travel_dude

Some interesting stuff from the player pressers, easier to just post the comments:

I think we have to do what we can to trade Coleman. He only ever fit with Backlund, and ya know we might have to trade Backlund. I can do without the payback penalties he takes and the goals he doesn't score. If it was between Mangiapane and Coleman, Coleman goes. I will puke if we re-sign either Lewis or Lucic. Time for a vacay boys. Enjoy your families.

It's too bad that we have the coach that believes you don't know squat about playing in the playoffs if you haven't won a cup. They won cups because of who they were, where they played and what their role was. The strategy to win changes every team you face and every year you get in.

I believe the quick answer is a guy playing on a stacked team with Taylor Hall looks better than he is. That is the trouble with just stats. I don't get much about the players up for draft other than articles in Flamesnation. At last you see more sometimes than just numbers. The annoying thing is they profile players that will for sure go way after we pick. Nice to know, but only if they make it to 2nd round.

Not important at all. I like Wolfie and don't see the need to have drafted him with our only 1st round pick. Minny probably has the perfect timeline to get him in. I see ours being more trouble. Wolf is ready now.

I'm not going to go look it up, but I was sure that you had said Cossa was a can't miss and we should be considering him. Maybe it was a passing thought on your part, and it may have been well before the draft. My recollection was that you thought Cossa was better than Wolf at an earlier age. If you didn't say it, my bad. My feeling at the time was we need more immediate prospects, not another long term goalie project. We had Wolf at the time, and I felt he was worth developing 1st and foremost.

I get that impression then that he is hanging it up? I haven't watched him play this year, so wasn't sure he still had it..

Different team this year. No Quick to get burned. They have Korpi and Copley. And they have far superior D than EDM. Unless EDM gets 2-3 PP's per game, this is going to be interesting. Not saying I will watch, but will keep track. I am hoping to see the fan meltdown after losing at home. SN will be talking about non-calls.

I'm a gonna ask a loaded question. Since Captain Canada is not re-signing in CHI-town, would you sign him to a one year deal? Obviously, not at anything close to what he made this year. But as a leader, and assuming we trade Backlund, do you think there's any fit?

So, I lived in NS and worked in Dartmouth/Halifax for 23 years at one job. Hated the traffic but it was reasonable back in the 2000's. Downtown a great place to go if you were young and loved to drink. The beaches were a great escape from the city and better place to see people in real life. Well, sort of. Over the years, traffic increased and the council turned the city into a what the two big city Alberta mayors are trying to do. I won't go there. Back in about 86 I started cheering for the Flames and only ever cheered for EDM when CGY was done. But that was only due to Messier. Cheered him on when he won the cup in NY. A lot tougher to follow the Flames back then, due to little to no coverage of the Flames until Saturday night or playoffs. The Iggy trade and later cup run were great. Cemented me as a fan. I moved to Ft Mac for a couple of years in the late 2000's. I lasted about two years before moving to EDM. Been here ever since. I love Calgary but can't see ever living there. Just can't take the amount of highways and "trails" and endless traffic lights. EDM is not a particularly nice city but it's fine. Easy to get around in, never get lost. It's still affordable to rent and own. My plan is not to live here in winter when I retire. Winter is cold but little snow compared to CGY or Halifax. Summer is pleasant but no beaches, man. Can't see or smell the ocean. I never cheered for the Oilers since I moved here, nor will I ever want to. I find their play cheap, much like teh Ducks used to be in games. They use picks to find a lane to the net and clutch and grab with the worst of teams. Even the much celebrated McD holds the stick to prevent you checking him. Other than him, the team is meh. Give it to or get it from McD. Stand in one spot for the one timer. It's not that Draisaitl has a awesome shot, it's that the goalie has to play McD until it's too late. Draisaitl only needs to aim between the posts and it's likely in. So, there are very few teams I actually will watch play in the playoffs unless bored. I like Dallas because I am a Cowboys fan and see them as the underdog some series. COL is okay to watch, since Nate is from Dartmouth and I like Makar. Can't stand Vegas and have no interest in SEA. Leafs, meh. FLA is fun sometimes, just to see them fail again. But I'm not going to care one way or the other unless EDM makes it past the 1st round. Then I cheer hard against them. With the sound off so I don't have to hear the orgasmic announcers talking about McD picking his nose.

Salary wise, it's probably equal down and up. But are you going to get a good enough quality backup for less than $1M? If Sutter was loathe to use Vladar who had shown to be really good, why is he ever going to trust the new backup? Sure, you can find a guy that doesn't care and will go to the AHL. For that matter, is Sutter ever going to use wolf unless he's the only other choice? Here's the optics that bother me. You trade away the backup you just extended. The reason you use is to make room for your new AHL wonderkind. Then you immediately go out and sign a career NHL/AHL retread. And keep Wolf on the Farm, making AHL money, to sit or play AHL games until Sutter deems he is ready to play. Meanwhile we have a backup that doesn't play and we just send him down once a week. Another coach it might work. I think all it does is set the kid back. No game experience unless he's starting. No practice with the team, so he's an unknown to them until he plays.

VAN just dumped 9th overall to get to 11th overall. LA is set at 3rd in the Pacific with WC 1 and 2 being SEA and WPG. Only one game left tonight that can finalize the one of the seedings. VGK needs a single point to win the West. That sets them up to play WPG. COL has a game remaining and needs 2 points to get 2nd WC spot, but 3rd overall in the West. Funny situation.

As much as I am not on Team Rebuild, I like the idea of a coach change and a revamp of players. No more Lucic, Lewis, Ricthie is a huge change. If we were to trade Coleman and Mangiapane or Dube, it resets the offense. Include Backlind in that change and it's like a complete re-tool. It has to be smart. I'm not sure the pro scout has any sense. No more Coleman types or Ritchie's or Rooney or Carpenter. But for any of this to work, it has to be a new coaching staff. Would be somewhat okay with Huska staying but that's it. Pringle too. Labarbara? No idea.

NAS doing their part to screw up their own draft ranking. Beat Minny in OT, so they can still pass us by winning tomorrow. VAN doing what they can to go from 10th to 11th. Thought we were dumb. Then again, we gave up a chance at 13th overall by winning a nothing game.

That's a fair approach, but perhaps not the best way to manage a talent. Him practicing with the team, he is ready every game. Him on the farm, he's only available for callup when the team is at home. Also, the timing of the starts may not fit. I would think if you wanted to get a backup, that you get one, waive him and keep him there. You only bring him up if you actually need him. Injury replacement only otherwise.

I think you have to manage your risk a bit. Have to know if Kylington is coming back. But, I would trade Hanifin for a young C or RW. Trade Backlund for a younger player or pick/prospect. Keep Zaddy, since he's the only toughness we have.

I think trading Vladar is low risk. Not that he won't become the next Georgiev, since that's possible. But, that Wolf fails in his first season as a backup. He struggles, you go back to Markstrom and get a backup to cover. Maybe not the best strategy, but we need to do something. Wolf seems like he can't improve much with AHL competition.

I hate to suggest trading Dube, but he's the one guy that has never reached 20 goals. Maybe it makes way more sense to trade Mangiapane, but one has a better chance of reaching 30. I feel like they are too similar to keep both. Other guys I want to consider trades with; Coleman and Backlund. Coleman because he's a player you get when you are headed for the playoffs. Backlund because he is either a re-sign short term or trade type. His best production seems to come after Christmas.

I don't think there wre really any issues, just a couple of mistakes or perhaps didn't give as much effort as Lucic (LOL). He a natural C so the adjustment of going to LW and back to C may have caused him some issue with coverage. Especially when you play with Lewis, who I don't know what his role was when they had Ruzie in the same game. My opinion was that Sutter pegged him as lazy. Probably from one play. Yeah, I know his play tailed off, but he was routinely given the least minutes. 6-8 some nights. Same treatment the jerk gave Phillips. I think the free agent comment isn't fair. You do need to get along, but other players can't just be fools about it because he got paid. There may be a small rift in the room due to some guys not appreciating the no offense gameplan. They made their bones on being involved in scoring not shutting it down after 2. If the coach was worth his salt, he would fix the problems with the players. The player may have a valid point, so shutting him down with "this is how we play" won't be appreciated by many. Back to Ruzie. Play him where he belongs and build the line with similar age players.

I think it's about progression more than teams figuring him out. Not always linear.

We should get you guys a jersey. Team Rebuild. And one of those hands like #1, but this would be #32. Have to be two hands. A 3 and a 2 finger salute.

I'm just saying, you pick a guy and make sure he gets the right path. He has neither made it nor provided any reason why he will fail. They have yet to figure out Saros, right?

I just remember us with different thoughts about Cossa that year. It really doesn't matter. I think we make some good choices and some "I think I am smarter than you" ones. Do I think we missed out on a couple of good ones? Yep.

The franchise goalie is just too hard to find. If Wolf isn't it, then we do what COL does. Trade for one. We went and signed what was never a franchise goalie. That rarely works out unless they are coming from a backup spot. I thought Wolf was too good to be drafted where he was. He D+1 season suggested he was something special. He never turned back in his D+2 season. I figured at that point there was zero reason to draft a goalie in the first round.