travel_dude

JJ is trolling everyone here with his narritive. Using past players as examples to match his point. Inventing stories like Gaudreau wasn't developed here or that Monahan was ruined. Bennett seems fine, don't you think? Got away from Sutter. Prior and last usage suggest we pushed him down and out. Clean slate, here's Lucic for you. Do you think Valimaki has entitlement issues? It's one thing to work with a player that is on your roster. It's quite another to publicly criticize him. And push him out of the lineup because the team made lots of mistakes. Valued Mackey over him, then Stone over Mackey. The AHL may be a development league, but at what point is development ever complete? Phillips now that he's a pending UFA while leading the league? Duehr, where he is only capable of 4th line? And that was sitting out after his first goal. Ruzicka and Pelletier where they are only useful as a motivator for your vets sitting out? Whatever culture we had last year, buoyed by team success, is gone. You make a mistake as a kid, you are out. You make one as a vet, you get a couple more chances to prove yourself. If you re on the nice list, you get to stay in.

Check out Dube's (lack of) beard. Must be hoping to grow one for the playoffs. Or getting ready for the golf season....

I referred to it as the 4th line because if they were ever played, they would get that many minutes. So, if you think about who is signed for next year and who we have available, let's look at this: Mangiapane-Lindholm-Toffoli Huberdeau-Backlund-Coleman Dube-Kadri-Duehr Pelletier-Ruzicka-Coronato Weegar-Andersson Kylington-Tanev Hanifin-Zadorov Gilbert I wouldn't really go with these lines as such. I would think you put Hubie on the top line. Mangiapane back with Backlund. Pending trades of course. Hanifin out. Backlund out. Coleman out. Trade chips and getting younger.

^^^^^^ Like that 4th line. Oh well, maybe next season.

Today's practice lineup: #Flames at practice Thursday. Stone back, Tanev still not skating: Mangiapane-Lindholm-Toffoli Huberdeau-Backlund-Coleman Ritchie-Kadri-Dube Lucic-Lewis-Duehr Pelletier-Ruzicka-Coronato Hanifin-Andersson Zadorov-Weegar Gilbert-Stecher/Stone Markstrom Vladar

Personally, I would rather bet the farm on young AHL players and young NHL players. The failure to stick for Pelletier and Ruzicka (and Phillips and Zary) is on fixing blame to a small group. Phillips may not be a traditional NHL player, but we saw a ton of crap since he went back to the AHL. Seeing Duehr have to overcome playing low minutes and who he plays with should show something.

Well, it's sort of the AHL as well, isn't it? Even a ATO doesn't get him into the AHL playoffs, or even a guarantee to play AHL games this season. The player had some leverage, and we either respected it or we decided to do it to get him exposed now. Exposed to the game, the coaching, the practices, regardless of whether he plays 0, 1 or 7 games. Exposed to the hunt for the playoffs. Every player is different. He's 20, not "18 year old Sam Bennett TM". There is no set right way to develop the player. And right now you are just project failure without knowing what the plan is or how he takes steps. Yeah, why not trade him for a prospect to develop. Makes total sense (sarcasm). I do have to ask, do you think Gaudreau, Tkachuk and Bennett were development failures? Usage and coaching failure maybe for Bennett.

I'm the opposite of you. I am normally one of the last to give up. I don't like our chances against NAS. We haven't beaten them all year and they look to be getting Josi back. He's huge for their scoring. Markstrom is the only reason why we are having this debate. He was part of the biggest problem we had. Now that he's playing closer to his normal level, we are struggling to score again. Low scoring games this month, we are 4-2-1. We have a good schedule where we can exploit non-playoff teams. The two games in VAN will likely be the deciding point for us. Lose the first one and we have no margin for error. WPG is only one factor in our run. NAS is another one. The standings of the top teams will determine what team they ice for those games they play. What I mean is that COL, MIN and DAL all have games against the two teams we are fighting with. If they are trying to get home ice, the division or the conference lead that means they ice top players. If they have the seed set, they can chose to sit key players. They may even decide they position the lineup so they face a certain team.

AVS didn't have the money and it would have reduced what they have. They needed to re-sign Nate, re-sign Nichushkin and wanted to sign Manson. Nothing left for Kadri long term. Kadri plays like a power forward, well maybe just a gritty pest type like Tkachuk. Duehr. I'm not going to discount what he does on the ice. Expecting the 4th line to survive in a playoff game may be something else. Certainly not on the road. And not the way Sutter rolls the lines. Would a Duehr be a better choice for Kadri's RW? No worse than being played with Ritchie and Dube (RW). I like Dube, but I'm not sure he fits with Kadri.

We have several players not playing to their level. Huberdeau, Kadri and Mangiapane have shown what they are capable of. Not this year. What we haven't found is a place for each of them. How many games does it take to realize a LW is not a RW. Kadri is not as much a skill player as a power forward type, so play him with someone like Nichushkin. Yeah, we don't really have that. Mangiapane played with Backlund and Coleman last year, but they were the 2nd line, not just a shutdown line. My positivity is that we can ice a lineup that matches players to each other. Duehr's limited icetime shows that we haven't learned. Suggesting that it's a 4th line that dominates is a little rich. Untapped potential for a good player.

Funny that we are talking about the Gaudreau FA signing in CBJ in regards to Coronato. All the signing shows me is that we had a NCAA prospect seemingly ready to take the next step. Gaudreau wanted to complete his degree because he made a promise to family. Coronato sees that the roster is going to have some turnover in the summer. Signing now for the NHL shows the Flames are willing to burn a year and not just toss him to the AHL to play a few games. The team there is set. If he plays a NHL game or two now, then he has a leg up on knowing where he stands. As far as where he fits, hard to say. What we need is good RW players and not force players into that spot. If a LW can, great. Not everyone is Tkachuk. We need players on ELC or cheap contracts replacing more expensive ones. I'm not sure we have the right coach to do this.

Saying we have the easiest schedule is like we dominate the non-playoff teams. We don't and tend to play down to the competition at times. Of the games remaining, the only one I am confident about winning is ANA. The home and away B2B is going to be a loss of one. We haven't fared well in those all year.

I read the scouting report from 2020, which suggests a strong skater. Let's see how he works in the AHL game... Strömgren is a winger with fast and powerful skating. Along with his great puck handling skills he can find creative solutions carrying the puck down the ice maneuvering through the defense. He is more of a shooter rather than a playmaker with a quick and accurate release but he also sees the ice very well to set up his teammates. (Erik Ohlsson, EP 2020)

Not another Meredith marryer. The world will come to an end.

I forget now, who did he have playing with him? Hiberdeau on the wrong wing. Had Pelletier on LW for 5 or so games. Who else has played LW while Huberdeau was on RW? Lucic? I forget. Sorry for the sarcasm. Duehr played one shoft with Kadri, then switched up.

Do you really need to ask? But, at the time, I believe that at the time, the leading scorers were: Phillips Pelletier Zohorna Not sure if Zary was up there at that point. Duehr got in on Jan. 10th, Pelletier not until Jan 21st. The annoying thing is Duehr only ever plays with the 4th line, almost like they want to justify the 4th line. Meanwhile Kadri stagnates on the 3rd line with Ritchie.

remaining schedule: Canucks, Ducks, Hawks, Jets, Canucks, Predators, Sharks remaining schedule: Red Wings, Devils, Flames, Predators, Sharks, Wild, Avalanche remaining schedule: Penguins, Blues, Stars, Vegas, Canes, Jets, Flames, Wild, Avalanche

NAS needs only 12 points in 9 games to hit 93. We need 10 points in 7 games. If CGY, NAS and WPG all played 500 hockey exactly, we would be last of the 3. 92, 91, 90. That's a lot of suckage. LOL

Didn't really have a place to post this, but Calgary signed their pick William Stromgren to an ELC. He will report to the AHL and sign an ATC. His NHL deal starts in 23/24.

If we only win 4, I think we are done. 91 points. 93 is a long shot to get in. Even 95 is not guaranteed.

Responding to the above: 2) I don't know that. Maybe some suggestion by players, maybe not. 3) The coach is responsible for the players that play in any given night. BT is responsible for the roster based on who the coach will use. Valimaki waived because Sutter did not want to play him and the cap used was prohibitive for eating popcorn. Mackey was traded because Sutter would not play him. BT brought up players to play and some played limited while other not a all. BT didn't sign any PTO's because Sutter didn't want them. 4) Coaching changes and players changes are not really linked as such. We have to make changes just due to the cap. We are losing 2+ players that are Sutter types. We have to be careful if we are making a coaching change to not get rid of players that could thrive. We do need to do better asset management with player aging, or just in terms of having too many of one type of player. Regarding team success, even a winning season like last year and a last ditch effort to get in this year does not justify keeping the coach or systems. Dallas and the coach moved on. Trotz has moved on a few times. Other teams do it all the time. It's not just that the coach fails. It's what they are looking to do in the future.

If we make the playoffs and win the cup, the noise is going to be quiet. Make the playoffs and lose? Not sure, depends on the reasons. Some see last playoffs loss as a combination of coaching and other factors. If the big plus for this coach is winning in the playoffs and he doesn't get it done, then what? Systems are only as successful as the results show.

It would be about the same as when we played Gaudreau. Why would you think that a signing in the NHL only suggests it's a publicity stunt. The "burn a year" part is an offer to eliminate one year of the RFA eligibility. That's gives him an extra incentive. Every game and every NHL pre-season game has risk of injury. I don't see the end of the season as being a big deal. He's not likely to be in the playoffs should we get in. If we are eliminated after three or so losses from making the playoffs, then we do what we always do. Call up players, play them, play the kids.

That's the negative side of me coming out. Probably should have stated it as one WPG win against us and a CGY loss to another team. If you combine the two things, we would only get to 93 points. I haven't seen the "magic number" for the playoffs yet. VAN and STL would be hard pressed to finish above us and even harder to make the playoffs. I think they can only get 91 max. I doubt 91 would be the cutoff. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but I haven't seen enough to think we will be winning 6 of 7 games.

I'm no longer sure of anything. We have 4th line and Zaddy/Stetcher pairing out for a goal against. Then they get a timely rebound goal on a nothing shot, because of a Lucic hit and a fast skating Duehr. Weegar and Gilbert out with them. LA was bad last night and still kept it close (overturned goal on offside and missed 2004 goal not withstanding). Sutter almost gives the game away with his dumb start of the 4th line players on the end of a PP. I believe LA hit the post on that shift. Markstrom deserves a lot for this win. LA was sluggish and had a lot of turnovers and we scored on goals Korpi had no chance on. Possibly because of the first game at elevation on a road trip. VAN and NAS will decide our fate. They are the two teams that have the most to play for and have beaten us. No wins in 2 games against NAS. Even in the games against VAN, but we play 2 in their barn. WPG seems to be imploding but still play us tough. Playing flawless hockey for the last 7 games seems next to impossible. If we managed that, we would either be unstoppable in the playoffs, or so burnt out from the fight that we waste 8 days.