travel_dude

They really haven't had a defined role yet. Shutdown? Possession? Shooters? Toffee is pretty good at holding the puck, but a pass to Backlund is normally a waste. IMHO. The best sequence I have seen from that line was Mange and Toffee connecting on a play. Sure, it started with a defensive play by Backlund, but really the majority occured between the blueline and the net. Either we need to get Jarnkrok used to passing to those two or bring in Ruzie. I would prefer to use Coleman with Backlund, as he's better at pressuring the other players. Dube on RW makes sense to me. He's played well with Backs and Coleman in the past. That may give us two scoring lines, a shutdown line and a great forechecking line. Wasting shooters on a shutdown line makes no sense to me.

Naw, I was married then. Putting in 12 hours days between work and school. Them were the days that you more or less had to use computer labs to do any work.

The things that Button went on about just seemed to fade. He never looked impressive at the WJC. And he's dropped from KHL to VHL, which is not a good look. I was never a fan, nor thought he would become anything. I have similar doubts to Cossa, but I won't go on about them here. He's tailed off this year in the WHL, so not sure what's up there.

Didn't realize I went to SMU with her. Well, that's not quite accurate. I may have taken some classed in Economics while she was there. I went back to SMU part time to finish a degree I started in 79. Switched to Computer Science from general Arts.

You have to wonder. Once we brought in Labarbara, things seemed to change. Rittich was basically ruined by coaching decisions. Blame applies to Wardo for that, but he would be listening to JS. And I think some things that JS suggested made Rittich worse, like playing the puck like Mikey.

Yeah, I heard that before. I don't care how he started, just stop being a douche every day. Or if you are a douche, don't appear in public. Go back to the douche pool. EF that is. F EF.

I'm not saying they are right or wrong. Cossa is huge and has a great record for a big goalie. Wally is doing well in the SHL. DET got the guy they wanted. It must have caused a bunch of GM/scouts to ask WTF? Askarov has fallen out of the limelight now too. Was supposed to be the great one, but starting to look more like a bust so far.

He reported it by accident. The blockchain is no big deal, everyone says it. It's why we have a filter. Blockchain Eric Francis and the little pony he rode into town on.

You can't really fault the Gillies or Parsons selections. Swing and a miss. It happens. The unfortunate side effect was less darts thrown for other goalies (Mac vs Demko didn't even come close to dart board). They should pick a goalie every year, some late ones, and every couple of years a higher rated one. We really should have picked Wallstedt this year, but I can't really say we missed with Coronato. Not sure why EDM passed on him. I think the mistake we made was not bringing in a backup to Rittich and used him like one at times. Wasting time with Smith and Dadbot. Talbot played well, but he was washed up at that point, so all we were getting was another project. They ruined a Rittich that way. Prior to that a bunch of nothing. After that Marky. He may not age that well, but he's been the best thing for this team. A real starter.

I removed the reporting. Hope that helps.

So many teams screw it up. ANA traded away franchise D-men and good scoring F. What you saw post TDL is what you will see for some time. A rebuilding team that will need new leadership and figure out how they span the older players with the new ones.

Flames have points against every team in the NHL this season. Worse one out there is NAS, which was a OTL. Worse records: SJS 1-3-0 STL 1-2-0 COL 1-2-0 NAS 0-0-1 CAR 0-1-1 MTL 0-1-1

The only reason I posted it was the very matter of fact way that all of EF's stuff is. - He won't re-sign in CGY - He'll never get past 99 ever again - If he doesn't show up for the playoffs, nobody will be upset if he walks ... I hate the know it all journalism (if you can call it that). He knows better than everyone else attitude. The create controversy our of nothing, click-bait articles. Doubty, Kassian, puck-flip, and so on. Sutter doesn't have a lot of time for him and tends to correct him more than answer his questions. And Sutter isn't being a dick, just reacting to one.

Valimaki needs to play like the guy we thought he was becoming. A lot of scratch for a 7/8 guy otherwise. I think Mackey has a good chance to replace Zaddy. As long as we somehow retain Guddy. Can't lose both of them.

First time we have beat ANA 4 in a row in the Honda Center/Arrowhead Arena, whatever. Maybe first time in so long I have lost track, but our road loss streak there was epic. On a side note, I am glad we aren't coasting. The recent 3 game losses put in into the minds of the players that nothing is ever easy. Go into every game like it's a must win. Remember the bad points in a win more than the good ones, and learn from it. Every road game should have the other teams fearing us. And our home games need to be the best we can play and be coached. Do that and we can go far.

Still a few guys missing in action. Ritchie came back in, so Ruzie got sent back down. Valimaki up as an emergency callup, so we are down 2 for now. No status on Kylington, but we won't hear much this time of year. No benefit to go on IR or LTIR right now. I would like to se them fix the middle 6 a bit. Not liking the recent output from them. I think the combos are just off slightly. Our best offensive weapons playing on a shutdown line with a guy on the Schnide. I would opt for the following: Top line (no reason to break up the best line in hockey) Coleman-Backlund-Dube (balance the defense with some speed) Mangiapane-Jarnkrok-Toffoli Lucic-Carpenter/Lewis-Lewis/Carpenter Carpenter seems to be starting to fit in. Both he and Lewis can take draws. Not sure which should be on the wing. Jarnkrok hasn't been consistent enough to know what he is. Maybe he is a defensive winger and give Backlund a C to take draws on his weak side. Puts Dube at C on the 3rd line. Either way, it's a smaller C. Ruzie is a better option in my mind, but we really don't have the spot for him full time.

My bad, if this sounds negative. For a game on the end of a difficult trip though Cali, they did well. Missing 3 guys. Getting the backup up to speed. A team we haven't beaten yet. Similar meltdown in the game to the last one against SJ, but kept it from being a story. Johnny was spectacular in his defensive play. He was stripping the puck on the backcheck or in the D-zone.

Ruzicka sent down with Ritchie activated. Too bad, but at least we saved regular callups for now. Only Mackey used as one as far as I can tell. Sutter isn't really talking about the missing men, other than to say illness or banged up. Valimaki is there as long as somebody out. I found the middle 6 to be really up and down last night. I don't think the Backlund line is working out. Lewis filled in okay on the 3rd line, but think he's better for the 4th line. Ritchie is a banger and fine to have him in against lower seeded teams, but should not be considered a daily player. He played well enough, but just saying. I think they need to go back to something that works better. This may come off as anti-Backlund, but really I think it's the line more than anything. He just doesn't seem to have chemistry. I thought it was a down game for him and his play was bad IMHO. 2 times on the PK he had possession and gave it up too easy. On the offensive side, only his rushes where he carried the puck in were good. Missed passes etc. Have to find a better mix than Mange and Toffee. Think they need to go back to Coleman and someone else. Maybe Dube? Have to get Jarnkrok back to see if a line of Mange-Jarn-Toffee has anything. Having little from your middle six is making things too close. I give them a little slack for the 3 in 4 schedule and the tough travel in Cali to get to SJ.

I believe playoff magic number down to 4.0 That is any combination of CGY wins and Vegas losses = 4 Division clincher down to 7.5. That is any combination of CGY wins and EDM losses = 7.5 (OTL or SOL = 0.5). At least we have been winning to keep the gap going and get closer to clinching. Tkachuk feels it's too close and is not taking it lightly.

A gem from Eric Francis.... https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/video/gaudreau-will-never-return-99-point-guy-bounce-back/

Gaudreau ties his best season ever. Now 99 points, worth 9.9M. Tkachuk 34 goals and 89 points. Lindholm 38 goals and 73 points. Mange stuck at 30. Strangely enough Mange's SH% is still 18%. That's high normal. Vladar really impressed me. Was a weird goal off a skate, then the 2nd one deflected in. Everything that came near him was stopped otherwise. It was one of those games I felt Vladar was the only one that could get the win. Just felt that way. Cali was good for us.

Lindy goal to seal the deal. Phew. Was that 99 for Johnny?

Win the dang draw. Shut up Ball about records.

Flames need a better PP2.

PP time, take it back from them. You have momentum.