travel_dude

Hanifin was on a maintenance day, so D should be the same.

Assumption based on yesterday's practice was that Adam Ruzicka was going to be back in the lineup tonight for the Flames. He implied in media availability that that's not happening, though. "Obviously, a little frustrating, right? But just day-to-day and work hard."

I will be careful to say that public comments is what I was talking about. Somehow, though, I don't think that the players are spared in private. Maybe it's BS for the fans or maybe he says to them we need more. The players speak to their own defiiciencies in public, so I lean to the latter. Small event, but it took Hubey awhile to get over the "taking a crap" comment. Same with the "sewed up a cow in 5 minutes" with Guddy. The Pelletier comment probably irked a bunch of people. Little things in the big picture.

I won't get into lotto chances or what we will do in the final 16, just some observations. 14th worst as of this morning. 13th with a loss due to RW record. 12th with a regulation loss to Ottawa. We then are just 2 ahead of Buffalo who will have 2 games in hand. One win out of those two and we drop to 11th. The placements change every game since the margins are so small. Ottawa is like a 4 point game. Any changes that have a positive impact to the team's record are pointless right now unless we win 12 or more games. 66 games into the season and you realize you had a problem? A loss today MAY mean we abondon the belief that we make the playoffs and START evaluating the players we MAY want to keep. And the prospects that SHOULD get a chance. Bring in as many prospects that you can. Bring up Phillips and Pettersen. Play them in spots that have decent players that are playing decent. Match their skills to those players we have. Forget about the pending UFA's, there is no reason to continue the farse.

I would rather lose the whatever the heck the identity is right now and search for it. The Dome was supposed to strike fear into the other teams. The only fear they have is that they will get injured, like happens very frequently. That is our identity; hurt someone.

Starting with a POHO would be a good first step. Burkie was the wrong choice. Too old school from a time that truculence was (one of) the reason you won a cup. Some of the trade and UFA targets seem to be wrong. But is it the wrong target or the wrong usage. And some of the targets are just Sutter types, lower skill, beefy. Don't need a Stevie Y, just a smart exec that knows the modern game. One that can help a GM like BT get the points across. That happens and you fire the coach and allow the GM to do the job.

We used to fly. Brodie, Hudler, Frolik, etc. Gio was the methodical one. He was better when he pushed the pace. Whatever, it's changed so much in the last few years. Fast attack. Fast transition. I don't think trading Johnny 4 years ago makes us better today. I do think that some things that happened with Tkachuk and Gaudreau really set them off. JG getting slashed and no response from the captain. Tkachuk involved with the Kings and zero support. Lucic was supposed to be the man, and he was a jerk. Tkachuk brough the game every game, and while I don't like some aspects, he was the guy. Lucic and Gio basically telling him to pipe down. The coach has turned the team into a low skill, low event, low speed, just shoot it team. The defense is "I got him, he's your's". The goaltending has been ruined, where the guy struggling the most gets the call. The guy playing well sits until he goes cold. Dump and chase, but send one guy in. Bennett style zone entries. I don't think Stone was a great player, but man we miss slapshots. Saw a player take a slapper from 6 feet out on a rebound. I don't even know he was close to hitting the net, but what a dumb play. The PP is useless. Poor use of personnel. Kadri on the boards. Ritchie (Little Lucic) net front. Top unit gets most of the minutes and is the worst. I know some suggest that the players are the issue and we have gone through many coaches. But I watch a coach playing as if he's coaching kids, you all get to play. But then he turns around and trashes the kids (players). I will be glad when we are officially eliminated. There will be no good reason to play useless vets. But, you know, cup rings. I watched Kadri and Huberdeau at times last year. There aren't at all the same. Dube's spark has been snuffed out. Manbgiapane is supposed to win battles in the crease area, cuz you know, you only score in the 2 feet in front. According to someone, 90% of the NHL goals are scored there. Leave that to Coleman and Kadri, if they want to go there. Need a beefy, skilled 2 feet from the net guy. Coach chased away the last one. Did the same to Bennett in his final chance to make something here. How many others are gone due to the current coach? Jarnkrok, Valimaki, Mackey, Rooney, Milano (PTO). How many more walk.

The post so nice you said it twice. I can understand why Backlund gets some propos. He's one of the only drafted, developed and played Flames players. But we need to stop with the lifetime deals. The fans tend to overrate the Flames and never seem to see other lesser known players. Necas for Tkachuk would have been a good start, but not a name brand. Fans would have hated it. I have no problems with the players coming back. But they are on the wrong team. No speed, no pace, boring other than the play of Gaudreau and Tkachuk last year.

There are players from the AHL that stay there until a smart coach gives them the right chance. It's not like we have a NHL quality 4th line. Or positions that seem set because they are so good. He would be on the Ducks by now, and that's not a shot to the Ducks. It's the reality that some coaches only see the small picture. He may not be 100% ready for NHL, but neither was Pelletier. Takes a couple of games.

I think you get it. I don't expect every player to be 100% every single game of 82. It's impossible. And I don't think the team doesn't play. They get frustrated with the play. Momentum is difficult to ,maintain when you have a line that gives it back every shift. And next to zero reaction to them doing it. Next up, same bunch. I have no issue sitting Ruzie for a game. Carrot or stick, and it works some of the time. But to sit for 10-20 games just so someone else can underperform. He bumps down Pelletier because he thought he wasn't bringing it. Really? That was the problem? Huberdeau played on his wrong wing for 34 games. He admitted he's never played on RW before. Says he doesn't see the ice that way. Genius uses him there to have Lucic, Pelletier and Ritchie play RW. If anything Pelletier could play RW without much dropoff.

What's really missing right now beyond the obvious, is a C. We are nobody's team. Not Iggy's, not even Gio's. We have leaders but they are just told waht to do. I know that too simplistic, since there are a dozens problems right now. Just flush the season, can the coach and begin the search. Start with a POHO to begin the team rebuild. Have them figure out what we have and where we should go. No point hiring a coach when we don't have next year's team yet. And we have to figure out what that should be. Not the lowest commom demoninator, but the highest. Build from the net out. If Markstrom isn't part of the solution, then he's part of the problem. Can we find the right goalie coach. What D pieces do we have and how are they positioned to succeed? Next up, what F pieces do we have. Do we have prospects that should be in the NHL. Who are the keepers on this team? Who is just another F taking up space. The culture so carefully designed is infected by cup rings that claim to know. They have no repercussions for their play. That belittles the guys trying to make it and some roster players look at it and question it. Why the hech do I need to wrech my shoulder when I see a pylon playing as many minutes.

"Major" changes to the lineup. See if you can spot the differences: Pelletier-Lindholm-Toffoli Huberdeau-Kadri-Dube Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman Lucic-Ruzicka-Duehr Ritchie-Lewis Weegar-Andersson Gilbert-Tanev Zadorov-Stecher Markstrom Vlada

Jonathan Huberdeau set an NHL franchise record for most assists for a LW last season. So here’s what Sutter does: -Plays him RW -Gives him bottom 6 guys to play with -Gives him a Center that barely wins a faceoff and doesn’t pass

I wouldn't worry about a strong finish. We are a 500 team. Expect about 88 points at the end. We will likely be passed by DET, BUFF, WAS, NAS and OTT. We likely beat SJS and ANA and ARI, plus take one from VGK, DAL or WPG. The other teams we play are playing for pride or their jobs. Expect more 3-1, 5-2, 3-2 losses. And don't expect any help coming from the kids. Whether Rosie deserves to play, there's a list of guys that don't we see every night. Whether Duehr is better than Lewis or Lucic doesn't matter. Even in a losing effort, the coach is all about this cup experience needing to be out there. I hear analysts talk about a shooting mentality. Debrusk always talks about it in Oilers games. A mediocre reults team with deadly players. Their D actually shoot from the point, not that it's a winning plan, but better than none. Or mentality is shoot towards the net from anywhere. No screen no rebounds. Pass to the angle instead of taking the direct shot. Lane to the net, pass it to the wing. Most of the counting stats don't support us being a good playing team. Plus/minus, GF/GA, SH%, SA%, GAA, player scoring. The GM made a couple of moves at TDL. Not to fix the top 6 or even add anyone that impacts the game. Replace two guys not being used with guys that the coach likely uses. And we can see what value they have for a team like this. The GM can make one single move for the good of the team. Fire the coach and evaluate the players and the A/coaches remaining. Too late and probably kills our draft hopes. Maybe wait a week until we have completely lost the playoff hopes. Sit the pending UFA's. Use a different set of lines every night. See what you have on the team.

There isn't a single line I can point to and suggest that they have the right mix. 2nd line Ritchie or Pelletier or Lucic or Lewis or Coleman or.... Use Hiberdeau on RW because we need another LW. Kadri has been the common demoninator. Backlund's line is the best defensive line we have, but offers little scoring most nights. Backlund has one of the best entry rates of the C's. But the line has few finishers. We have guys shooting at above 12%, but few are taking shots. Toffoli has 210 shots to Lindholm 138 to Dube 115. Kadri has 220 to Huberdeau 103. Backlund 218 to Mange 146. Huberdeau is actually shooting at 11.7%. Pretty hard to evaluate this team's foundation. We haven't had a stable top 6 for longer than a year. Perhaps the closest was the end of the Wardo year through last year. Even that was plagued by inconsistent goaltending. If we had Gibson we would know a bit more. Like it or not, we have a coach that had success with elite scoring players and elite goaltending. We have neither, so we always look mediocre. We can't score our way out of a bad goalie game. We can't play a 2-1 game. Only way we have a chance is if we score first and score 2-3 goals in the first. So, moving forward, sit down with the great hockey minds and figure out what we need to be. Look at what we have and decide what needs to go and what you need to get there. Find the coach that matches the style you want to play. I would rather miss this and next year's playoffs than a cycle of in one year and out the next. As long as it's not just the result of bad play and is an actual re-tool.

Whether the coach is the root cause or the players, it doesn't matter. No coach survives a season like this. There is nothing to point to and say, yeah this part was good. There has not been any serious looks at the lines or practices to change anything. Hey, lets try demoting Dube to help the 4th line. Hey, lets use the replacement for a 4th liner as the 2nd line LW. Hey, lets try exactly the same things when we get down a goal. The simple reality is that we aren't set up to win the way the coach wants. Not a defensive team with stellar goaltending. Not a transition team that has a fast attack. Not skilled enough on 4 lines to score from impossible angles.

Well, we do have good shooters but nobody can get them the puck on their stick. Put it in their feet. Into a bunch of sticks. Into a crowd. And those that can shoot share time with the f'in useless players of which we have a few. Most important home game in weeks and we play Lucic at all. Coach has no clue who even knows how to play. And he was pretty good in dumbing down the game to fit the low skill guys. It's not like the coach just ruined the team. That began at game 7. Our best season start and he gotta break it down. Too exciting having comeback wins. Too much scoring; it a 2-1 league. The unfortunate thing is that minor changes to the gameplan and a few roster changes and we are not this team. Wrong coach to get there. Nothing works longer than 2 games now. Nothing, because the coach lacks the vision to see that he doesn't have a winning formula. No elite scoring, because there is no chemistry. No elite goaltending because it's an off year. And the D is messed up. Trying to play the same style as last year without scoring and goalies. It was a 4-1 league last year. Sell high on Backlund. He's not the problem, but we can't just play defensive hockey. Sell Hanifin. It's not that he is bad, but you can't play him 20 minutes and expect him to win for you. Too many things he does set us back. Too many lost battles. Low hockey IQ at times. Sell Tanev. A warrior doesn't help when he's the only one and starting to age out. Trade Markstrom. I don't care if Vladar is not ready, we just need to start again. Trade Mangiapane. He probably does better in a different situation, but maybe not. Re-sign Lindholm and Toffoli. Only two pure shooters we have. Keep them apart. Find them the right players. Sign Coronato. GIve him a top C and a passer. Keep Kadri away from Huberdeau. The owners are nuts. They backed the wrong horse. Continuing down this path is a waste of money. Cut bait, bring in a decent coach, reduce payroll. Have enough cap that you can take on some crap contract to supplement the draft. I'm not talking about a tank, just a re-tool. Keep the right players, bring in the right trades/UFA's and prospects, and we don't suffer. Closer to OTT than ARI. A hungry team will play. Right now we are a well fed team that skates in mud. At least 3 spots gifted to useless players. Have an off night? Don't worry if you are over 30 or 6'3" and over. (rant over)

I don't know how a team with Lucic and Lewis and Ritchie can possibly lose any games.

Two games at home in a row that they were booed off the ice.

Trade out Backlund to re-sign Ritchie for 4 years. With a raise

Send down Duehr and Pelletier. No point right now. Coach has ruined a good team.

Season is done.

I hate when Ras passes up the shot for a pass to the side.

Pinball hockey