travel_dude

We didn't have many bluechip players that fit the TDL mold of tradeable players. Ritchie, Nordstrom, Simon, Leivo, Bennett, Rittich, Stone, Nesterov, Ryan. We managed to get value on two expiring contracts; pretty good value. It's possible that teams shied away from a 3-4th line C making 3m which at best would be 1.6m trade. So many available options for teams. Ryan was having a decent season, not a great one. Decent on the dot, but only 2 goals and 7 assists. Well down from last year. The only trades we could have gotten a decent return on are ones you don't make at TDL. Gio would have been a tough sell. Not a trade we win at TDL.

Compared to the team he doesn't look so bad. Yes, it would be a mistake to trade him and see him get 70 points. But there is something broken here. Whether that is Gio, or and injury or him being coached to do things a certain way, it's not working. If you are going to commit to $9m, then it has to be a player that is 100% driven. Last year's Tkachuk at worst. 50% Tkachuk is not worth it. If he wants out, then trade him for the best possible.

I guess what I was going on about was that we are are building to the future. Even a 8-0 finish to the season doesn't guarantee us a playoff spot. MTL only needs 5-3-1 to be ahead. VAN needs 10-3-1 which is a tall order, and if we won all 8, then they can't pass us. So, we have prospects that could be playing now, like Mackey and Kylington. Or Ruzicka, Gawdin and Phillips that have excelled at the AHL level. Not sure what the benefit is to have Nesterov and Buddy out there. Is this BT's way of hiding the players from expansion?

He has one year left where he makes $9m and we have to qualify him at that at a minimum. If he's truly part of the solution, then he needs to step up big time or shut it down and get whatever surgery he needs. This half-arsed play is wasting play. Killing offense. Causing turnovers. Any trade involving Tkachuk is for the future. Future cap. Future dynamic players.

3 wins to tie MTL. They lose all remaining games we are ahead of them. VAN is a wild card though. I don't hold much hope. MTL wins and CGY losses adding up to 5.5 and we are done. As early as May 3, we could be done. MTL plays 4 games and we play 2 by then. Realistically, we have to win 2 against EDM and MTL has to lose all 4. Might as well evaluate some of the young players and sit Nesterov. Buddy and Ritchie are what they are, so I don't think you need to evaluate them. We could use functional toughness of Ritchie, so re-sign him. Buddy seems to be incapable of playing at this level.

So a bit of both. If Sutter is aware of any supposed requests, then he should have shut it down. He looks like a fish out of water.

I am beginning to think Tkachuk is the one that needs to go. Unless he is severly injured, there is no excuse for his declining play. I can't even predict what he is worth after this season. Last 10 games where we needed wins, 2 assists, one beng on the PP.

As much as you and I have thrown in the towel, you know Sutter will find some fault in Valimaki.

Figured it was rotator or labrum. You don't have much ability to raise your arm, which is how he seemed to be holding his arm.

^^^^^^ Supposedly, the others underbid. TBS is smart for taking risk on the future. The game is still under-exposed in the USA, but with big name prospects coming into the game and the potential interest due to the Olympics, the market could grow. Lots of hipsters and coffee drinkers could expand the viewership as well.

I tend to agree with the way you perceive Sutter. Somehow, I doubt he goes 7D tonight, though that makes the most sense. Playing Buddy for 6 minutes really does nothing for us. Props to the D corps for stepping up on a B2B game and playing extended minutes.

Like my analogy about the season. Let it slip away now playing to tie and win in the "3rd".

Well, Hanifin needs surgery, so we are done for. This isn't the same where we lost Gio and managed to still make the playoffs. We had some runway then to make it happen. Who knows though. It could be the same as losing Bennett to trade. With the D, there is no "next man up" depth here. Valimaki and Stone could take his overall minutes, but after that we are really shaky.

I see it differently, but that is just my view. They are playing better and getting the chances just not finishing. I saw Backlund have a look at a empty net and he missed on both locations. Tkachuk had a look at the same thing but was unlucky to hit a stick. These are just a few examples. The chances are there. We have seen a few games where the chances were nil, but those are fewer than hen's teeth. My analogy was about how we let the season get away from us. We haven't played that way so much in the past 10 games. The Ottawa game was an example of how we make a couple of mistakes early and get burned.

It's the only thing that makes any sense. While Stone has been steady, he should not be pairing with Ras for the 2nd most minutes for pairs. I think Sutter actually needs to go 11-7 again. We can get by on 11 forwards, but relying on Nesterov to make up for Hanifin is just crazy.

We are playing better than MTL, not exactly a ringing endorsement. TBH, we are playing better for 60 minutes now than we were a month ago. And better than we did in all of February and January. A run of 8-1 is basically what we need to just have a chance. That doesn't even get it done. What it does do is put doubt in MTL and VAN. It's one thing to It could all be for not, and we could really screw ourselves in not giving opportunity to rookies or losing out on a decent raft pick. Why it took 40 games for the team to figure this out is beyond me. This season is shaping up to be exactly the way we played a lot of games. Being down 3-1 in the first. We get nothing in the 2nd. In the 3rd, we get a goal about 10 minutes in. Spend the rest of the game trying to get that tying goal. Could tie it up and then lose in OT. Poor analogy, but it's kinda like how I see this team.

You mean instead of 2 of 4? It's odd, but in the last 4 games he played here, he had 5 points yet we had 1 win, the blowout of EDM. Kind of a shame we couldn't find a lineup with him in it that was consistent.

I wasn't sure if you meant crucial for MTL, is all. This is a big week for us, MTL and VAN. Let's hope we win and they both lose.

#Flames power play: PP1: Mangiapane Lindholm-Monahan-Gaudreau Giordano PP2: Lucic Tkachuk-Backlund Stone-Andersson

The extreme cases have a player wait out 4 years to sign with any team. We tried to sign Fox and he chose to stay another year in the NCAA. At the time, we were heavy on D, so he may have felt there was no opportunity here. We signed Gaudreau even though there were people here who had inside info he wasn't signing. The biggest risk with the NCAA is they play a small amount of teams so you don't always get a good idea of the player.

I forget, what is Wednesday? We play the Oilers on Thursday and Saturday. MTL plays TOR Wednesday. Is that what you refer to? This is one year where there really isn't any coasting into the playoffs. No meaningless games. We need to be on a run to make the playoffs and need other teams to fail at the same time. TOR has more issues going in than we do. More of a spotlight on them for being a leader for the entire year and now looking mortal. It's difficult to point to the bad because you just don't know. Was last year a poor effort in the playoffs? Yes and no. The players didn't show up in some cases, but I felt that coaching was a major reason for the loss. Not excusing the players, but I don't think you can say that player X has to go because of the poor showing this playoffs. If you did, then Gio, Backlund and Tkachuk are at the top of the list. TBH, last playoffs was a gimick. Season paused for over 4 months. A play-in series and round 1 against a team with a buy. Let the chips fall as they may. We are learning more about the players now than in previous years. The going is tough. They are doing the things they need to do to win. If we come close but miss it, we won't be any worse than 10th likely. Too many teams that haven't given up. If we get in, then we face TOR most likely. That would be a hard fought series, but no more so than Dallas was.

Who would have throught there would be a three team race for the final spot. VAN is making it interesting right now. Their win percentage is 500, MTL is 533 and ours is 479 It's deceiving, though. Tough schedule to finish the season. Even if we win all 9 remaining games (1 x MTL and 4 x VAN), we are not guaranteed a spot. MTL and VAN still finish aheah of us if they win all their other games. That's a tall task for either team, so just win all your own games.

That's my take as well. Losing a player like him when we aren't protecting anyone of equivalent level makes no sense. We lack effective RW's, so if we are using him in the 3 slot, then trade for a top 6 RW. Or another top 4D to replace Gio. Valimaki is still a bit too far away from being a top 2 D.

I do think the path to the playoffs is easier now than a week ago. Habs have a single game in hand. One possibility I have thought about, but not sure it's possible is the Oilers getting bumped. Flames go 8-2 as you suggest, beating MTL in the remaining games. Habs go 4-7 with 2 wins against EDM. EDM goes 0-11 with 5 losses to Nucks. Nucks go 5-11. That would mean CGY 59, MTL 58, EDM 57. Oh how sweet that would be.

That's apretty conservative estimate. EDM is running out of tough guys to play. The first game is a B2B game for them. They are playing the Jets, which is a 4 pointer for them. They would wrather lose to us than WPG, so we get Koskinen. The 2nd game will be a HNIC tilt. The SENS game only matters if we win 4/5 before that. Not impossible, since we have beaten both teams more than once. With the Nucks series, I suspect you see MArkstrom if we are still in the race. For all games. MTL has a tough end of season. Us x 2, Leafs, WPG, OTT x 2, Leafs x 2 and Oilers on the last 2 games of their season. The Oilers won't be resting players going into the playoffs; they don't have effective depth to do it. Not that I have any confidence, just that it's one of those crazy seasons. Kinda like the year we drafted Tkachuk. We win one too many or lose one too many and we miss out on a lotto pick. Or like the year COL made the playoffs on the last day and smoked us in round 1.