travel_dude

Same lineup for Flames.

That was saying that 16 is not exactly a great area to be choosing. In a draft that has 16 or so top end players, it's just picking whoever is available then. Or trading to move up. Best bet is to just call it now and shut down the injured guys. If we had more room for error, I would say go for it. We literally have one 2-game losing streak and maybe a couple OTL with the rest wins to make it. If this was game 82 and we needed the win to have a 50/50 chance to get in? Sure. Instead, a win tonight means we need another 12 out of 16 to so it. And that still might not do it. Sorry so downer-ish. The Bandwagon Bus ran over me, then backed up over me. Sutter was driving.

You mean a Janko? It depends what the available prospects are when we step up. It might be a Schneider/Zary type choice or a Coronato/Cossa type. Not position, but level.

No changes to the Flames lineup at all. Not that I expected it, but I guess a 0-0 tie is a win in the coach's book. Marky either turned a corner after becoming a dad, or was fortunate to win. The lines either play with some urgency or they revert to the mess we saw against DET (and a ton of other games).

Crap or get off the pot. Somehow, we managed to be bad enough to get Monahan, Bennett and Tkachuk. I can see how we would not be as bad as we were during the year leading up to the 2013 and 2015 draft years. A lot of mixed results between that and Tkachuk year. The coach and players put us in this boat. You can't just decide, oh I think I want to start winning. You had your chance. LOL.

It all comes down to the coming week. If we don't stumble, it puts pressure on other teams. If we stumble, we are basically done.

Ducks are 1-4 in their last 5 in Calgary; we have owned them. But, Flames are 0-4 in their last 4 home games.

Okay, so we are 65 games in to the season. Huberdeau hasn't really stood out for any length of time. The Lucic experiment. Huberdeau on RW and Lucic on LW. Some scoring, perhaps scoring enough to make sense for a bit. Didn't really have sustained effort to get Lucic going. Huberdeau on RW with Pelletier on LW. Pelletier brought jump to the line. Had some spark to Huberdeau but didn't sustain. Huberdeau on RW and Ritchie on LW. One game they scored on the first rebound of the game, garbage time. Hasn't translated into anything. Something like 36 games that Hubey has been on RW. Playing about 2 minutes less per game this season. 24 points in that stretch. Respectable but not high end numbers.

Well, you could say that Kaprisov being out for 3-4 weeks could be a positive for the Flames. Sure, but they only need about a win % of about 500 to get 99 points. We should really just focus on WPG and EDM. They have bad records over the last 10. WPG (5-3-2) and EDM (2-6-2). If anything, those are the teams we are more likely to overtake. Preds had a better record in the last 10 and are better positioned to pass all three. They are only 9 back of EDM with 4 games in hand. I didn't realize this but in the last 18 games, Lucic has been on the ice for 9 goals against an 2 for. Yet, if you look at icetime, he's played like a middle 6 player most of those games.

He has one game where he did something. The next he just took penalties. I would be okay with Ritchie if he was a 20 goal scorer at $2M or less. But, I don't see the great work he is doing for us now. It's no different than asking his brother to play in the top 6. He can do stuff, worth about $750k. Last year we had a better balance of toughness and skill. This year we have lost the skill to try to play a tougher game. That was not the problem last year in the playoffs. We lacked secondary scoring when the top line dried up. Now, we don't even have the high end scoring from one line.

97 points to be safe. For context, winning 13 of 17 in regulation or OT/SO is a .76 win ratio. In another view, it's winning 3 of every 4. I have no desire to even think about the magic number, since there are too many teams too close. Division games are critical for points. Vegas and LA games matter because we need the points. Unlikely to catch either team, so any type of win is what matters. WPG and NAS game hurt more our chances. What I worry about is what always happens after a big win. We feel good about the last game. We think we can win the next one. We play down to the level or expect the same gameplan as a contender.

Facts Sheet: https://unionathletics.com/sports/mens-ice-hockey/roster/connor-murphy/15508

NAS has 4 games in hand and are just 2 points back. Where I am a positive fan, the math doesn't add up. 2 + 2 no longer equals 4. The Jets don't make sense right now. 2 wins in their last 10. They have a good coach that will figure it out. IT's crazy to think that the West is not even close to set. One or more of EDM, CGY, SEA, COL, WPG may miss the playoffs. COL is most likely to make it. After that, it's one cold goalie away from missing it.

And we never won the cup with him, or won a round after 2004 under him. You play 70 games and you are toast. The problem is Sutter has no trust in Vladar right now. Maybe rightly so, but if Marky tanks again, there is no good place for Vladar to come in. Had to give Marky B2B games on the road. That should never happen but it did. Maybe Markstrom is the answer, but I doubt he can win another 14 games.

The only way for us to make the playoffs is to go on a hot streak. Since Marky played well in 2 out of his 40 starts, he should get the bulk. That logic will mean we are done in round one is we make it. Have to have two elite goalies to win now and into the playoffs. 14 wins is asking a lot for one goalie. And he would be toast.

I think he's a good judge of talent, but development ruins so many players. Is Wright going to be the next one? Hard to say the way they jerked him around to start. Slapkowsky? No idea. Playing with MTL can turn you into a Smurf. I do think CGY uses his rankings more than others do. I sometimes think he spends too much time in Canada. But then again, that's where he is. U18 and U20 as supplemental info. I wonder if you watch more hockey than he does.

The only sure thing is winning all of the games gets you a high degree of getting in. 17 games remaining (had it as 18, but was wrong) That gets us 105 points. I was just using points percentage as a way of calculating based on season to date. It doesn't take into account current trend or strength of schedule. But I will say these few comments about the remaining game. We tend to beat ANA and ARI. We have beaten SJS twice. We have lost to CHI twice. We have beaten WPG and lost to them. VAN is wins and losses. We have never beaten Vegas in Vegas. I have no way to even predict how we will do. I just want one or the other, in or out and a better draft pick. Losing the playoffs on game 82 may be exciting, but pointless. Even last year, we didn't clinch until really late.

The points will depend on what WPG, MIN, NAS, COL and EDM/SEA do. Most of our games are against teams below us. Those don't impact the points required to make it. We are 10th in points % behind NAS.

TO got it right. I don't doubt that.

League reviewed, not requested. But Sutter felt it was offside. If he had to, he would have challenged. All the players missed it. This game was not as much as a must have as the Pacific games will be. 12 games against the division. They need a win in every game against teams below us. They need to beat LA and Vegas for points. They need to beat CHI, DAL and OTT for points. They need to beat WPG and NAS to battle for WC spots. Really, the next 3 games decide our fate. ANA, OTT and ARI.

We signed him August 2nd. Camp didn't start for quite some time. The contract avoided arbitration, so both parties were wanting to get it done. Even if they knew about the issues, they probably had no choice. Unsigned means no chance of playing this year.

Pro athletes don't throw in the towel. But what I saw last month was a team that seemed to have realized how bad off they were. Perhaps they were tuning out the coach. There was little help offered by the GM, except the Ritchie swap. Watched too many games where the emotion level was nil. More games though were do something and it backfires, then another mistake. Goal on first shot or first mistake. Unluckiest team in the league. It's like the line in the movie The Replacements... It's like quicksand. You do something and it goes wrong, you try to do something else and it gets worse. Like quicksand. Own goal I can deal with, same with mistakes. Slack plays or half attempts at shots are not. Giving up on plays and watching the other team score. We scored first against Dallas and never were behind against Minny. 4 points and 1 RW and ROW. Only the points help us get in. We are last in the hopefuls because of RW. If we get 14 of 18 wins in regulation, then we make the playoffs. The Math doesn't add up for that to happen. It's possible, but so is every team going on a run. 13 wins (or a possible 26 points) may not be enough. That's little room for error.

I hold no crazy thoughts that we can run the table. Nor do I think it's the right message to a team this year. Accept the fate of missing the playoffs. It happened in February. You all made it happen (players, coach, GM). It's like Walsh said.

I don't know that they can get a year back on the contract. He's being paid. At best, they could suspend him and terminate it I think. That wouldn't be a good look, nor does any GM use that in these types of cases.

Correct call or not, it's 50/50 at best.