travel_dude

It's about as likely that Eklund goes at 10 as Guenther. Even if we were to trade Gaudreau, we have a current crop of Dube and Mangiapane and Pelletier. Only one has shown ability to play RW. I'm not saying go off the board, just that we can't continue to just draft LW small guys if the gap is not there. I'm not as discriminating if it was a LHS C or Lysell (RW - 5'10"). Just please no more LHS LW under 5'10". Hehe

No doubt. I just meant that there are enough in the top 10 that are bigger than 6 feet tall. I don't know that we would target a guy 5'9" because he's BPA by some. There probably enough guys similar in ratings that are not LW LHS under 6 feet.

Are you saying BPA at 7th is not Guenther if he slipped? If he was available, I think he is easily the BPA.

I think previous one was wrist. They seem to be talking like he will be 100% ready for next training camp. That would include rehab. If this was a longer standing issue they were treating, it makes sense they are dealing with it now.

Oh sure. I doubt we manage to lose all 4. The absolute worst we can finish is 6th last, which means 7th overall. Like you, I am hoping we manage a lotto win. Only 2 chances to win it this time, but still. Nothing left this year but hope.

I know that recalls play a part in it, but it doesn't make sense to sit Valimaki, or play Nesterov and Ritchie. Monahan's injury may allow us one extra recall I think. We are down to 1 without it. Unfortunately, we have Froese and Robinson on the roster, so we can't play many prospects.

Disconnect between the doctors and the team maybe. Like Eichel, the player only can get a 2nd opinion and the team decides how to treat the condition.

He can play at C, right?

If that's how it shakes out, I hope we are #7. Somehow I doubt Guenther slips to 7, but who knows. Bobby Mac has him at 2, while he is between 4-12 elsewhere. On the plus side, he's > 6 feet tall and a RHS.

Froese is a C, so they possibly put him in. Gawdin played well enough to get more minutes though. Elevate Backlund to 2nd line, and remaining C's are Ryan and Gawdin. Think we have only 1 recall left, so it may not allow for us to use Phillps or Ruzicka. Really, I'm not sure what Sutter thinks about players when he uses good soldiers ahead of young prospects. The time to win is over. The time to evaluate is here.

I find it odd that an ailment requiring surgery would be treated this way. Hip surgery?

Probably means they don't trade him this summer. A healthy Monahan helps this team. Trading him without getting back an equivalent C doesn't make a lot of sense. So, if we are targeting Eichel, we will need to look at Tkachuk as the key piece going back. Maybe that doesn't move the needle, but we can't get by on Monahan and Backlund with potentially Lindholm at C. At least I don't think we can compete that way.

I like the idea, but there isn't much time between the end of the season and the start of the WC. Isn't it like the next day?

Unfortunately, we probably get to see Froese in the lineup over a Ruzicka or Phillips. Gawdin likely gets to stay in the lineup, though I think he earned his way there anyway.

Perhaps if he went to 29 other teams he would have been closer to what he did here.

No doubt. Burke spanned the Feaster years and really had influence during BT first two years. Smith, Kanzig and Bollig come to mind. At that time, I think there was zero control by the GM and all about the owners influence with Burke. I'm just thinking that we need a better voice than Maloney. If BT was forced to sign Sutter, then that was a mistake. Not that Sutter is a bad coach, just that his success are in the past. And it signals no willingness to revamp the team; it's a quick re-tool at most.

This is the only thing I think we can logically do at this point. It's not that BT is incompetent, just that some things he has done have set us back too much. Were they his decisions or the direction given by ownership? Firing the coach made sense, but not hiring him in the first place made even more sense. Sutter sounds totally like an owners decision, and maybe not the best direction for the team to go in. BT is a decent GM at cap management, signing value deals, etc., but I don't agree with the direction he has gone a number of times. Whether that was owners, poor pro scouting, or constraints cause by cap or teams willing to trade with, the end results was some poor decisions. In theory, remove the influence of that group. I don't know if the POHO has any influence in the development system or player evaluations, but it needs to be looked at. Bennett and Kylington are examples of how the development has failed the players. Prospect opportunity may have played a part in why Fox only wanted to play in NY. There was no real vacancy here when he could have signed. Ras was just starting with the club and we had Dougie, Hamonic and Stone on RD. He didn't want to play in the AHL, but there was little chance he would play here in his first season. Almost zero. Dougie trades, Hamonic trade would be considered win now trades, so you only do that as a GM if you are sure. I think BT was pushed in that direction.

Not every team can get away with roster circumvention. We can't even send a player to the AHL for conditioning, since we are done there. Unless a player is requiring surgery, I can't see us being allowed to do an emergency recall. Lrivo is on COVID protocol, so I don't even think you can replace him "for free", since he's not injured. Some dumb decisions prior to TDL that limited our recalls, as well as questionable ones used. These were decisions made because we were in the hunt, not meant to provide player evaluations. Kylington was about the worst handled situation of all of them. Guy was making AHL salary for most of the year, for no good reason. He has to really have nop desire to be a Flame next year. What a waste.

Sorry, only 2 recalls left. So, we are kinda pooched. Can only bring up 2 players onto the roster and demote two to taxi squad. Yes, Froese and Robinson are on the NHL roster; plus another 12. Pick two of your poison. Mackey? Zagadulin? Phillips? Ruzicka?

MTL owns EDM, so I would not be surprised to see them beat EDM Wednesday. Actually I am hoping that EDM faces MTL in the first round. Even without their star players, they give EDM fits. I don't know how much CGY will care about meaningless games now. Wonder who gets Satoshi Nakamoto down. At best, we are 50/50 against VAN. With one NHL goalie, we are a schedule loss on the B2B game. Whatever. We are the least capable team of losing when we need to lose or winning when we need to win.

I'm not going to worry about the one that got away. Too many others before him. Good luck in FLA. Whether he had the chances in CGY or he failed to take advantage of the situation, doesn't really matter. He didn't succeed here. Let's make the most of the 2nd rounder and prospect we don't need to lose for nothing to expansion.

It's over. Play Big Snag Zag from here on in.

BT said they needed a top 6 C and was suggesting Lindholm as that fix. That was him knowing what we had (Backlund and Bennett) available. So, here's a difference between Bennett in CGY and Bennett in FLA.... In 10 games he has 15 points. If it was zero in 10, do you think he would be playing with Huberdeau and others? Perhaps, but they are in win mode, not just to get a guy going. Did he want to play 4th line here because there was an opening there at C? With Nordstrom and Leivo, both strong skaters. He wanted to play 3rd or better. Can't say I blame him, but he was only going to be a wing in the top 9. With the team in general struggling to win or score goals, neither coach wanted to go full blender and play Bennett top 6 C. That's something that needs to be decided at the start of a season and you make the moves to allow it. Toffoli can't skate but he can score. He could have played with Bennett or Monahan. A top 9 of the following could have worked, but it means we lose out on Tanev and Brodie: Gaudreau-Monahan-Toffoli/Lindholm Tkachuk-Bennett-Lindholm/Toffoli Lucic-Backlund-Mangiapane Without Toffoli, would Bennett have fared as well with Mangiapane and Tkachuk? In a short season, there isn't 10-15 games that you can "try" something unless it works right away.

I've seen nothing from Gregor about them resting McD. If anything, he's more determined to play hard going into the playoffs. As it is, there is too many days off before the playoffs, so they can't sit him right now. Maybe they give him the night off against VAN, but even then it's doubtful.

It's still within the realm of possibilities. EDM needs top put the boots to MTL. Considering that Smith drank the magic potion, which will wear off in round 1, they should easily beat MTL these last two games. Koskinen is now suspect, so I think he's lost the net. FLA is going to have a tough time getting out of the EAST.