travel_dude

Or perhaps there was some things that took place in the season that the "consensus" don't look at. How a player fits their organization is important, not just pure skill.

Maybe Sutter continues down the path of "what worked in LA" or he adjusts a bit for the 2020's. If the team was truly just a Sutter team, then the recent signings make sense but Gaudreau and Dube will be gone. I do think some conversations about what BT is building and what he expects Sutter to do will happen. For instance, does Sutter need more bottom 6 grit or speed and tenacity. Could be just me though.

18 or so scouting staffs and GM know less than you? I get you have an opinion that he is a great player, but sometimes there are things about a player that don't show up in UTube views.

You do understand that in the 2019/20 season, Pelletier was injured. Even after missing 2 games in December, he was 5th in Q scoring. He was on fire before that injury and was a little slow coming back from it. Unfortunately, he missed the WJC that year. What I find really funny is you hold tourneys to be the ultimate determining factor in a prospect's value, yet you ignore that for a Flames prospect. You spent most of July talking about how great player X was in the U18. Please do continue to be positive about Francis. He's a dark horse that could be a impact player. He's shorter than Pelletier, weighs about 6 pounds more and is younger. Doing fine for a D+1 player.

Le sigh. You constantly hold up a sign stating we have the worst goalie development. Yet, you state we made the wrong choice by letting Wallstedt and Cossa drop. I get that you don't like us drafting LHS LW.

Realistically, one of them (Ask, Cossa, Wally) may develop into a franchise goalie. Or they become "the best goalie not in the NHL". It will be interesting to see what impact these so-called franchise goalies have on teams like Nashville, Detroit and Minny.

Even if Eichel is traded for, I think the belief is that the depth on D is less than it needs to be. Backlund is a solid player, if somewhat older than the core. Lucic provides some identity to the team at a high cost. If Eichel is obtained for futures, then we need to get cheaper elsewhere. One or more of Monahan, Tkachuk or Gaudreau need to be traded to reduce the cap and fill some holes. Dvorak may not be a step up from Monahan or even Backlund, but he provides cap value for a longer period of time. If Eichel is the big piece this summer, some lesser moves will still take place. If for instance, we trade a winger and some futures for Eichel, then we can consider moving a C for a top 4 D. If we trade a C and futures for Eichel, we can consider trading a winger for top 4 D or RW or combo. What I am saying is this is not the final roster. We don't have any real change to the top 9 core. We added two players that will help, but still have the same issues. We added a depth D while losing a top 4 D.

If I had to giess, I would he has an internal deadline for a particular deal. Any longer than that date and he has to move on. In some ways it's a negoatiation strategy, since it lets BUFF know they will lose a suitor.

If Eichel is off the table, then Monahan has more interest to teams. Dvorak is supposed ly out there. Several teams looking for C's. Big signings are probably not what is coming, since the names are gone. Trades more likely at this point.

I think BT is waiting until the Eichel situation is resolved. If there is not going to be a solution, then he moves on to other priorities. There are something like 5 RFA's that need to be dealt with. The possible arbitration case or negotiations with Zaddy.

I was looking at the AHL schedule for the Heat. https://stocktonheat.com/schedule/ It leans heavily towards 3 games per week, where two are B2B. Yes, it does lend towards 2/3 going to one guy. We had Gillies and Rittich working a mostly 50/50 split, even if you don't consider that Rittich was a prospect at the time. I have no idea how they will manage 3 goalies. You don't want one prospect removed from the goalie development coach for the whole season. Unless you have given up on them and you are waiting for them to become a stud in the AHL before you bring them back. I realize it isn't an all or nothing thing.

I should add that I have no idea of what the plan is for Werner. An interesting comp between him and Darth Vladar below: https://thewincolumn.ca/2021/08/18/dan-vladar-vs-adam-werner-evaluating-flames-backup-goalie-options/ Parsons may be facing a tough battle with Wolf and Werner to get pro starts. If BT is leaning more towards Werner as a development option, then Parson will play less games wherever he goes. I think they will cycle Parsons and Werner between the AHL to get them lots of games, but I can't tell you which one they remain high on.

Whether it's Parsons or Werner as the other tender in Stockton, he will get close to half the starts. It's not a question of what I think is right, just the way the games are played. Playing Friday, then expecting an AHL rookie goalie to play the next day seems a little risky. I don't know what we have in Parsons. Played one game last year, last games in the AHL before that in 18/19. Lots of goalies take time to turn into something. Probably never a NHL starter at this point, but who knows what a positive reinforcement does. The ECHL is not a death sentence. I would like to see them rotate Parson with Werner, so both are evaluated properly.

I think it would be a mistake to give Parsons the ECHL treatment. Give him the best coaching available to a prospect. The AHL plays the majority of games in B2B sets. Fri/Sat, Sat/Sun. Whatever two goalie are in Stockton will split games almost equal.

What he's offered and what he's willing to offer are probably not a lot different. You don't give up a guy you think will be a top 3 player in a couple of year. You might add a player that you think needs to be moved out. A 1st rounder impacts us for sure. Including a Tkachuk or Monahan impacts us, but they are perhaps included because they are holding back the team. Coleman is a complementary piece to a team like Tampa last year, because they had enough top 6 to ice a killer squad. Today's Tampa would have him in the top 6. Sutter, IMHO, is a builder for this team. He may not be the coach after 2 years, but will have set the direction by then. If it's the wrong direction, then we go into a rebuild/retool, but we will see it sooner than when he is done. There has to be incremental improvements this and next year, or the TDL will see a lot of movement.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that this is the team that will start in October. BT knows the issues and has his plans to reset the core. We don't know what that looks like, as there are some things in play that won't be know until they happen or the season starts. Coleman is more of a change than you expect. With no other changes, he adds a top 6 talent and Mangiapane dog mentality to the top 6. We had nothing like that in the last 4 years. Zadorov doesn't replace Gio, he's more of a nasty version of Stone. Even when we had Gio-Brodie, we had trouble with big forwards running the goalie or losing battles in front of the net. As it stands today, we are a playoff capable team but not a contender. Moves from the core have to be done to improve the team. Trading for Eichel makes sense if you are trading one of the core to do it and you aren't robbing the entire future. We need some better depth in the bottom 6 and a RD to add into the mix. I like some of our prospects, but the best may not be ready yet or we may lose one of them in a trade. We don't become a contender overnight. It's incremental. We had to replace Gio at some point, so move towards that. We need scoring from the bottom 6, so start to improve that. 4 lines of scoring and from the D is what winners have.

His desire to win makes him a weapon, but his attitude when things go sideways is a problem no doubt. And that is something Sutter can work on. We know he has the ability to take the puck to the net but will pass off at most times. Whether there is a play or not.

We saw good results of the top pair in the past, so I would be okay with that. Valimaki-Tanev should maximize skating with shutdown. Zadorov works with someone steady. Maybe a Demers or Vatanen would be enough.

Parsons and Wolf are the two guys more likely to be in the AHL. Werner will end up in Kansas and alternate with the backup in the AHL to keep all fresh and playing. I would expect initially, a 1a/1b running of AHL goalies, much like Rittich/Gillies was. The best of the two will be assured of staying in the AHL and getting any injury callup. Darth Vlader will stay in CGY and not be waived. Of the remaining guys, only Parsons need to be waived to go down, so he will be and will start there.

He's too young for a bonus laden contract (perf. bonuses). But anyway, last year he signed with DET for $1m. I think he had several offers and chose them.

I don't think it's that simple. We accomplished nothing against the Ducks after beating VAN. The following year we had attrocious goaltending. Whether they blames Hartley or he made the room toxic, nobody knows for sure. I think there has been a problem in the past with taking games too lightly. I don't think that was the issue last year at all. We had a lack of skill. No 2RW. Dube was okay as 1RW, but not really top 6 at this point. The 3rd line was a malcontent, Looch and a frustrating Backlund. Not trashing Bennett, but he had a bad impact on that line. Played in the wrong spot, should have been a C. Too many broken plays.

I think that both should be off the trade list. Dube is where Mangiapane was maybe last year. Mangiapane is on the cusp of a breakout, I'm talking 50 points. We struggled to score, so limiting him to a defensive role limits that IMHO. I want to see Dube play LW and play on a line of responsible players. It worked with Tkachuk to round out his game and it worked for Mangiapane. The concern I have for Sutter is that he plays Lucic on the 3rd line again. Lucic-Backlund-Pitlick is fine for forechecking, and maybe some limited offense, but I see it as a bit risky. Play Lucic with a similar skill type and let him loose.

Ruzicka is more of a Sutter type. Has an edge to him and can score. Gawdin is the poor man's Backlund, which would look slow because he thinks defense first. Between the two, Ruzicka is the keeper. Dube struggled to deliver according to Sutter standards. Taking one of the few goal scorers and force him to play prevent, where his only scoring comes from transition, sounds like a backwards move. I get the balance, but Dube has not met Sutter's expectations for a top 6 player yet. The part about the D that I see is that it's unfinished. They have a 6/7 guy in Kylington and a guy that needs to play a bit more in all situations that is waiver exempt. Missing a RD. If that's Stone, then meh. Meets the lower expectations, but adds no offense.

It's possble that Ruzicka could thrive under Sutter, though I can't really tell with the limited play. Gaudreau seems to straddle the line between what Sutter wants and what he needs to see. Tkachuk needs to play more for the team to be accepted. I get he does a lot as a team player, but there are times when he is selfish. Ras and Hanifin are Sutter players because of their work ethic. Coleman is a Sutter type. Valimaki suffers because he skates effortlessly and looks at time disengaged. I don't think it's a fair assessment.

Valimaki is suited for PP. Smart at getting pucks in, and he's not too bad at holding the line. Kylington - I would only use him in a 3 and 2 setup. Realistically, the D that get PP minutes will be Hanifin, Ras, and Valimaki.