travel_dude

An interesting look at Ryan Murray: https://flamesnation.ca/2021/08/01/2021-flames-ufa-targets-ryan-murray/

You have to be the most negative fan I have ever seen. Have need for a solid starter, we sign one, and you have a meltdown because he is 30. Goaltending was only a issue last year when JM was injured and getting back up to speed. Wanted a D or G in the draft in the first round, and are barely satisfied that all we got was a RHS winger. Our forward prospect pool was thin and you wanted us to pick nothing but D to fix a long term issue. Trading Gio last summer was not much of an option, was it. Teams needing flexibility for the weird season. Places Gio accepting a trade to limited in cap. TDL trade almost impossible. Savard was a close comp, but they had to use another team to make it happen. And Gio was getting you that kind of return. Perhaps more of a market the year before, but questionable. My concern for the team is not scoring, since we did okay with players having down years; they will rebound. A bit more concern that we can build a good PP. My concern is keeping the puck out of the net. Not having that 2nd top 4 D. Zadorov is going to be fine punishing players in front of the net (hello Hyman and Yamamoto). Angling players away from the prime real estate is a more important. Ras nad Tanev are decent at it, Hanifin a bit less. Valimaki is still learning and Zaddy is an adventure.

^^^^ Goaltending has been a problem, but I feel more nature than nurture. Gillies played on a defensively sound team in college. 27 and he still isn't able to get a job. Injuries hurt him, but he's no Demko. Parsons has given them little reason to be excited. Ortio? Solid about 50% of the time. If you go back a few years to when we gave away picks for nothing, we should have been drafting goalies. Having only Wolf ready for the AHL is a problem. The Russian will stay there for a bit. But we picked up two guys already developed that we could have drafted way back then. 2 goalies that could be NHL backups, while we wait for Wolf. I see nothing to suggest that he will be rushed or have his development stunted. Picking outside the 1st round is not the issue. Only a few of those ever become real starters.

Without Palmiaeri, it's still not bad, but lessens the 3rd line: Gaudreau-Eichel-Lindholm Mangiapane-Monahan-Coleman Dube-Backlund-Pitlick

There isn't a lot in the UFA list that really excites me. Palmieri and Ryan Murray is about it. There are others there that make some sense, but nothing that really moves the needle. Palmieri, if the price was right. A top 6 RW. Makes it easier if we traded Tkachuk for Eichel. Gaudreau-Eichel-Palmieri Coleman-Monahan-Lindholm Mangiapane-Backlund-Dube Or if we traded Monahan: Gaudreau-Eichel-Palmieri Mangiapane-Lindholm-Coleman Dube-Backlund-Pitlick Murray is a bit of injury risk, but is a decent option for LD.

For that money, I am somewhat happy we stayed away. I like the Kase signing as a more risky but higher reward option.

BT suggesting that work is not done with the team. Obviously won't say what that means. Mentions only 5 D and what they can bring. Seems to still have faith in Valimaki. Wouldn't surprise me if he signed another top 4 D. Losing Gio a big blow to the defense. Saying all that, we still have a few holes. Loss of scoring from the D. Some nice defensive guys added for depth, but still lack scoring. We're tougher to play against, but 1-0 and 2-1 games should be the fall back plan, not the goal. At least IMHO.

Listened to the Friedman piece. He had said that a few days ago, CGY had inquired about Murray. No more recent info on it. Health is a concern with the player. Health risks are a concern, but it's a signing with just money involved. He plays, we pay. He's injured, he goes on LTIR.

Assuming we added Murray: Hanifin-Tanev Murray-Ras Zadorov-Valimaki I guess the advantage is we can use 3 pairs mostly even, and add special team minutes from there.

No doubt. I know we are still missing top 4 LD, but is LD the bigger need? Hanifin is fine for a top 4. Zadorov is okay, and maybe better suited for slightly less minutes than a top 4. But we have just Tanev and Ras on RD. Adding Murray would force Valimaki to RD. Maybe that's a good thing.

Friedman is suggesting we have interest in Ryan Murray. Good offensive numbers in NJ and CBJ, but he is coming off $4.6m AAV 2 year deal. 27 years old, LHS LD. Are we in the middle of trading Valimaki for Eichel?

I want the kids to focus on offense. Leave the dirty stuff to the guys that have history with it. I don't think our top 6 is big and mean, so I don't compare us to the Ducks from years ago. Coleman and Pitlick are smart players. Lucic is the nuclear threat. Zarodov will hammer forwards into the boards. Ras has about one good hit per game. Tanev is solid, but depend more on his ability to block shots.

The head coach is a former junior coach. I think he is fairly familiar with Wolf from coaching against him. What happened in the past was based on what we had in the pipeline. Last year was really bad for choices of who to play. Letss face it, the AHL is development to get players ready for the NHL. Wolf is young, so they should not be rushing him. Having a guy at the "almost ready for primetime" age is fine. Keep Wolf developing even if there is a callup situation. Unless he totally blows the doors off the AHL. Even then, you keep him in your pocket unless you absolutely think it's the right time.

They still need to re-sign Aston-Reese, so cap space a premium to them. They have to send money out to take money on.

We keep drafting goalies, just that they are later picks. Other than a couple of guys that went early, this years crop was nothing to write home about. Not enough games to get a good picture. Parson, Gillies and MacDonald were misses, even if two of them were derailed by injury. The Heat will have two goalies that will be splitting the games. Werner is 24, so he will just be there to give more time to develop Wolf. Maybe he shakes out as the best backup we could have. Who knows. Not a bad thing to have three goalies/prospects at 6'5" or bigger. In fact, this is the first time I can think that we have more than one guy that isn't a retread or over the hill.

Is Ritchie-Backlund-Dube a line that could work? Nothing against Lucic, but does it make sense to use him as a shutdown line LW? And to play him with a highly touted prospect? Bennett failed in that spot. Sure, Dube is better suited for RW than Bennett, but doesn't change the facts. Saying that, if there is a trade in the works with PITTS, then that player coming back might replace Lucic on the 3rd line anyway. With Reaves in the East, I wonder if teams start freaking out. NY seems to have reacted poorly to the specter of Wilson's dirty play.

Well, I credit Mangiapane accenting to the player's work ethic and his own willingness to go to the net. As much as Lucic's role is being watered down with his lack of footspeed, I would hate to lose him. Especially for a player that seemed to take a downturn. Where does Zucker even fit now? Mangiapane is top 6 now, or should be. Coleman is top 6. The interesting thing is the west has one less tough guy now. Reaves is gone from Vegas. Playing NY and Washington should make Burkie cringe now. Tinordi, Reaves and Wilson.

I've got no problem with Nick. He's more of a middle 6 guy. Anything 2 or less over 2 years. I suspect he will get more. Where does he fit? 3rd liine, maybe opposite Dube or Pitlick. Ricthie-Backlund-Dube Not sure about his defensive game, but we need some scoring for the 3rd line. Lucic can troll the 4th line.

About time we got away from the pure passer or defensive forward type picks. You need both of those, but we need a guy to finish. This guy has the hands of a thicker version of Mangiapane. IN that respect, I think we have a winner. Develop the rest of your game at Ha-vaad, we shall see you soon.

Yeah, I'm not applauding the cap hit or term at all. It's less than Neal or Lucic and he will be gone in 2. Today's cap it's big. In three years, not so much. Really, I was just saying that it's not anywhere near as bad as a lot of UFA deals. It's not like we are paying 4.9 for a 3rd line player. ANd we aren't paying for a guy that already played with stars. It sometimes comes down to what you don't do. We didn't overpay for a 3rd pairing D. We didn't pay big bucks for a 25 game backup. We didn't trade a top 4 D for a forward.

That $350k AHL number seems to be popular. Is that a new rate (up from $70k) or a maximum for a two-way deal? Just curious. I know BT is (seems) reluctant to give two way players more than the usual base.

Decent perspective. The guys making less than $3m that take you to the cup are retained-salary trades and rookies on ELC's. But you also need the guys with higher salaries punching at their weight class or above.

Most feel that Skinner is the goalie of the future. Maybe they are right, but he had a rough outing against Ottawa in a 8-5 win. Didn't want a goalie, opted for another scoring forward from the Q. Yes, Bear was an extra. They have Bouchard who many think will win the Calder with his NHL ready frame. Keith and Ceci and Barrie add to the already lethal Nurse. Expect some real barn burners. When they play a team with a good goalie and D, they will probably be shut out 4-0. They have lots of prospects that have looked good in junior or the AHL, but few translate to the NHL. Holland has set up the team to be in cap jail for years to come. And yet they have no elite D or G. Nurse is good, at time really good, but he is too focused on offense and acting tough. While it's easy to look at two of the best players in the league and project success, they are headed for a decline. Too much salary to too few players.

We brought in Neal to fix the top 6 RW drought. It didn't even last a season. We tried the cheap route with PTO's and value player in the top 6. Adding 3 players that are tough to play against; Coleman, Pitlick and Zaddy. They take one for the team and give it out too. Need to figure out who belongs where. Lucic's attitude is great, though the footspeed is slipping. Tkachuk - need to know what's going on with him. Was it Gio's edict that turned him into a lazy player at times? Is he looking at the door? Monahan - worked on him to make him more of a complete player, but he was broken for part of the season. Who fits him best? Gaudreau - soft, but not lazy. Probably makes sense to not play him with Ritchie? Numbers jumped back up when he was with Lindholm. Backlund - elite on transition, but pairing him with people that can't finish? He's not great at finishing himself. Dube - inconsistent, but that might come from not being matched up right. As of now, the bottom 6 consists of Backlund, Lucic, Dube, Pitlick, Lewis and Ritchie. Lucic's salary is equivalent to two decent middle/bottom 6 players. He has a role here and I have no issue with the player, but it means that we are cheaping out elsewhere. Ritchie instead of a Kase or Nick Ritchie.

4 hours - what? Is he stopping at the donut shop in Red Deer? Here is some of the general feelings about the team: Koskinen - just trade him to ARI with a 1st for Kuemper, but no worries Smith is elite. Can just buy him out though most don't understand buy out windows. Nuge - 60 point average per season, elite player, term is a little long Neal - still won the trade because we could buy him out Barrie - a steal at $4.5 x 3, have other shutdown guys to make up for the lack of defense Keith - elite, but concerned about overpaying salary Ceci - had a few bad seasons, but became really good in PITTS, great shutdown D Hyman - see comments above Foegele - most don't even know who he is, but he can middle 6 with Kassian and Ryan and restores the depth Ryan - elite RHS faceoff guy, top PK er About Holland. Most feel he did a great job. Not many seem to be worried he is over the cap with 2 RFA's needing to be signed. Trading a young D for middle 6 help, then signing Ceci was brilliant. Bear had a bad year, and Ceci and Barrie gets them as a top playoff team with the cup window wide open. It's good to be positive about your team, but they have put themselves back in cap jail. Puljujarvi and Nurse needing deals next season, and the only major piece coming off is Koskinen. In other words, they still don't have a starter.