travel_dude

We had the Bennett thread for the FLA series, but perhpas you might like to post for other series: TOR-MTL - anyone actually surprised that two team we could actually beat are ging to game 7? CAR-TBL - don't really like either team, but would prefer CAR pound TBL into the ice. BOS-NYI - Really prefer not to listen to crap about Perfection Line or Marchand. COL-VGK - going to be tough sledding for COL, but they are the superior team. Post away if you like about players or teams or crap reffed games.

I think it's less that GM's do it to save their jobs as thrying to fit a window they believe they have. EDM, on one hand, has an open wndow for their team, but really it's starting to close. You can only keep some players motivated if you are getting better now. The top players consist of a handful of players, but nobody close to becomming a top player. Young D that will get Bear treatment and fail from the defensive side of the game. Over-valued forwards that will have a hard time taking the next step. Kenny wants to win now as does Katz. If a good player drops to us, we will pick him. I don't have that same concern. How we rate what is available is my real concern. Lotto comin up on Wednesday.

I agree with this. Many do not, but I think the only way to re-make the team is without Gio and Backlund. It may hurt short term, but we have to get over this idea that they are the true leaders on this team. The team has failed at every stage. Backlund probably has enough GM's that like his play over say Nuge. Nuge could be seen as a top 6 C, but man the rumours of him expecting over $7m in FA or even with the Oilers are insane. Holland won't pay a penny over $7m? Jeeze, I hope Nuge signs for that there. Backlund could bring back a decent #3C or a top 6 RW. Hear that CBJ and OTT looking for an experienced top 6 C. Perfect fit.

As exciting is is to see Bennett do good, it's a limited success. Maybe he's starting to get it. Maybe FLA is the right team to use his set of skills. Maybe he's a player that only plays well in the East. People love to dump on the Flames. We've had successful players here. Bennett not the first one to fail. Others managed to do well playing on the 3rd line. We have issues that need to be fixed. Lack of a true goalie duo, and we failed when our starter went down with concussion. Aging D, who is still playing the most minutes, while our prospects are not forgiven any growing issues. Aging 3rd line responsible for stopping the best. Team play perhaps needs to be adjusted to the NHL west. Too many teams can overload the D-zone and we scramble.

Mange is insane. 7 points in 3 games? He's becomining an elite player before our eyes. Sutter please pay attention. He belongs in the best place to succeed.

Too lazy to spell him name, in fact used copy/paste to put it here. Really, I'm not sure what name he goes by. Remember AOM? Adam Ollas-Mattsson Too many ll, ss, tt in his name to spell it out.

Mathias Emilio Pettersen

Oh, no doubt in my mind. I'm just thinking that these two are part of the fabric of the Flames over the last 10 years. Many complain about the culture, but never are either considered to be part of the problem. Good community people. Both still contribute to the Flames team, but also have been playing some of the highest minutes for their positions. Are we satisfied with that or did we want to improve?

Maybe we target Dumba. Trade Backlund and Gio so there isn't any hurt feelings or locker room issues.

I forgot about Mackey. MEP skipped last game I think. Nesterov plays for Russia, not that I think he's really a Flames player. Rafikov is there two, but I doubt he plays a game for us ever.

I think they had several targets and could tell by the selections where their guys would drop to. Schneider was easily BPA, so I suspect they had zero interst in him. You do, you don't just trade it away for a 3rd.

I'm assuming they didn't like Schneider. Foerster looks like a good pick, but that was the 2nd trade down. It seemed like Zary was the only one not taken they wanted.

I'm not really sure what to make of Laffy. Stutzle seems to me to be the top guy in the top 3, so maybe that's just early returns. Byfield may end up the best of the 3, but he wasn't even a big contributor in the WJC, not that that makes much difference, just interesting. Laffy could still be a "generational" talent, but it's going to take some time. I would prefer if we just won the next three lottos. Pick the best or 2nd best this year and the next two years it's not even close.

How many 2nd did we pick up as a result of trading down last draft? Unfortunately, I have too much confidence in our scouts, so I probably said good things about Kanzig. I was PO'd about trading Hammy and Fox. Ferland not as much, but it still bothered me. The return was okay, though I had heard a lot of negatives about Hanifin. So, if all we get for bumping down to say 24th and drafting Cossa is a 3rd, then I'm not happy. Getting two x 3rds and still getting Zary was fine with me. Considering who was left, it was a decent risk. If we go from 12th to 24th and we get a goalie, not so much. I think I mentioned this elsewhere, but I think there is usually one good goalie available in the 1st round, while the gems come in later rounds. So, if Wallstedt is gone, I'm not sure I like the boobie prize. If we had multiple 1st rounders, then it's just passing up another prospect for a goalie is a bit less of an issue. Less.

I don't pretend to know what would be the best targets this year. I admit that. I just look at different aspects of what certain players do. Admit, I used to think Button had good views. Right now, he seems to be completely sold on every player he likes. Puljujarvi and Laine are the ones that come to mind in doing well pre-draft. Laine was a player I expected more of since being drafted, but his offense is not the problem. Maybe it's just player attitude that brought them to where they are. Probably the most difficult thing to evaluate in a non-normal draft year. I'll let the experts rank the players, and will likely be happy no matter who we get in round 1. Right up to Cossa, in which case I will lose it. 🙂

Some teams will see what we already know, he's the lifeblood of a good team. I'm so glad they drafted him, and maybe he finally gets his due on this team.

Overall, they have done a good job in some of the later rounds. I struggle sometimes with their 2nd and 3rd rounders. Some really good, others not so much.

I will always take a dimmer view on tourneys than other production. At least with McTavish, Bedard and Wright, they have junior numbers to fall back on, not just AJHL. But, on the other hand Button loves him: Ceulemans’ upside is incredibly high, which prompted Craig Button to claim before the AJHL season began, “I have no doubt he’s a top-10 player — none whatsoever in my mind — in the draft. And I don’t care if he plays another game. I’ve had the benefit of watching him play for a number of years, and I think he’s that good.”

Our first rounders in recent memory seem to be decent enough choices considering the order we drafted. We got Zary and a number of picks, even though it looks like he was the target. Not a homerun, but in my mind a good choice. Pelletier looks to be a good one considering where he was drafted. Unless we trade it away, I think we get a very good pick this year. I have more concern about our 2nd rounders than later picks, where we seem to shine.

I don't know that size is any different, though I felt Hickey looks smaller. Weight upon draft day maybe, not now. Also, just a really small sample this season. What does closer to Makar do for you? Here's a description about Makar: Many have called Cale Makar one of the purest talents to ever crop up out of the AJHL. He reads and executes plays quickly, making good things happen for his teammates every time he is out on the ice. Stickhandling and puck possession play is superb. Makes high percentage decisions that help his team move the puck up-ice. High-end hockey IQ and understands his own game very well, allowing him to stay coachable and play to his strengths in any situation. Makar's potential is that of a traditional franchise defender that can do it all. [EP 2017] And for Ceuleman: The star of Ceuleman’s game is his shot and the ability to activate off the point to fire it., a scouting report: However, fans should hesitate before they label Ceulemans as the next-coming of Makar, who was a generational talent that the AJHL had never seen before and won’t see again for some time. Ceulemans isn’t as sound defensively as his counterpart, and his struggles have been magnified by the fact that the AJHL is not known as a great development league, further deepening the divide between the two. He also can be too aggressive on the offense, and though his vision is top-notch, his decision-making isn’t always the best, and it can create turnovers. But that doesn’t mean that Ceulemans isn’t talented. Although his defensive game isn’t strong, his offensive awareness is excellent. He is the best when he is carrying the puck, able to drive the play and deliver quick, crisp passes in order to create scoring opportunities. That skillset makes him a top power-play quarterback. He also has a physical side to his game and can provide pressure on opponents to force them off the puck. So, while he likely won’t be the next Makar, Ceulemans is without a doubt a top talent at the 2021 NHL Draft. Look, I'm not trying to suggest he isn't a good choice, just he's not a slam dunk. While safe is not always the best approach, especially in a poor competition year, swings for the fences are quite risky at this point in our prospect pool. More like a kiddie pool.

Not so much his skills as to his personality clashing. We don't know a lot of what goes on in the room or on the ice at practice. Or maybe he rubbed Lucic the wrong way. All I can say is that if Lucic is in charge of culture, then that may not be a good thing. He was ready to hang it up last year. Now he is calling out some players. Is he right? Maybe.

Since you brought up AJHL, let's compare two players that came out of that league: https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=218674 https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=152152 I'm a little leary of players that dominate at tourneys, like Puljujarvi did. With one pick in the 1st would you go all in on a guy whose experience is only AJHL?

Here's a comment I heard about Guenther (not that I agree, but an interesting perspective). Guenther scored a ton against two of the worst teams in the league. I don't really have a concern with that myself.

If you give the bottom pair 12 minutes you would be correct. Balance the minutes a bit more even, and give the special teams minutes out to more than just a Gio. My other comment is that Tanev has 3 years left. I was thinking Jones would cost less than $9m, so I think I need to go back to the drawing board. My concern without a top 2D is that our RD consists of Tanev and Ras. And we only have Hanifin and Valimaki and Mackey. That's not a lot of experience or real toughness.

As do I. Holland hasn't been great at evaluating talent they have vs paying them. I get why they went a short term deal for Nurse, but 2 years at that cost seemed quite high. Kassian's deal was a joke. Please continue to ste them up like the guy you replaced.