travel_dude

Tried that. That sort of reminds me of DUbe on the top line before Sutter got here. It wasn't the best thing we had to offer and was really putting a young guy in a top role. Who perhaps deserves it more? The guy forced to play RW who was an assist machine? I think you need to build lines that have potential to work. It could be as deadly as when we had JG and MT.

Best take I have heard. The "problem" is that the Flames have a moral superiority over teams that take on problem childs. I agree in some cases that some players should be viewed as bad risks. But there are others that have shown that there may have been a poor jusgement and have learned. COL took a chance on Nichushkin after being bought out. I thought we missed out. Maybe not the same issue as DeAngelo type situation, but it seemed many teams avoided him. And yes, I would consider making a play for him. Assuming it wasn't some really bad situation (toxic thing). Vegas would regardless, and would likely trade one of their long term guys to make it work.

PLD is going to be a huge ask from WPG. Top 6 C. Perhaps we should think about tempting MTL with Pelletier. He is one bad camp away from the AHL next season. Whatever his number is.

If you check the games where they played together, I think you find it was the first 6-10 games. More appropriately, Huberdeau + RW didn't work. The only reason Hubey with Backlund showed promise was he was back on LW. And at that point Backlund was playing his best. The thing about trading Hubereau at the start of a 8 year contract is that it's a buyer's market. The teams know he wants out. MTL would be one of the few bidders. Maybe FLA would offer Bennett.

The weirdest situation is the one going on with AVS player Nichuskin. I don't even begin to get what happened there. A woman in his room so intoxicated, the team doc called 911 and she was transported to hospital. Supposedly she struck the team doc. Nichushkin left the city after it happened. This was last Saturday. https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/report-avs-nichushkin-involved-in-police-incident-in-seattle/

Vegas being able to score at will on Helly should give you a preview of how they will play the Oilers. Brossoit is okay, at least better than Skinner or Soup. The only advantage the Oilers would have is the PP. The Knights play big, while the Oilers pretend to be big. But, I have to disagree about the Oiler series games. Game 3 may have been a bad call in some people's opinion, but whatever, nobody saw the stick hit the puck. Game 4 was equal after 2 in shots. 3rd was mostly LA, but Kane scored on a odd shot. Looked good but like a Markstrom miss. OT was all EDM. I'm not saying that LA wins the series, but it's more like a defensive team playing an offensive team. Goalie is average, they lose. Last year the role was reversed. EDM had its back to the wall and won 2.

I think the better question is why we are putting up with a coach that is driving the team backwards? Potential loss of Backlund, Lindholm and others. Can we trade Sutter for Future Considerations? Just kidding. FLA dropped 50 goals after Huberdeau left and that was bringing in Tkachuk. We dropped by 33. Without an elite passer, Toffoli still managed more than 30 goals. Lindholm not so much. If we are keeping Sutter, then we might as well trade Lindholm and Backlund. Backlund would possibly help get us younger. Lindholm would be a 1st rounder hayul, but I don't know you get any from this year's draft. And from there, start clearing out the top pending UFA's; Tanev and Hanifin. The only way to deal with Sutter is forcing the players on him.

To be fair, you shut down a top player on any team and the depth has to show up. Or the other 18 players that hit the ice on a given night. The Oilers solution is to double up the top 2 players. They play on the PK to give them extra chances to cheat to offense. During the regular season, they were an average PK team. Bottom 10 IIRC. Take this next piece with a grain of salt. I have seen it happen before. Oilers are called more than the other team and McD doesn't draw any calls. The players talk about it. McD gets interviewed and suggest that he sees it all. The media reports on it as a scandal. Best player in the world and you should be able to let a team get away with stuff. Next game what happens?

The Oilers thrive on momentum. Because they pressure on offense, the other team gets called for penalties. Once they get a PP, they score a goal. The 2nd period comeback was score effect. LA dominates in the 1st and 3rd, the Oilers in the 2nd. Korpi got scored on two critical shots by Kane and Hyman, which were good but more like the kind Markstrom lets in. The Oilers and their fans are convinced they are the far superior team. The fans throw in the towel and plan the parade in the same game. There are plenty of excuses for fans from both side, and really it's excuses. Game 4, EDM fans whine about the missed calls and the bad OT decision. Game 5, LA fans blame the refs for letting a trip on Doubty go that sets up an important EDM goal. First answer for the Oilers in any game is McD. The 2nd is Draisaitl. Unlike our stars and former stars, they can take over games. They are also their liability in the defensive zone. The rest of the team is meh compared to other NHL teams. I like Ekholm but little else of their depth. They have slightly better goaltending than we did in the Game 1 win of the Flames vs Oilers. Skinner was a mess in game 4. Then again so was the team.

I know that Sutter likes to watch AHL and Hitmen games, but the last thing we need is Sutter and Maloney in the same room before we have made coaching and GM decisions.

Even if it makes sense, what are the chances that he comes back to Canada.

It's a sad statement on the team when guys that used to be happy now want out. At the very least, they are non-committal about wanting to re-sign. Maloney needs to make the right decisions or the team will have to do a make-over.

I approve this sarcasm.

Must be wanting to see the players that won't get to play NHL games. LOL

I think she realized that when she brought up the differences in spending between EDM and CGY. She gave numbers and mentioned she wanted to do more in EDM with relation to downtown (ICE District). Perhaps I misheard that, but I keyed into it. Red Deer is something like 50/50 in support. Not quite sure the split but it seemed a bit equal. I think she is also betting on voter apathy. Do you hate the use of public funds enough to vote against her. Or do the fans of Flames get out there when they otherwise would not. It might become a campaign issue, but I think it's a hill neiother wants to die on.

West village had the creosote issue that nobody wanted to touch. Costs varied depending on who you talk to. It should have been cleaned up regardless. The last deal died when costs started climbing and the city decided it was politically a good time to add in Green costs. Perhaps the city would have been better off just sucking it up and finishing the deal. I think it ended up copsting more to cancel it, let alone the new increased amount. The city would argue that they are getting more out of this deal for more money. Who knows. Regarding condos. Probably should have used mixed-use, since it really depends on the what developers step up and want a piece of the area. I wouldn't want to live near an arena, but that's me. Riverfront space is likely high demand, so I would let the people living downtown decide if that area would be a good one. The area near the arena is closer to being like Stampede area, so it's not really condos for that specific area. I don't agree with vote buying. I do agree that money needs to be spent on revitalizing cities. Or improving transportation. Devil in the details, so I don't know if the Flames get the same for less cost? Is the city getting more for more?

Prior to being eliminated, the GDT threads went right up the the next game. Sometimes the only activity on the boards. I think activity has more to do with success than attention span. The goaltending thread tends to get the discussion about defense. Bad defense equals bad goaltending arguments. But your posts in this thread...what do you want? Discussion about your feeling that we don't develop D properly, suck at defending, have no depth or something else? There are many hardcore posters here, but some don't comment on every facet of the team. Does their feelings about the state of defense here make them not informed or not caring?

Not enough regular posters to post to every thread. The HOT ones are the GDT's that people will post thoughts for days afterwards. Or the Coach or lineup or Draft threads.

Or maybe another Blow up? one.

Take away the arena for a moment. Is there infrastructure that needs to be revitalized in that part of the city? Like expansion to LRT or road improvement. Will the future building of condos and such require that kind of upgrade? That's the type of spending Smith is talking about. So the argument comes down to who should pay for this. The city or the province. This probably doesn't fall into the category that can get federal funding like the Toronto buses, and probably doesn't since they didn't let the Feds speak. The deal for the city looks worse in the amount paid, but how much is actually arena. It's a grand plan, so details will be interesting. I think if you look at the EDM deal, the Oilers came out way further ahead. The province didn't need to touch it because the city paid for it. Smith tipped her hand a bit when she suggested that dollars spent on the two cities were not quite equal. This evens it out, but then she also mentioned some further EDM stuff around the arena area that might have money coming. From the NDP side, this is a waste of money that does not improve the social safety net. The jobs created (construction) are hard to criticize, even though they are still far off. So it comes down to whether they think there is enough people dead set against it. If that's in the urban areas where they already are winning the seats, it doesn't help them get a minority or majority. Currently, they have very little electoral support outside the urban areas. From a political standpoint, there is little to be gained in coming out against it. At least that is how I see it.

Well, it seems that if a thread is started, they will come. Mt best efforts to ignore it and let it die fell apart quickly. I suppose it a better (misspelled) name for a thread than Flames # Coach.

The timing was perfect to make it an election thing. But I can't imagine the NDP saying it's worng or should be an issue they attack. Calgary residents may not be entirely supportive of spending money on a district, but the cities are the only places the NDP has support. The vision is too well developed and the spend is targeted to an area that needs work. $330M is a drop in the bucket for infrastructure spending. Toronto is spending more than that on electric buses.

The city positioned it that whoever wins the election should honor the deal. Easy to say. TBH, I don't see Notley making this a campaign issue. It's loaded potato. Notley base is urban EDM and CGY.