts. Every cup winner makes changes. Even if they feel Sutter was 100% responsible, there would still be a belief that something was missing. Sutter wasn't in nets. Sutter played the guys that he had available, even if some were benched. Close to a playoff spot - maybe. Close to a contender - nope.

So, Sutter changes the way he wants Huberdeau to play. After every game we don't win Sutter says the top guys need to be better. Then sends him back to the next game with the same instructions. This all came after a decent start. Hubey with Lindholm. Some magic seen.

I think that was pretty much confirmed in other feeds earlier. Was player assistance, so it's not an arbitrary thing, it's known. They won't discuss it outside the team and NHL reps needed. I really don't car to know. None of my business. I just want him to be in a good place when he's here. Whether it's family or other, just get to that place.

Well that make zero sense. They know full well that the team is not built quite right. The cap doesn't even allow them to just keep the people already signed. Next year was going to be a problem if they won the cup or failed miserably.

Maloney met with Kylington last week, prior to the announcement. His comments about Kyl coming back seem to cooincide more with the recent vids of him practicing.

He might do better than Roy did. But, I think we need someone from the current era not from the Sutter days of play. Just kidding. I think Brunette would have a better chance at success (former player that is).

As far as Iggy goes, he will always be the face of the Flames. That's not enough to be the GM. Is he running any big organizations or have experience managing contracts? Yes he can surround himself with those, but I want the GM out there making calls, getting stuff done. If Iggy would come back as head of development or pro evaluation or something like that, then fine. Assuming those are areas that need improvements. I have often wondered about Plett. Is he good at evaluation of pros and the fit with the team or coach wasn't there? Or is he a poor judge of talent? Toffoli is a good fit. Jarnkrok wasn't. Neal wasn't. Brouwer wasn't. Weegar and Huberdeau seem to be, but success is tough to measure when the players seem to have been used wrong. What was the issue with claiming TT off waivers? GM, coach or pro scouting? Or just cap?

The end of the line says it all "coaching strategy allows". Seattle is fast and offensive. And key to us not getting ahead was overuse of the less skilled or using a strategy design for less skilled play. Key minutes to lesser players when we needed a goal.