travel_dude

They target a player and pick him plus getting additional picks. Obviously they didn;t want the D-man or Lapierre.

Look at context; tied with 3 others for team lead in goals this season.

We could do Vatanen or Mete, but not both. MEte never really did anything for me though. Merkley maybe a step in the right direction. Vatanen was a player I wished we had traded for years ago. He's fallen off, but two words; NJ. I see where we just signed a big RHS RW out of US College.

It's such an odd finish to a season. We haven't managed to completely drop out of the race. The Habs are dropping most of their games in hand. The Oilers looked comfortable in 2nd or 3rd, yet play out April and May against VAN and MTL. I wouldn't even put money on the Oilers making the playoffs at this point. By the time VAN gets back to playing they could have a rested lineup. Or MTL could take over 3rd. I don't hold out much hope for the Flames. While not eliminated, they have too many games against teams that could pass them or already are ahead.

Mete and Vatanen on waivers today. I used to have interest in Vatanen, a RHS that used to torture us playing the Ducks. No idea how he is playing in NJ, but wouldn't he be a better option than Stone? Pending UFA, that we could sign to an extension and expose. Or even claim and trade tomorrow. Crazy talk.

I thought you meant BT specificlly, since the thread was about BT. That 2013 draft was bad. Not exactly a lot of quality 1st rounders from 22 onward. Theodore and Brurakovsky is about it. Niether is exactly a standout.

Regarding the bolded, what did he miss out on in the 1st rounders? He traded away 1st rounders, but he didn't "miss" on the ones he did pick. Bennett was Burkie, regardless of the scout's opinions. The fact that he didn't become the player that was scouted doesn't mean it's a miss by BT, or even Burkie. I would suggest that very few GM would call out the team as not being good enough. That sends the wrong message. I would also suggest that you criticize the result as proof they are not a good team. On paper, this is a good team. A few holes, but every team has them. May not be a contender or close to being one, but the results this and last two years have been less than the sum of it's parts. While it could be seen as the time for a teardown, there is just as much sense to do a re-tool. The core with the added pieces have not functioned properly this season. The players added to go into the playoffs in previous years were not anywhere near enough to put them over the top. So, what I am saying is we need to evaluate what we do have with what we need to compete regular season and playoffs. An aging D-man a shutdown C that has struggled a bit two good young top 4 D a good shutdown D two good top 6 C's two good top 6 LW a pair of young wingers a potential top 4 D prospect Add to this Lucic, who we are kinda stuck with The culture and possibly the room have been exposed, but it's just a guess. They most likely need to make changes to this core. Two long-standing players have done little to raise their games in the playoffs, but have been effective regular season up to this year. We lack a true top C, but that is not as much a problem as having one that has dropped off for various reasons. Our best RW is being used to cover for lack of depth at C. Our best two LW's are not raising their game in the playoffs. It's a problem. Players starting to decline (Backlund, Gio), players not getting better and having down seasons (Tkachuk, Gaudreau, Monahan), and lacking a top 6 RW or C. Some of that is due to forcing things into square holes and some of it is guys just not able to continue in their old roles. That is what needs to be figured out. Move on if the player just doesn't have it anymore or can't raise their play. Scoring has been an issue, but it seems that defensive play has dropped off. No point in just fixing scoring.

It begs the question, what the F took so long. I actually like the D pairs. Stone is what he is, so I'm not expecting much. It's either him or Kylington. I'm interested to see if Dube has an impact of Monahan. Mangiapane is going to be what he always is, so I'm wondering if Dube will get to fly a bit. I almost expect the top line to be used in less dump and chase and more speed on the rush. Two sneaky players there. With Lucic, there's not a lot you can do to improve the line. Backlund has to play his normal game and Nordstrom has to forecheck to keep the other teams from getting out. The 4th line is going to take penalties. Not much you can do about that. At least Ritchie hits the net and Bennett has a good defensive game (at times).

He cleared which is an oversight in my opinion. Seems like a Sutter type when his work ethic is described. Maybe we should trade Kylington for him, since they seem to have no clue how to use him. Not that he has much trade value, other than a D that could be exposed. I hate wasting assets and not making improvements that cost nothing.

I think the big message was he's not talking about a post mortem at this point. He may have moves he wants to make, but no point in saying you are throwing in the towel. He would be talking to GM's, so no need to talk to Eric Francis or Steinberg about it. And really, even though most of the season is done, there is still reason to play. You should be playing for your job. Really, the big moves need to be decided on how the rest of the season plays out. Some guys may not have completely bought in yet. And some may be less interested now that playoffs are a very long shot. Those should be the guys you worry about first.

Well, if we claimed him, he would need to stay on the Flames roster. We would need to waive him again to get him to Stockton.

And a LHS here: https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=162310 Although, CapFriendly has him as a RHS. I don't mind taking the chance on a RHS

I think he's a LHS RW. He looks like a thicker version of Dube.

Ha ha. Then again, I don't see Kylington as being as much a liability. I might consider this, based on playing minutes at even strength: Hanifin-Ras Valimaki-Tanev Gio-Kylington FFS, get Stone and Nesterov out of the lineup. As far as the forward line? I'm okay with each line. I worry less with the top line with Gaudreau up there and Lindholm having the chance to finish. The Monahan line has at least one guy that can finish. Nordstrom has been one of the best F's in the last few games; where did he come from? Ricthie or Leivo. Really doesn't matter. As far as guys playing on the weekend? Sit out Ryan, Leivo, Rittich, Nesterov, Stone. Play Bennett to raise his stock a bit. The sitting guys held out to keep healthy enough to trade.

So true. VAN fans like to trash Benning a lot. Does Demko and Petey get him a pass?

Drafting, development questionable. The good - Wolf The questionable - Parsons and Gillies The bad - MacDonald Wolf is yet to be ruined. Parsons has struggled with the mental side of the game since turning pro, so it's hard to blame development entirely on him. Gillies is one of those goalies that you can't really tell. Injury derailed his season and never seemed to recover. I can't tell if Laberra is a good goalie coach or not. Sigalet's record is questionable at best.

Could also try for another Leland Irving. The one that got away.

Not only do you have to suck, but you have to suck really badly consistently to have a chance at the right 1st overall. Hall, Nuge, Yak, McD. Not to even mention Draisaitl at 3rd and Nurse at 6th. That won't ever happen again with the new rules. The Oiler rule. How many years did BUFF suck and they still placed 2nd in the sweeps with Eichel and Reinhart; Dahlin may be a gooder. Some are still doing it. EDM is almost as close to a lotto team as a playoff team. Lucky to play a team 7 times where their goalies were like butta. Mike Smith out of the cryogenic freezer in time to play 20+ games. But I digress.

Since we won't see a tear down this year, I suspect we use this draft as simply adding to a depleted prospect pool. I don't know that we are going to get any additional 2021 draft picks prior to the draft, other than later rounds, so I'm not expecting a big haul from this draft. If we retool, it's going to be players and prospects coming in over picks.

I don't know how we got to this in such a short time. 2 years ago, it was a setback in the playoffs. 2 years in a row of mid-season coaching changes. So little has really changed (head coaches, a few players gone).

Trading him makes sense to re-tool and find a player that can play regular season as well as playoffs. I doubt we get one for him in trade. But, I guess the point is that he was on a bargain deal, so we would need to pony up to keep him. He's not a C. He hasn't done much in the playoffs. If you are keeping him, you better get him two players that can drag him into the fight.

Have we had a good coach since Sutter 1.0? I do agree that a soft team like the Flames is not the right fit. He would be better suited in Dallas. The bigger concern is we build a team with part of the core in the mold of a Sutter team. In other words, the less skilled parts of the core. Monahan, Gaudreau, Valimaki, Dube do not fit the image. Even questionable that Lindholm fits. Doesn't ;eave much to work with.

We fixed one problem and created another. We had a good pairing in Hanifin-Ras and turned that into Hanifin-Tanev. Gio's flaws were hidden by his younger age and Brodie's all round effort. Ras doesn't fit with Gio. We have gone backwards in defensive play. 2 years ago we were good. Last year, we started to lose some of Gio's powers. This year has been one good pairing through most games.

Valimaki is effortless like JBow. Never looks like he is playing fast even when he is. I think he second guesses himself the same way Kylington does. You make a mistake, you are coming out. Can't fly the zone with the puck because your partner is a fool. I'm not saying he's perfect, just that he's closer to top 4 than either of the fools that are playing.