travel_dude

Trip on Weegar ignored and it lead to a decent chance. Lucic is useless out there. Standing around near the boards doesn't do anything. Zohorna looked a little banged up after his shift. Think he went into the boards funny.

You mean like Fox? Gaureau was awesome as a prospect. St. Louis? I think the issue is we never really get to the point of them making the NHL unless they went directly there. Mange was a great prospect, that has soured a bit this year. Like Debrincat in junior. But anyway, I get your pint.

That's a big contract for a team to claim. Maybe Zona will pick him up. Or Buffalo or the Ducks. Buffalo is at least competing this year, while the others are in JJ mode.

I fail to see the comp between Joker and Toffee. Toff was brought in to complete a team lacking in playoff performers. It really didn't work out last year because we were a C short. The top line was set, and the Backlund line didn't need a RW. Jarnkrok was the wrong idea last year, maybe would have worked better this year. If the reason you don't like the GM is because he didn't embrace the rebuild, fine. Neal and Brouwer were mistakes. Lazar trade a bad idea. Monahan was annoying because he was better than the overpriced guy that we kept. But, it was 50/50 that Monahan would even rebound. Maybe less so by staying on this team. Our style didn't fit well with his play below the top line. Probably ends up injured again. But anyway, we can evaluate while the season is still rolling if you like. The team isn't a plug team and the way the new ones play is part coach and part player. If we win the cup, then the GM is a genious. If we are in the ugly middle, then we have to look at a variety of reasons. Long term, the GM is on the hook for the mistakes made if we drop year over year. The owners will evaluate based on the relative success.

NO changes to Flames lines at practice, other than Zohorna in for Ritchie (injury). Could they possibly try swapping Lucic with Ruzie? No RHS on that line is one thing, but forcing Hubey to RW so you can play Lucic? Stupid.

The problem is that nobody calls out the coach for the decisions. We win with Lucic in the top 6, so it must be the right choice. Yet we had a 5-1 record to start the season and needed to make changes because we were winning where we maybe shouldn't have. Immediately, we started on a losing streak losing 7 in a row. Valji asks about Phillips and is derided for such stupid talk. Gets called up regardless, along with the big guy and the big guy gets games and minutes. Not even a Flames prospect. A waiver pickup. At some point you need to see what you have. I can wait on Wolf, but we have high performing prospects.

I'm not sure what you are referring to with Tanev. Every player at some time has an injury. I don't think Tanev's was that serious. No way can you justify an IR. Kyl isn't missing due to injury. Personal time related to his family. Beyond that, no idea. But, I do think we should be bringing in a Poirier or Meloche or Kuz or Mackey or whatever. Stone has one or two good things that he does. Most of the time he's a liability in our zone or on the backcheck.

The lineup thread has given at least 3 or 4 versions that are way better. What we have right now is Lucic sheltered with two top players. Put him on the 4th line and perhaps they can still handle having him there. I dunno. I'm not convinced that Lucic does anything other than burying them in the D zone. Does he make good passes? Yes, but then again I would hope he could do one thing. So, we have a lineup that can beat VAN, the Ducks, Sharks and tie the Kings. SEA was a win, but they were thumped by a touchdown against the Oilers. We don't have a strong set of lines. Some good ones that click some nights. Even maybe one that does every night. I still feel something is missing.

Monahan is perhaps an extreme example and not one that a team typically goes through. Your other points I agree with. Phillips and Zoh were called up but the solution was not to really give him a shot. Perhaps the lone penalty he took set off Sutter. Whatever. Coleman and Backlund have killed games with dumb penalties. But I would go further and suggest that we don't wait for an injury to test a player. We had 20 games where Kadri and Hiberdeau were sucking wind and not creating. Move around the chess pieces. Yet, we had 3 players in the AHL that could have brought something different. A passer for Kadri's wing. A C/RW when we had no other RW solutions. A smaller sniper when we were missing the net. Instead, rinse and repeat. Nothing has changed other than Kadri and Hiberdeau are finding their range. The lines still don't all play well on the same night. We force Hubey to RW because they want Lucic on the wing. We had top line with Ruzie performing well and a 4th line with Ritchie and Lucic putting up points. Lucic was the only F in the entire lineup that was doing little.

The way Harvard is playing, I would almost expect him to be in the Final Four. Don't know that he would be up for the Hobey, but I do think he may be a dark horse. They did recently move him to C, so he is playing in all situations now. Good for us for development, but position wise, not so good. My feelings about the roster are mixed. We have some good pieces that would help in the playoffs. But, we also have some guys that are near the end of their careers. And we have seen how we are reluctant to use younger players. I get that Ruzicka is playing every game, but he's below Lucic in rotation. It would be awesome to have a top prospect coming in for the playoffs. But, I just don't see it happening with this roster. Almost need a trade to shake it up.

Think about Kucherov. Kyl could come back any time, he's on the reserve list. After the TDL, you can sign or trade for players but they aren't eligible for the post season. If you are thinking about Coronato, I (suspect) think that they can sign him nd he could play. But I'm not sure about that one. When we signed Gaudreau, we didn't make the playoffs.

When Tanev is out, Markstrom doesn't play well. So it seems. This year we lost close games without Tanev and we won some with him in. So, it's good that we have both, chalk one up for BT, Better than a Campbell or a Smith. We overpaid but he's a 60 game goalie, unlike Campbell. Other guys became available long after we got our goalie.

I think the only one that can mitigate the dumb play is Tanev. Every year it seems to be Tanev, part of the best shutdown pair on the Flames. So we give Weegar Tanev. Awesome, but we have holes. I might consider Weegar with Ras and Hanifin-Tanev. Really, we have a 3rd pairing hole. Kylington needs to play soon or we get a 3rd pair D or we try out Meloche (or Poirier, whatever).

Let the suckage continue.

We need to get Mangiapane going. One way or the other. He becomes the player he was last year or he goes for a player that can bring it. The buttonhook gets really old when you don't have Gaudreau level skills.

They give up the ice as soon as they have a lead after 2. It was hanging on and a better team would have killed us.

And CMD had his points streak end. Awwweeee

I feel another year older watching us try to win against a lesser team.

Breadman should be called Postman

Lucic late on a shift is really scary.

I hate when they stop offense to try to defend a one goal lead. It creates a lack of anything other than dump and nobody chase. And we still look like we are outnumbered in the D zone.

Posties are our fave.

The refs seem a little reluctant to call the Nucks for infractiuions. Coleeman hooked on a breakaway, no call. Hanifin checks using his backside, and he gets called.

Weegar's first