travel_dude

People cpmplained that we gave the players a pass by firing the coach. You want to fire the GM? How about the players have some pride? How about they do more than lose an elimination game by being shut out.

Flames currently sit 8th worst. Considering we couldn't beat a team on a 7 game losing streak in a game we had to win, I don't see us doing much against Ottawa. Or having much motivation or pride to beat the Nucks. I know they can't really cancel the Nucks series, it would not be fair to the teams that played a full (2/3) season. It's quite possible that we end up 3rd worst. Lotto odds would probably mean we get bumped from 4th to 6th. Not sure this is even a year to win the lotto. Another Hughes? Power is giant, but a LHS. At least he played in the NCAA a year. Berniers is a LHS C. Guenther looked pretty decent, but I wonder if he just is having a good short season. Not really motivated for this year's draft.

Slightly singed bread. Not quite toast. All MTL needs now is a OTL.

Tonight's lineup: #Flames projected tonight vs. Winnipeg: Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk Mangiapane-Monahan-Ritchie Lucic-Backlund-Dube Nordstrom-Ryan-Robinson Giordano-Tanev Nesterov-Andersson Valimaki-Stone Markstrom I'm assuming Sutter saw something about Dube he didn't like playing in the top 6. Flames will cement WPG's playoffs by a loss tonight. WPG will clinch if they win in regulation.

Rematch tonight. NY doesn't really have an enforcer, but what is there to stop them from hitting TW any way possible? I think NY's GM would be okay with players taking all kinds of cheap shots at WASH players. Mantha could be targeted. Perhaps teams like Philly show their frustration and take out TW. The league dropped the ball. The so-called rules are a joke and can be pushed however they want it.

Yeah, I think I saw that at the time as well. It was shocking to a lot that Jones dropped. I guess I can sorta understand why Tampa passed on Jones, but Drouin should not have been that highly rated. I don't think Feaster was interested in anyone but Nate.

Isn't that always the case, winning the wrong games at the wrong time. You mean the drop off between players in the draft? Oh, for sure. The player results that draft year was closer. I thought there was a chance we could get him, but not at 6. Feaster only seemed to be in on Nate, but who knows otherwise.

I think he is speculating about Gio. It doesn't make much sense for Seattle to claim Gio. He could retire sooner than contract end if he didn't want to continue in a new city. At best, they would get his leadership for a year with the option of re-signing him during the year. While that makes sense, it's a big risk for them to take on Gio. If we exposed Tanev, he would be more likely to be claimed IMHO. Team guy, puts others ahead of him. Lived on the Left Coast, so it's not like it would be a major change for him.

No doubt. We have already 8D on the NHL squad (including Hanifin). 14F including Buddy and Froese. Gawdin, Simon and Rinaldo are the only F on the taxi squad. We can only make two moves to bring a player on the NHL roster. The AHL is done, so you may see guys brought up and other send down, but would need the moves to get Buddy and Froese off to allow them into NHL. I don't know that it makes sense to bring up Ruzicka or Phillips. They would get a fresh look at camp. Do we need to see any more of Rinaldo or Simon? Don't need to see Buddy or Ritchie. No problem with Ritchie, just that he's made his bed and we don't need to see any more. The one thing I will say is a player being shut down would result in an emergency call up I think. Not sure why Hanifin isn't on LTIR, but that may just be an insurance thing.

So Parros believes that a $5k fine is enough? I don't get this one bit. Avery his butt. He's got a problem. He Bertuzzi'd a player, did the NHL not learn anything?

Other than Nate, he was the player I wanted in that draft. We only seemed to be in on #1 overall, so I don't even know if #2 was on the table. Would have preferred to have Barkov over Monahan + Poirier + Klimchuk. Wonder how well FLA would have drafted with three picks in 2013. Weeger was their only other pick that amounted to anything. That's not a shot against Monahan. He's not the problem with this team. Would probably have altered Flames history a bit more. Who knows though.

Well, the only good thing is we will know by Wednesday. We win outright, WPG is in real danger of being eliminated. I mean, they play Ottawa again, VAN x 2 and TOR, but they are starting to grip their sticks. While the combination of CGY wins and MTL or WPG losses is dire, anything can happen. I'm impressed with MTL never give up attitude. Caufield getting OT goals two games in a row. They believe now. I hope they get in and pass WPG. Then it's us or WPG vs TOR. BT decides right now who gets re-signed, well between BT and the player. BT determines who is on the taxi squad, who is activated to NHL and who goes down to taxi squad. He has 2 recalls. Coach doesn't care about lotto odds or draft placement. He may use the time to shut down players that are injured. He might preview a few players that have sat out most of the year. More likely we should expect "good soldier" starts. Rinaldo. Mackey (went to AHL and performed well). Froese (Sutter type that can play either level). Domingue (who is our backup?)

To put it another way, if we lose to the Jets in any fashion, they clinch. If we lose to the Jets and MTL gets to at least OT in one game, we are done.

(Sarcasm, eh) Add to that a pending RFA 2nd rounder getting bumped down. 2 pending UFA's (one bought out and signed as a PTO) and a signed college UFA over those two players.

The one negative thing that Siggy did was get Rittich to play the puck more. Last year was probably the end to his career in Calgary. Injured mid-season, was replaced by Talbot. Played nothing until being called into actions in the 2nd period of an elimination game. Smart coaching that was. This year they did the same thing and rode Markstrom until he broke. We will need another 1b to be able to compete next season. There should be a variety of 1b options next season. Depending on what the team does this summer, we might attract a decent backup or scare them away. I can't say that Lababara was bad for either goalie this year. It's not so much style or performance as much as scheduling. Really poor game management. Started with Wardo last year, continued with him this year until Markstrom was broke. Sutter didn't change anything, because he was of the belief you have a starter play the majority. Back to draft picks. Draft a goalie, but don't pick the highest rated unless you are convinced they are a stud. Askarov is still a big question mark. With all the high rated players last year, he went 11th last year. Would we draft a lesser goalie at 10th or so? I hope not.

We need D, RHS's, RW's and C's. Of the top teams in the NHL, only a few have home-grown goalies. While I agree that you should draft a goalie almost every year, you should not use a 1st on anything other than a must have. Wallstedt or Costco may be the best in the draft, but I don't have a crystal ball to suggest they are must haves. Wallstedt ranked above Cossa, but didn't really have a standout performance this year. Fasth (Yikes) leads the league. Cossa had better numbers, but I don't know what you can glean from this "special" year. If we can get a good C, a good RHS RW or a good RHS D from this draft, we will be better off than not.

2-3 years ago, it was less pressing. You don't do a rebuild when you are seeing growth. If you are talking about the 2018/19 season, there was progression. The team was winning, even if some would suggest it was a mirage. We came out of the playoff loss and managed to do nothing to improve the team. The big improvement was trading a dud for Lucic. We saw problems in the playoffs and did nothing. While I don't think it was the right time to rebuild, a re-tool should have been explored. What was it? Brodie + somebody for Kadri? Good start, but Brodie was not the problem. If anything, it was a recognition that Brodie would not be re-signed. Who else was a problem in 2018/19 playoffs? Hard to say exactly, since it was a lot of nothing from a lot of people. Gio's Norris season should have been recognized as a warning signal that he was at his highest value and would only trend down. The tendency to play Gaudreau and Monahan against MacKinnon doesn't really show that they should have been traded. We had one really effective line and Tkachuk as real top 6 players. Failed to have an effective 2nd scoring line. Tkachuk did well, but 1/3 of his points were on the PP. He was closer to Backlund at EV. The vaunted 3M line was fine, but not a true scoring line. And Frolik was starting to lose his touch. The 2018/19 season may have been a stepping stone, but we treated it like it was the new normal. Should have improved it back then, not left it the same and only replace Neal.

This is from practice Sunday, so it's hard to tell at this point if this is a thing or just too early to call: @Fan960Steinberg #Flames at practice today: Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk Mangiapane-Monahan-Froese Nordstrom-Backlund-Dube Lucic-Ryan-Ritchie Simon-Gawdin-Robinson Giordano-Tanev Nesterov-Andersson Mackey-Stone Valimaki-Kylington

Question - Is this the last year you can move up more than 10 spots with a lotto win? I read where that starts in 2022. Is that right or is that the Oiler rule that starts next year. Or both.

Backlund was a mess last night. Here's a list of players that have not been scratched for obvious mistakes: Tkachuk, Gaudreau, Monahan, Lucic, Backlund, Nordstrom, Mangiapane, Gio, Tanev, Ras, Hanifin, Markstrom Here's alist of ones that repeatedly make mistakes: Tkachuk, Monahan, Lucic, Backlund, Ritchie, Nordstrom, Gio, Ras. I get what you are saying, but Bennett had enough reasons to be scratched. I would have scratched Lucic after two games where he was crap. Probably more than that. Same is true of Backlund who floats a lot of games, but then makes great plays. So, to balance it out, do you scratch Bennett who makes a few mistakes but doesn't do much otherwise positive? Or a Lucic who has both positive and negatives? Same is true of Backlund. I don't think Bennett would have moved the needle on the 3rd line with Lucic. Not the same game as the playoffs. Would he have moved the needle with Gaudreau? I doubt it, they are not really complementary players. Even at his best here, Bennett's shot in the slot was over the net. With Tkachuk, I think you see a lot of grit and no finish. He's better off where he is. Playing with good players on a team that can finish.

While the math is still there to get in, it's down to how the other teams do. I'm not considering VAN as having any chance. I think their run of luck is done. What I do see is two teams going in opposite directions: WPG - 10 points up on us, but have lost 6 in a row, 3-7-0 in the last 10. 6 games remaining (2x VAN, 2x OTT, 1x CGY, 1x TOR) They eliminate us if they beat us in regulation or win 2 games. If they lose all 6, we can eliminate them with 5/6 wins. MTL - 8 points up on us, they won 2 in a row but are 5-5-0 in last 10. They have a tough schedule. 6 games (3x TOR, 2x EDM, 1x OTT). They eliminate us by winning 3 games. We can get in if they go 2-4 with no loser points, and we somehow win 6/6. If they manage to win zero games, we can get in with 4/6. The odds are pretty low, but that's because of needing wins and other team losses. I wasn't impressed with the start of a critical game. While it was basically over after 6 minutes, we have a few grade A chances, at least one that didn't even result in a shot on net. Why a d-man with a clear lane to the net decides to pass to a winger is beyond me. This is not the same team with the net empty. I don't believe they have ever got a goal in that situation. More often than not they have a goal scored early after pulling the goalie, so it's done.

Calgary, unlike some other teams, is afraid to make any trade of a guy respected in the community. Subban in Montreal was as big a person as Gio ever was, probalby even more so. Was there any backlash when he was traded? Of course, but it was a move that they felt they needed to do. Subban even kept his word and continued to provide to Montreal. Not that I'm a big Subban fan, but he has as much class as Gio, maybe even more. We are stuck with Gio's team, whatever that means. The players he wants here? The guys that don't piss him off? Guys that make less? We don't often even take a chance on an AHL guy that we have on a NHL contract. Gotta have those PTO come in for jobs. Can't be gifting skilled players we have. I didn't so much mind the Leivo signing, though he was Warded and Suttered out of the lineup. Unless we trade away Gio, Backlund, Lucic, one of Monahan/Gaudreau/Dube/Tkachuk, we are not going to be able to re-tool. Every one of them is (in some ways) a usefull player, but most have limited speed. It's painfully slow to watch some nights. Exciting as paint drying at times.

MTL now 2 back of WPG, with WPG struggling. Not saying that either will make the playoffs, but MTL passing WPG would set up a much more interesting 1st round. TOR-WPG (or CGY) EDM-MTL The 2nd series would give EDM fans fits.

Think back to who was here. Burke. He let Feaster decide in 2013 (1 player to actually play in NHL for any amount of time). He made the call in 2014 (MacDonal, Smith, Kanzig). You really think and scouts had a chance to decide anything? Even Hickey seemed like an attempt to sign a bigger player. I mean it's fine to look at league like AJHL, but why bother if the guy isn't knocking out of the park there? Oganizational.

I'm starting to wonder if WPG can win any games left. 6 losses in a row. MTL 4 back of them, while we are 10 back. If we go 5-2 (bet them in 1 in regulation) and they go 0-6, we get in and they might end up being out. Like EDM going on a long losing streak, these are unlikely events, but possible. Who would ever predict 1) TOR 2) EDM 3) MTL 4) CGY I like them matchups.