travel_dude

Some team will pick him up and he will become an adult. Maybe he will be elected PM.

May be a reason why few teams will touch him: Kai Uchacz sits in a category of NHL prospects that teams should avoid, but often don’t. With diversity, equity, and inclusion under the watchful eye of hockey critics and advocates, Uchacz belongs to an NHL prospect pool alongside players like Logan Mailloux and Mitchell Miller. His off-ice behaviour, notably, racist comments Uchacz made directed at a Black teammate while playing for the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Seattle Thunderbirds, should be more than a red flag, they should be a stop sign. Who Is Going To Grab The F Uchacz’s Racist Remarks In March of 2021, Kai Uchacz was removed from the Seattle Thunderbirds after the organization discovered the racist comments he used toward Black teammate Mekai Sanders. Uchacz made racist slurs toward Sanders, the lone Black player on the Thunderbirds, and a banana was waved in front of the player according to a report from the Seattle Times. As hockey often does, however, Uchacz’s racism is being overlooked in favour of his on-ice skill. The Red Deer Rebels of the WHL were the first to make this choice when they traded for Uchacz in exchange for a second-round pick. NHL Central Scouting was next, ranking Uchacz 95th among North American Skaters in their Midterm Rankings. Where Does Character Come In? The problem with NHL Central Scouting’s process is it takes no account of character. It’s a single-layered evaluation of skill-based qualities. A successful career in the NHL, as we’re currently witnessing with a player like Evander Kane, involves more than skill; it also involves character. Comment Following his dismissal from the Seattle Thunderbirds, Uchacz was forced to complete training on diversity and anti-racism. But that doesn’t mean he has automatically changed. It also doesn’t mean he’s the type of prospect a team should draft. “I take full responsibility for my actions and I deeply regret my decision making in the past,” Uchacz said in a Red Deer Rebels news release. “I have taken this time away from hockey to learn and grow as a person and have expanded my knowledge about this topic and how impactful it is. I thank the WHL for taking the time to work with me and believe in me as a person. I am thankful for the opportunity to play again.” The problem with Uchacz’s statement is that it focused on his “decision making.” It did not focus on his beliefs and values, or a fundamental change to the type of person he is, a person who took repeated racist actions toward a teammate. All his statement signifies is that he was willing to do anything it took to return to hockey. As well that he will do better at concealing his anti-Black racist ideology in the future. Should an NHL Team Draft Kai Uchacz? No. Just as the Montreal Canadiens should not have drafted sexual offender Logan Mailloux, and just like the Arizona Coyotes shouldn’t have drafted a racist like Mitchell Miller. While the Coyotes quickly renounced their draft pick, which was the correct move, the Montreal Canadiens have done no-such-thing with Mailloux. Uchacz’s presence on the NHL Central Scouting list demonstrates that at a league level, racism is acceptable and that being an overt racist does not disqualify you from playing in the NHL. Recently, the NHL’s refusal to partner with the Hockey Diversity Alliance has also come under deserved criticism. The National Hockey League has left the decision of whether Kai Uchacz and his racism belongs in the NHL up to their 32 member teams. Unfortunately, if history is any indication, there is a chance an NHL team will make the wrong decision and select Uchacz in the 2022 NHL Draft. Has There Been Change? The agent of Mekei Sanders, the victim of Uchacz’s racist attacks made it clear that nothing has been done. All the WHL and hockey world mandated was that Uchacz complete training, and that he finds a new place to play. But for the WHL and hockey world to claim that there is “zero tolerance” for racism, is false. If there was zero tolerance, Uchacz wouldn’t be playing at all. He absolutely would not appear on NHL Central Scouting’s midterm rankings. As Scott Norton, the agent of victim Mekei Sanders stated, “What is the point of having a zero-tolerance policy if you do not hold your players to that standard? This was not a 1-time isolated, incident! How many chances does the victim get to live his life and chase his dreams?” As long as prospects are evaluated exclusively on their skill, and their actions, whether they be tied to racism or any other attack on a human have no consequence, hockey’s culture will continue to foster divisive and unsafe spaces. As Norton stated, “Enough is enough. Time for things to change in hockey and society.”

It's perhaps fitting that the aniversary has come and gone. I haven't felt motivated to use it much in 2023. Whether we make it by having 3 wins and look really good or fade as we have all season, My hope is that we consider the season an utter failure and make the right decisions. Take a realistic look at the old core and the coaching that used them. Look at the use of prospects. Look at contracts that are coming up. I have seen nothing to suggest that we have figured it all out. This is not the cup winner STL finding its stride. If we get in, I will cheer for the team. I would rather face the Oilers in the first round and do what we do well; put a few of the players out of the game. At least playing them, we aren't getting fooled into thinking we are a cup contender. And we help expose the weaknesses they have to other teams.

As you say, who knows. Kuz reminds me of Zadorov without the skating part. He struggled to score but seems better now. I really like Poirier. I think it was a good draft overall for us. Ryan Francis was not the best, but accoring to some he was our top prospect. LOL

When we were in the draft year there were some sources that ranked by continent. NA vs Euro. Like 10 best skater in NA or 5th best in Euro. With that consensus ranking, we picked him later than where we could have picked him by rank. We get him 18th or 24th. I will wait for his NHL debut. With Pelletier, I think they used his good showing early to move him to play with Huberdeau, who I felt was on the wrong wing to play with Pelletier. I don't have much faith they will choose any wiser with Coronato and then Zary. Sutter talked about him at camp like he was NHL capable then, but needed the reps in the AHL first. That sure sounded like a bunch of crap. DIdn't see him at all, even though we could have used a RW. Bring up Pelletier, which wasn't a bad move, but we were not lacking LW'ers.

Who are these other teams you speak of? There is little movement in the top 10, if ever. The 10-20 range is some movement and depending on the number they jump, it's very costly. Dallas obviously was not worried about moving to 23rd. Are they stupid? They might have ended up with Zary. They didn't see Schneider as a keeper. We decided on Coronato and people already writing him off as meh. Just because we have the smartest coach in the NHL that doesn't believe in playing kids means we don't have good prospects. The point of drafting is to have as many picks as you can manage while having a good NHL team to bring them along. I don't believe in trading away picks when you are not really close to contender or if that player is not going to move the needle much. Hammy and Toffoli were good usage. Jarnkrok and Carpenter etc. not.

I think it's all for not. NAS or WPG is going to stay ahead of us. Even if we beat VAN, I still see one of the two or both passing us. A 3 point game between NAS and WPG. A WPG OT win and both teams pass us in standings. NAS still has 3 remaining. A NAS OT win and both teams are ajead. Even a win in regulation by either team puts us at best behind one of them. Dallas is the one team we have handled and have been able to make Otter look human. Oils are on a winning streak and their backup is playing well enough to take a 1st round series. We would be using Lucic on the road against McD or the other top line. Vegas scares me. We won one game in Vegas the entire time they have been in the League.

You rank him very low I guess. Craig Button had him at 10th in his draft year, though I don't remember his final rank. 30 spots in the combine, LOL. You really stretch to throw shade. Your proof they were wrong is a young D playing on a stacked team. Compared to a C that has yet to play in the NHL Who are all these better C's they passed on? Ones available without having to give up multiple picks to get. I think NJ was positioned to take Mercer and not consider a trade. CAR? Good luck with that.

Really, you are going all over the map now. Zary was off the board now? By who's standard? And you talk like trading up is easy. A couple of spots cost a 2nd or 3rd. Moving to 10th would have involved next year's draft or a good young roster player. An equivalent in 2021 with DET, saw them move from 23rd to 15th (not the same type of movement as to top 10) for 1st a 2nd and a 5th.

I don't think it really matters. In the last 20 we are 11-6-3, so it's not really a mini streak. Why the team started to play now is beyond me. Then again, Huberdeau moved back to LW and at the same time (after the birth of his child) MArkstrom started winning games. Not playing lights out just winning. You could say the schedule we had made a big difference. Playing teams out of it, or teams in tough schedules to our easy one. But you need only look at the best players playing the best. Toffoli was killing it. Huberdeau starting to look better. Weegar getting comfortable. Ras getting back into form after the accident. A month ago, we had the chance to fall into lotto territory. Now we have killed that to the point of 4-6th overall as the best we can manage. The team wants the playoffs. I want to see a team that deserved to be in the playoffs get in, not just a last ditch effort to play 4 games and lose. Since 1st WC spot is out of the question for us, it comes down to who we would play in round 1. VGK, EDM, LA, COL or DAL. Only DAL would be a chance to move on. I don't think we beat VGK in more than 2 games. Same with EDM. COL we would be lucky to win a game. LA no idea, but they are a tough team to beat. So, a 16th overall or 17th overall (if we make the playoffs and lose). Not a big difference. A 16th with a chance to move up to 6th? A lot better. A loss to VAN on Saturday, just throw in the towel. I know it's still possible to get in, but really.

There are problems that you can't always fix. Was there a market for our pending UFA's at all? Considering we were struggling at the time, they had little value. Vrana went for a 4th with half retained. Nobody is giving us a 6th for Lucic at half retained. Lewis wasn't on anyone's radar. Ritchie? Used to get a more expensive Ritchie (UFA) and Stecher (another UFA). This is this year. Look at other years. Gio was going into the last year of his deal in the expansion draft. Trading anyone in that TDL was difficult because of potential losing players for nothing. Last year we were adding. We were near tops in the West and were not about to trade at TDL. We added pending UFA's. BT is smart at managing the contracts, but he doesn't take into account trading them in their UFA years. So, with the up and down cycle of the Flames, we don't have the pending UFA's with valiue in the down years. In those down years, you may have a market for your top guys with a few years left; Lindholm, Toffoli, Hanifin. But the teams wanting those players know you are struggling and won't give you a great offer. We have 2 years in a row of success in the AHL and we have used how many of those players? Yeah, I know we needed to have more in there years ago, but we just move on from a lot of them. Valimaki and Mackey say hi. But your point about trading picks is true. You have to be careful. I'm okay with the Toffoli trade, not with the Monahan one. I would rather have taken a chance on him and traded Backlund, who actually had value. I am okay with the Dougie trade, not with the Elliott one. That is hindsight. We would have been better off trading for a real goalie instead of Elliott and Smith. Our timing sucked.

So, NAS is starting to win again. 88 points with 4 remaining games. They are beating top teams. Wins against BOS (in Boston), Vegas and CAR. WPG and them could be a 3 point game. The worst possible result for us. Only one WC spot not decided yet. Meanwhile, the other close teams in the East.... Pitts - 88 points with 3 left NYI - 89 points with 3 left FLA - 89 points with 3 left BUF - 83 points with 5 left The NAS game as our toughtest. We struggle with their style and are yet to beat them. VAN is going to be really tough, but we won there recently. SJS could be anything. If we need it to get in, they will embarass us.

What did Kadri know about Kadri? Not a lot, he had to talk to Makar about the city. Makar convinced him it was a nice place. I think he found out early on that COL had issues with anything long term. And the team's ability to shed salary was basically non-existent. Maybe you clear Johnson for one year, but next year would be far different. MacKinnon needed to re-sign long term. Just re-signed Nichushkin before he went UFA. Why he decided to come here is unknown. We were interested. He was getting an offer. Lots of rumors he was going elsewhere and we were just mentioned as being interested for the majority of the time. I really think that the NMC was to limit trades during his best remaining years. He may have had better money but shorter terms. I do think he is one of the vocal ones that hate playing for Sutter. I believe there are quite a few and maybe there is some tension with Lucic and Lewis. I don't think Toffoli cares, since he has a relationship with the coach from way back. He had success before and really knows what Sutter is talking about when he says two words to the team. Others may be fed up with it, ones that played for him last year. If your decisions work, then you put up with it. When the same things are done but the results are not or appear to be really pointless, then you question.

Can you fly around the earth counter clockwise to turn back time? No we can't do anything about traded 1st round picks. I'm not going to really say who the best players out of the 21 draft are, since the majority have not played yet. I'm not sure you would have seen any of Wyatt excpet for the WJC. As far as I can tell, he played nothing else. Plenty of blame to pass around. Useless coaches responsible for Bennett's usage and "development" because they are the only ones that had any control about him. Tkachuk was handled better because he was a winger. First year no better than Bennett stats. We finally release Tkachuk from being a Backlund muscle to being part of a scoring machine, but maybe too late for his decision making. More boobs involved in coaching this team than a Saturday night at Hooters. There are hundreds of misses in the draft. Anything during Sutter years or Burke era should be called a right off. Sutter had the same attitude as GM as he does as a coach. I think him and Burke share the same braincells. Burke has perhaps grown a bit, understanding the other side of the game. BT is bookended between the Burke influence then owners having control over moves and Sutter influence to roster decisions. The drafting is better than some worse than others. But very few get it right all the time, if any. You get great talent that are nutbars.

We can trade Backlund for that. Maybe Tanev. Markstrom doesn't even have a good year, so that's a tough sell.

Whatever. Guys in the know that don't even have a clue about what's said in the room. They rely on Servalli to tell them how much Sutter is hated. And that Kadri is the one from the team that has to go talk to Sutter about how bad the coaching is. This is just noise. Clickbait. Fans are as fickle as they come. Excitement to get Neal. Run him out of town. Who is the new goat to hang the horns on. Oh, let's pick Kadri. Made a lousy play in a game. Run him out of town. Oops, he scored a game winning goal in an important game. He's the best. Gaudreau is the best. He wants out? Scumbag. Eric Francis and you agree on something. Good for you. You and the loudmouth find something to rant about guy. Did you watch the entire sequence leading up to the first giveaway? Zadorov went for a hit with absolutely no good reason to do it. That left him completely out of the play, which he should have been the one going back for the puck. That's when the goalie lets the D know there is back pressure. But single out the guy you hate. No issues, we all do it from time to time. Where was the stellar goaltending and high scoring in that CHI game? We dominate the 2nd period and have one goal out of it. Regardless of how bad Kadri was on the 4th goal, the goalie was putrid on it. Why is Ritchie there? Duehr has been 10X better but only gets 8 minutes because he's needed to make the 4th line look good. I would suggest that there is more than one problem with this team. The fact that we were outside the playoffs at game 78 is huge. Is Kadri the reason why we are in that spot? Doubt it. I can list 3 problems that have been there the entire season and are the reason why we will likely miss the playoffs. By more than 2 points.

The biggest question mark this summer was whether we would see the implosion in nets like we did in the Oiler series. If nothing changed in coaching, that was the biggest risk. Success of the new players after losing the stars was secondary. Last year we had a 10 game winning streak that made us a playoff team where this year we managed 4 in a row. Lack of scoring is not the issue as much as goals against. Kadri has some issues with his decision making. He is like Tkachuk in that he will act sometimes without thinking. Ask Toronto about the playoffs or maybe some of his playoff games with COL. Do you recall some questionable play from Tkachuk where he game up on plays he could have impacted? Or a hissy fit that divided the team for months? Anyway, the decision making for this summer will be interesting. Not enough cap to keep everyone we have already signed to 2023/24 and add 2 more F. We have a roster of overpaid middling players. Some should maybe be traded. Key decisions about Lindholm and whether we really see a future with Hanifin. Are the soldiers like Tanev and Coleman the types that win championships? Or only if you are already that level? Are we content with Backlund, a notorious slow starter or Is there value in trading him now? Key in those decisions is what we are doing with the coaching staff. No change means we add or keep the grinding types. Bring back Ritchie, keep the kids on the farm or sit them. Little change to the players and style from this year. Goaltending becomes the lynch pin again. A change to coaching means we may see a re-tool and gravitate towards speed and skill. I have become a bit less excited with this team because the moves always only deal outside the core. Not since the Hamilton trade or even the trade using Hamilton have we seen a major change to the core. Last year we had a change forced on us by players wanting to leave. This summer has to be a serious view of what the core should be made of and the style we chose to stick with. Does that style win regular season and playoffs. Do we have the right players long term.

Can't do anything about trading 1st round picks away That's really neither here nor there. Our 1sts include Monahan, Bennett, Tkachuk, Valimaki, Pelletier, Zary and Coronato. Can't really argue too much about Coronato or most of the others. I like Wyatt Johnson, but he was well down the BPA list. At least we didn't trade down for that, right?

BPA is a tough call. Not everyone uses the Central Scouting list as to what is BPA. The only two examples of the Flames trading down I can think of are Janko and Zary. Janko - no need to go there, that was not scouting lists, just some boob deciding alone he was. Zary - we can argue about BPA, but Zary was up there. 1st round trading down that is.

VAN was as close to a loss as you can get. We are yet to beat NAS. Like CHI, there are teams we struggle against. In a goalie matchup, I'm taking NAS every time. Then there is the SHarks, who may actually be beatable, but they are more dangerous from the backend than ANA. They would love to spoint the party for us.

The VAN game is our Waterloo. We don't get that and WPG only needs 4/8 points to win. Doesn't really matter what we do with NAS.

We had our 4 game win streak. Now we will be back to win one lose one. Three games left. WPG has 4.

Defebnding a lead, throw out the 4th line.

I think the game is over. We don't give up two this late.

There's your cue for the Zaddy GIF