travel_dude

The tendency is to bring in the "next guy" as an assistant. Other teams fire and hire. We promote, fire and hire.

I like the results he got in Arizona as a defensive team. He made some bizarre choices their fans hated. But he was a head coach on a team with major holes.

http://fans.flames.nhl.com/community/ I go to the main page and click on the various forums that interest me. Then I select the thread and see which one is important to me. Go to last page and scroll to the first unread post (by my calculation). That way, I can go back and refresh how it played out that way. That way you don't get sucked into a Blwo it up thread unless you want to. Oh, and BTW. Go Mangiapane Go. 🙂

Didn't realize we had a vacancy. Unless they are thinking of moving on from Huska. Everyone else got a promotion.

Do you know if we have rights to him (Lerby) if he comes back to NA?

Shea Theodore and Alex Tuch say Hi.

Are you willing to give up a 1st to protect Gio? If you want to believe that Seattle wants Gio, then you need to be keenly aware of the impact to the long term plans. It's a bluff I would be willing to call them on. They will hit their cap requirements without picking a 38 year old on a one year deal. The only thing i would say is that if we protect him, we would only do it (should do it) if we can get a 1st for him at TDL. That is also only if the cost to protect him is less than that. I will be honest, I didn't see the great impact of Gio in the playoffs. The only year we won a round was the year he didn't play. I don't read too much into that, but I do keep it in mind.

That would be a huge mistake on our part IMHO.

The only reason why we went rebuild was the end of the Iggy legacy. Other than trading JBow and asking Kipper to be traded, we really did more of a retool. We were a poorly constructed team then. Way more so than today. I don't agree about us running out of cards to play. It's more about can they parlay what they have into better. Where we run into problems is not moving on at the right time. Gio is providing value, but it's time to move on and use the cap better. Lucic is the exact same. Backlund is a good value, but not for 3rd line and will start to decline over time. Which sounds funny saying, since Bergeron is 35 and still a top C. There are a ton of good NHL players that could help us. Some through FA, some in trades, etc. What's stopping us, and has hindered us, is the large amount of cap spent on some players. Not the top younger guys. Dead cap space is one thing, but we have $21m spent on 4 players over 32. On a contender that is not an issue so much.

I just don't see a burn it down happening with this team. The owners would prefer to be a playoff team, even if it's once every two years, than 5 years away from possibly getting it right. 5 years is really just a guess, because a stud D would take that long, and that assumes we have the other pieces. What is right and what we will do is probably not the same. I like the idea of a competetive team, but it has to be getting better. Coaching was a bit of a teardown, so that may actually help. Or make it worse. Like I said, we have systemic issues that we need to overcome to take a big step. The money spent is not matching the production. And the oldest players are not being transitioned.

The thing that teams have in common that get 1st rounders in trade is that they trade away players that are productive on the end of their contracts. If you keep that core you mentioned, you have Gaudreau and Monahan actually worth anything. Tanev and Markstrom in the last year of their deals. You are not getting a raft of 1st rounders for that. And that's kind of where I see our team making the wrong decisions on UFA's and with our own players. Gio should have been dealt before TDL this year. At worst, he gets dealt next TDL, and that's assuming he has a decent season. We didn't sign players for 2 year deals, and had nothing to deal. You can't trade a Gaudreau at TDL when he has 1.5 years left. I don't have a problem with signing Markstrom or Tanev. We needed those two roles, whether they performed up to standard or not. Signing Neal to 5 years and then being stuck with Lucic. Too many one year deals on marginal players. Could have traded Leivo if he had a good season. But he didn't. The list goes on. Barrie could have been had for less than $4m, but we wouldn't do a show me deal unless it's one of our own. EDM could have traded him for a 1st at TDL.

Maybe all true. What I think it does though is provide two key pieces that Buffalo needs. One is a replacement for Reinhart. A RFA that they can't keep. The other is a gritty winger that has been a problem attracting. If they make that trade, maybe Eichel sees it as a positive step and would stay. So, we might need to add to the deal. Maybe the 12th overall is enough. Buffalo suffers from being scored on. The D can score all the goals in the world, but if not preventing them, they won't ever take a step forward. -36 in a short season doesn't appear to be a great look.

We have a version of Hyman, but younger and improving... Mangiapane. They play a similar style.

Wasn't what I was confused about. Was talking about signing QO's etc. But to your point, the KHL isn't known for their great salaries. A journeyman isn't going to get a great deal, but he may not have been too happy with his year here. Maybe it's the water in CGY. If he had scored 12 goals we would be in the playoffs.

WAKE UPPPPP. Seriously though, it would be nice to even have one. Unfortunately, we would have trouble developing a younger one, because the culture here doesn't allow for that. We are already stifling Valimaki and have done the same with a decent talent in Ras. Not saying there are or are not capable, just that we will probably not see the progression that we should. I don't like the idea as much (not the biggest Reinhart fan), but if we targeted Dahlin and Reinhart, we might stand a better chance than an Eichel sweeps. Monahan + Tkachuk for Reinhart + Dahlin. They keep the 1st overall and don't get too much better this year. Power starts next season. It allows them to trade Eichel for futures. Really, it's Monahan for Reinhart and Tkachuk for Dahlin. More or less equal values for each. We get back a RHS C for 2C and a 1D to play with Tanev or Ras. 3rd pairing is Gio-Valimaki, which should give Gio some protection from fast teams.

I've heard that those two are non-starters.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that Tkachuk + some other pieces would get you Eichel. But, I don't know that the 1st overall was ever traded. Moving up is one thing, but I don't recall a 1st overall happening. In general, I suspect that they would be better off drafting Power. He may have a lot of value now, but you may get better value as he develops. Or they could trade Dahlin.

Buffalo is going to have to trade at minimum Eichel and Reinhart. If they trade for players, then Power does them no good to try to win now. Going that route would suggest they trade the top pick for a player and pick. Dube + 12th for 1st? Dube + Andersson + 12th for 1st? If Buffalo is looking for a package of picks and prospects for Eichel and Reinhart, then they need to draft heavy this year and next. I'm not really sure we have anything to trade them for the 1st overall. Tkachuk would be an overpayment IMHO. I think you may get the direction Buffalo is going with the first piece they trade. While it makes sense to trade a player prior to the draft to get more picks, it really makes it harder to pull off. If they want a bidding war for the 1st overall, announce it (at least to the GM's).

Last 10 games starting with oldest: 900 and 2 GA 938 and 2 GA 917 and 2 GA 968 and 2 GA 926 and 2 GA 789 and 4 GA 950 and 1 GA 960 and 1 GA 857 and 5 GA 905 and 2 GA Average it out for the last 5 and that is 879. But feel free to use stats to support your cause. It happened to be a 7-3-0 record no matter how you look at it. I know you are against the Markstrom signing and have been since day 1. Over 30 goalies are the worst thing to have. Montreal, NY, Vegas all agree 100%. Poor Tampa, only 3 years left of a useful goalie. I'm sure Askarov will eventually come to the US. Only took Sorokin to age 26.

The concern about Markstrom started and ended with his mid-season play. Right around the time he was injured. I get that you are not a fan, but look at the context where his performance was really good, dropped and rebounded. Defense - well there are a number of D available as UFA's. If you are committed to re-tooling, then you trade from the core and bring in a 1/2 D. Forwards - good thing you are not the GM or you would be another Chia.

The real ugly thing is if we do a re-tool, we are going to have holes. Our best assets could bring back pieces, but doesn't leave us much unless the trades are really well done. Tear down fans would be happy because we would be in a rebuild basically.

Mangiapane stands out as a player you can roll on any line and he makes that line better. Gaudreau with Tkachuk and Lindholm was a standout line. The problem we saw was no good 2nd line this year. Trading Tkachuk for a RW doesn't really solve anything. Trading Tkachuk for a C would leave a hole at RW on the top line. Would need to trade Monahan to get a RW. I think we have to face it, we don't have enough depth to trade from the core unless we also pick up at least one UFA. Gaudreau-Eichel-RW Mangiapane-Lindholm-RW Lucic-Backlund-Ryan/Dube 4th line

Do you have the same concern about a player like Patty Kane? Almost a carbon copy size wise. $4.5m would match what they gave Ras. This is his 3rd contract, and next season he has arbitration rights. Lock him up before he really breaks out. We lost Brodie for nothing at age 30 by going 5 years. Lock him up.

Admittedly, I don't make a very good judge of draft picks before the draft. But I am also quite cautious. D are hard to predict winners just based on stats. Noah Dobson had insane numbers in the Q in two of four years. Yet he is still a few years from suggesting he is a prize, assuming he becomes one. Worth more than Hamonic yes. To put it in perspective, Dobson outscored every single top D prospect listed, even if I consider Power and Edvinsson a tier above. Not a normal draft year I get.

I get the idea that we have to reduce cost, but we are far from a problem compared to a lot of teams. Toronto - $40m for 4 players EDM - $21m for 2 players TBL - $24.75m for 3 players, one needing a HUGE raise next year Vegas - $22.4m on 3 players If Tkachuk is worth $9m then pay for it. If Gaudreau is worth $8m then pay for it. Pay for the talent you have or can get. Get rid of the boat anchors. We don't have that many and really the only reason they are is due to age. If you want to trade to improve the team by trading away your top assets, great. Better be an improvement or it was a complete waste.