travel_dude

One game is all we are really seeing. Ruzie, Milano and Eakin are being evaluated against a top roster. Huberdeau, Toffoli, Dube and Rooney are there so we don't spend the entire game defending. You will likely see Phillips with some vets to get a better sense. Same with Pelletier. The first year AHL players and try outs will be sent down first. Look at the 3rd group.

#Flames morning skate ahead of preseason game five in Edmonton: Huberdeau-Ruzicka-Toffoli Dube-Rooney-Eakin Zary-Schwindt-Milano McLain-Bishop-Duehr Hanifin-Andersson Mackey-Stone Valimaki-Meloche Vladar Wolf

I think the chances of a League minimum salary big C stands a better chance of being claimed. Valimaki is a bit rich to take on. Sutter is a bit down on Ruzie, but that's a process to get there for him. Has to be consistent, which is really what Sutter is looking for. The high end skill shows up at times, just not every night. Milano isn't going to break the bank, but he's an option for top 6 wing. Would like to see how he would work with Mange and Kadri to get a sense. Eakin is one of those players that could be signed, but you waive him to gain flexibility. I suspect Sutter likes his faceoff ability; another Richardson type. With Ritchie, Ruzicka, Milano, Eakin and Pelletier all looking for a spot, we can't keep them all. I don't think BT will waive Ritchie since EDM wanted to sign him to a PTO. They know what he is and would love to snag him. 12F without Pelletier and Ritchie. Signing Eakin and Milano creates more problems. We can't have 14F and 8D, with Stone and Meloche, in case Kylington is out for a bit. Would be fine with Milano as 13th F, keep up Stone and Meloche. If Kylington comes back soon, we have an extra pair/spares to work with.

Ruzie has to be waived, so I think that's a non-starter.

Unless something earth shattering happens, I would expect BT doesn't waive Ruzie. A lot of players were waived yesterday, but none of them were really NHL level players. Valimaki has to have a great camp as intensity ramps up, and tonight's tilt against basically the Oilers opening day roster, is his greatest test. Would prefer to see him play with Stone, as that would showcase him with a solid D player from last year. Meloche has stood out on his own, so I don't think he needs to do anything but play solid D. I think it's very possible that we go with Meloche and Stone as 7 and 8. One of them is 6 until Kylington comes back. I just don't see the open spot for Valimaki. I think they hold off waiving him while working on a trade. It's riskier than waiving him now, since teams will expect him to be waived. Overall though, waiving is low risk due to the cap hit.

Looks like they are sending Hubie etc. to EDM for the preseason game. I think it's not a bad idea, Toffee near some reps to get going. Gives some time at home to get Mangiapane used to Kadri. I would hazard a guess on the lines: Hubie-Lindy-Toffoli Milano-Zary/Eakin-Dube Ruzicka-Schwindt-Eakin/Zary Bishop-McLain-Duehr Probably more likely to see Eakin on line 2 as a more NHL ready line.

Cap-wise, I'm not sure what we can do. With Pelletier and Valimaki sent to AHL, that gives us $3.2M available. That's with 12F and 6D. Meloche + Stone = $1.6M remaining. Milano = about $800k remaining. Milano hasn't done much yet, but it's not really a good read. I would think his upside is higher than Eakin. We need top 9 depth more than another depth C near the end of his career. I am fine with both Meloche and Stone for depth. Meloche understands defense and Stone is more than a 3rd pairing guy. He can take bigger minutes and doesn't look out of place. He's the guy you can park for a month and he never misses a beat.

While Lewis could be sent to the AHL, Lucic can't due to the NMC. Agree that Lucic was bad, but he looks like he's still recovering from injury. I really think there is enough talent that he could be 13th and play games where you need the toughness, also to save him a bit of wear and tear. This really wasn't much of a game to project any of the team. They beat a team they should beat 10/10 times. The prospects playing aren't NHL bound any time soon. Sutter is a tweener, and his experience will be useful in the AHL. Daddy is too hard on his kids to play him over a prospect or other vet. So far, not many of the prospects look to be a lock to make the team. Valimaki seems about 8th or 9th, but the cost to waive him is $550k wasted cap. Ruzie hasn't shown up on top of his game yet, but he should be playing with vets to see how close he is. Zary looks close, but I would be careful with him. Poirier is close or seems that way, but we don't need him this year. Pelletier still hasn't done much on offense, but looks good defensively (mostly). Phillips looks good, but has to play better than guys taller and bigger. The PTO guys might end up signing, but more from BT than Sutter's early assessment. Eakin is good on the dot, but hasn't shown much. Milano makes some plays but hasn't stood out. Stone is going to get a deal, which is just. I have liked Rooney. I think Mangiapane should play with Hubie and stick Toffoli with Kadri, unless we happen to make a trade for a top 6 RW. It's gonna take some time before Toffoli figures out Hubie, and it could work out, but I think we have to be ready to play our 3 best players on the top line. We shall see.

Tied for last on the team with one assist. Not that we did much, but he was playing middle 6. Dube is like every other guy outside the top 5 players. Gotta show that you are worthy of extra minutes or a consistent spot. The level of play determines if you move up or down. If you can do that on a wing or at C, then you get the minutes. Regarding trades, it's all we do here. This player for that, this package for that. Had anyone suggested Tkachuk for Hubie/Weegar/Schwinny and a 1st, it would have been scoffed at. Some trade suggestions are sideways. It's not personal. Some players get more props than others. I would prefer to trade a guy like Valimaki that looks like he's getting waived in October. It's not that I think he can't become a good player, just that the runway gets shorter. Kylington effectively took his spot last year. Meloche and/or Stone might do that this year.

Oh yes, the 8 goals against non-playoff teams (and NAS) to finish the season was impressive. LOL. Playoffs, not so much. Seriously though, it's time for him to take a step. I'm not worried about the preseason. He's no rookie so we should be seeing him come on strong in first month. Not bust category yet, just need to see something this season.

Initially, I thought that Valimaki would be a waiver casualty, getting claimed after being waived. Now, I not so sure. He hasn't done enough to stay on the roster, but at the same time, he hasn't shown he is worth it to a NHL team to claim. He's being lapped by even guys like Poirier. Has to prove better than Stone and Meloche, who have all looked NHL ready at this point. Sure it's a small sample size, but if you aren't the best on a AHL roster in preseason, you aren't likely to survive the cuts. Give the kid some props for sticking with it, but he has to simplify his game or focus on a role that shows his skills. What he is showing isn't working. I really hate it when the young guys don't do enough to make the team. I'm not saying he feels he should be there, just that he hasn't proved it yet. He will be here until the last cuts, but I'm not really confident at this point. Too bad.

Possible lines for tonight: Huberdeau-Lindholm-ToffoliMangiapane-Kadri/Backlund-ColemanLucic-Rooney-LewisSutter-Bishop-McLainHanifin-AnderssonZadorov-WeegarPoirier-TanevSolovyov-StoneMarkstromWolf

Look, we are all looking for Dube to take a big step. The finish to the NHL season proved that he can score, but he didn't carry that into the playoffs. At all. It might just be that he is best suited to be a C. That is problematic considering the depth there, and he was taken off that last season when opportunities existed. If he wants to be taken seriously as a middle 6 winger, he has to improve the same way Tkachuk and Mangiapane did with Backlund. Or he has to become another Coleman and sacrifice offense in favor of preventing goals and gaining trust. The opportunity is there to play with Kadri. If that's not in the cards, then fitting in with Backlund to the point of being the best option should be his goal. He's in the same boat as Bennett was his final season here. That's the reality. If he ends up on the 4th line, then his time is done.

I wasn't sure on the lines because there was no audio. Had to use another stream to get full coverage. Admitedly, I was still not sure who played with who. For the 3rd, they used Ruzie at C.

I thought that some of the line choices ruined any chance of good performances. Dube looked like he was struggling to do much. Same issues as last year. Valimaki was not good. Ruzie/Zary/Milano played the most minutes. All of them had looks and Zary was using the other well. Zary isn't ready; too much missed time, not enough pro experience. Sutter talked about Ruzie needing to make the opening day roister. Said the chances at C are slim, so needs to show he can be a winger as well. Right now, he could be as high as a 3rd LW, but hard to say. Needs to learn how to speed up the wings. Vladar was solid and Sutter is impressed. Wants him to take another step. Says the regular platers trust him. Tonight is mostly Flames roster against EDM. Fringe guys need to impress. Saying that, the first 4 games mean little. As the competition ramps up, the play needs to with it.

You just talked yourself out of the deal LOL. I'm not sure what JR would do for us; sometimes we aren't the best fit for players. I thought Jarnkrok would fit like a glove, not a rubber boot. Dube should be a 20g guy, but looks like a Janko. Valimaki is not impressing. Maybe it's the D first coaching. It works for some not all. Willie Nee would probably be a 20 g guy here, since Sutter would strip him down to being a 2 way player.

Yikes. As much as that sounds good, the new deal for JR will be a killer. Think 8+

It's unfortunate, but it's time he shows what we thought he would be. Kylington had as much reason to be upset with getting constantly put aside in favor of TDL useless guys. But he showed up ripped and took the spot. You want a spot, don't be a high maintenance guy. You get instructions, do what is asked. Sorry, that's me being a jerk. It's a tough gig. He should be a top 6 guy by now. But he didn't look like one when he played the few he did. And he certainly didn't go to the AHL and become the top guy. I do know that he fought Sutter last year in the AHL and was suspended. But we have lots of players that have faced each other.

Think of it as a TDL deal where we trade Monahan for a slightly more expensive cap hit. If it costs a bunch of assets at TDL, this is almost the same. Except we get a player we can sign for long term. Monahan may be worth $3M this year, but he has to do way more than he did in the last 2 years. Does MTL have a playmaker that can set him up for 15 goals? TBH, I am miffed that it cost a 1st, but we traded out a third liner for a top 6 C. We may live to regret both parts of the deal, but Kadri at least give you 100% of skills that we didn't have. Neither Backlund nor Rooney give you 30 goal potential in a 2C scoring role. I would have been okay keeping Monahan for this year, if we had a place and cap. We really didn't. Tough business, but once JG walked, the reasons for keeping him were mostly gone. In other words the only way he would get back to 30 g.

See where Ruzicka will play on the wing tonight with Zary and Milano. Good for him to see where he can earn a spot.

Yeah, it really depends on how the rest of the line and PP works this year. If Lindholm is able to score 40+ and the "other guy" is over 30, then it may be close. Huberdeau also may score more goals himself this year. What I was really getting at was that Tkachuk got a lot of points from blind passes to JG as well as perfect passes from him. That may happen this year for him, but I somehow doubt it. No slight to Tkachuk either. If we could have had Hubie with Tkachuk, that would have been interesting.

Good point. The roster has to be trimmed down though. Too many players to juggle in a camp. You need to work on specific things with the main group. They will rotate in and out the guys that look the best, but it's going to be roughly 2 squads. Top 6 from each group is the ones to focus on. Getting a bump to it means you are getting a look. Phillips, Milano, Klapka, Schwinny, Zary are getting an extra look. IMHO

In some ways, they traded the 1st for cap relief. They sent potentially $17M + a 1st for a $9.5M player. Added the prospect for the age difference. Good deal for both teams, but I think we will prefer the players we got. Tkachuk without Gaudreau is similar to Bennett without Huberdeau. Poor analogy, but I don't think Tkachuk would have been 100 point player this season after JG left.

Well, it's early yet. The kids will get 2-3 games to prove they are worth keeping for the 4th game. Sutter hasn't seen much of him yet. Give it the next game before we get too high on him. That's true of Milano, but he has a little less to prove.

Practice Notes Group 1 Lines Jonathan Huberdeau - Elias Lindholm - Tyler Toffoli Dillon Dube - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman Cody Eakin - Connor Zary - Sonny Milano Brett Sutter - Clark Bishop - Walker Duehr Group 1 Pairings MacKenzie Weegar - Christopher Tanev Noah Hanifin - Rasmus Andersson Jeremie Poirier - Colton Poolman Group 1 Goaltenders Dan Vladar Oscar Dansk Group 2 Lines Andrew Mangiapane - Nazem Kadri - Matthew Phillips Jakob Pelletier - Adam Ruzicka - Adam Klapka Milan Lucic - Kevin Rooney - Trevor Lewis Mitch McLain - Ben Jones - Cole Schwindt Alex Gallant Group 2 Pairings Nikita Zadorov - Nicolas Meloche Juuso Valimaki - Michael Stone Dennis Gilbert - Nick DeSimone Chris Tanev (skated in both groups) Group 2 Goaltenders Jacob Markstrom Dustin Wolf