travel_dude

Really? I thought the 23 man limit still applied. Must have been mixing it up with the cap though. I see where some teams have 28 players. Yikes. If cap is not an issue, I'm not sure why they haven't brought up Ruzie already.

Montreal signed Emil to an ELC. He will also report to Laval on a PTO this month. For some reason, I never expected to see him in NA for at least another year.

BT could have played it differently by waiving both Ritchie and Richardson. Ruzie was all set to return to the lineup and then the TDL happened. In hindsight, it may have been a good thing to get Carpenter to replace Monahan. But I have my doubts. Either Ritchie or Kyl to IR is what is needed. No word on Ritchie at all. Since we have 7 healthy D, we can go 11-7 tonight. But does that really help, considering we have 12 healthy F. I would prefer they move BR to IR and call up Rozie. Play him either with Lucic or with 3rd line. Either situation works for me. I think he's better able to get his wingers scoring than Jarny. Jarny would be a good bet for 4th line. But, as you suggested, Rozie also plays well with Lucic.

So, reading into that, it's a very short window. We had Zaddy due to go on August 26th last year, but I think that was a little later than normal. It's not super important at this point, was just curious. Timing wise, it would seem that Monahan would be fit to return sometime in August. If we don't buy him out in the first window, perhaps this is an option for the Flames. I say this because they will have signed Gaudreau by then, possibly Matty or Mangiapane or Kylington and have a better idea of what they have left. One of the last three will probably have elected arb. But who knows. In an ideal world, we are able t trade Lucic or Monahan or both to allow us to complete the roster. Somehow, I don't think BT is really worried about it.

What are the actual dates of the 2nd buyout window? I'm assuming that one of the RFA's selects arbitration. A buyout sucks for the player, but does allow him to get signed by some team taking a chance.

4 point game to start. Yikes, it's so close now. Time to reset and pull away, stuck at 88 or 89 for so long. Oilers went on a tear at home. First road win since March 1st.

A trade is the likely solution. We can possibly afford to keep him if we trade Lucic. But really, what is the value of a 4C that could play up to a 2C at best? And that assumes he comes back stronger than last September.

Valimaki is having an up and down AHL season. I don't know if that plays into him being scratched, but it's also a possibility. Likely your idea is more realistic. We have 8D unless they put Kyl on IR. We have used 1 of 4 recalls. We have 13F unless they put Ritchie on IR. Ruzie is likely coming up once they do, since we have more extras on the backend.

Ruzie scratched from the Heat game today. He was healthy and played last night, so it's likely he's headed to LA for practice and a possible start. Obviously, Ritchie is going to miss some time, how much unsure. This will give us 13 healthy F and 7D. Not sure how long Kylington sits, but I can see them taking time with him and giving him a reset as well. Mackey could be the extra guy we need. I don't care about carrying an extra D, as long as we use him. Can always send him down for the start of the AHL playoffs to keep him sharp. It seems like the Heat is in cruise control, so he may not even be needed, with Valimaki there. Back to Ruzie. It's between him and Carpenter as to who starts a game. Ruzie gives Sutter more options for lines. Carpenter gives a decent 4C and PK option, but Ruzie has 3C capability. And an option on PP2. Sutter isn't married to the idea of Jarnkrok in the middle 6. And he adds a dynamic to the 4th line.

Forget about what the team did last year. It's clouding your judgement. I don't see panic creeping in. I do see an element of fatigue from playing at a top level since early January. So many games crammed into a otherwise tough schedule. The mental side of the game suffers the most from fatigue, since they train at a high level physically. Sure you see Lucic looking like he is in mud, but he is never weak. He makes more mental mistakes than physical ones. I know what you are talking about with blind passes. A lot of that is reverting to some plays that work, like a long bomb to Johnny. Stretching the ice out in a close checking game. That works some of the time, but isn't a good strategy in a close game. What makes it bad is sometimes putting too much mustard on it, and it's out of reach. Three losses in three games looks bad, but really it's an OT game undecided between two close games where one or two mistakes made the difference. Mistakes that can be cleaned up.

I'm having trouble figuring out the middle 6 right now. The bottom line is going to be important going into the playoffs. Most teams have a good top 6. I haven't figured out what our middle 6 is. Top line is 100% what you want. If they get shut down for a game, then you blend them a bit. The Backlund line should really be the best defensive players, not expecting them to be a scoring line. There should be a guy that can shoot, but I think Coleman is the best guy to keep there. Maybe Mangiapane should be the extra. Third line then gives you Dube, Jarnkrok, Toffee. 4th line I would be comfortable with Lucic-Rozie-Lewis. Carpenter looked good, but I think he's not as useful and not as dynamic a scorer as Rozie. Just speculating, but if we used Rozie on the 3rd line does that make a more dangerous one and allow us to use Dube with Backlund? Top line Coleman-Backlund-Dube Mange-Rozie-Toffee Lucic-Jarnkrok-Lewis

Okay, I get that there are a lot of the same players, but we have to stop using last year as a comp with this team. We aren't that team. While some things may be hard to completely remove, we have beat that out of daily play. What we have seen recently is the exposure of some individual mistakes that get amplified because of the close games. One weird observation about the Dome. Holy crap is it a quiet building. The fans aren't close to having a fever pitch. The only loud game was the Oilers one. Where is the noise? You can here the players talking, the refs telling the players to f'n move the puck, the "oh F" when a player blows a play.

There are 20 in total in a game. No backup goalies allows for an emerg call up. Less than 18 available skaters would allow for an emerg callup. After playing a game with 17. Without Ritchie and Monahan and Kylington, we have 7D, 12F and 2G. We called up Mackey. So, we still have extras. We can call up Ruzie without doing anything with Ricthie or Kylington. We don't need to send down Mackey even if Kylington comes back. If Ritchie goes to IR, I believe we can call up a 2nd F.

I posted that comment completely forgetting his glorious goal. How quickly we forget.

Emergency is when you don't have a full lineup. We have enough guys. Would need to go one full game one man short first.

The Looch giveth and taketh away.

Oh my. Way it go Flames. Nothing play and it's in

Yikes...

It's not always how many but when you stop them

Let's keep this pressure up. Not give them any chances.

They are not calling anything on the Blues this period.

We need at least one F, but we only have 3 call ups remaining. Kylington may just be a couple games

Geeze guys, simple plays to clear the zone. Seen too many soft plays at the blu line.

We are running out of extras. The official scoring for the NHL sight has Richie with his 2nd of the season. He only has one. Hainifn gets the backhand.

We have to start winning faceoffs. Backlund 25% Lewis 33%. Too bad missing Jarnkrok, but he just replaces Lewis on that Mange line.