travel_dude

The exit disruptions speaks to the quality of the forecheck. Dump ins with scoring chances at 2 is a lot to do with 2nd line not getting many chances. Recovered dump ins speaks to the forecheck as well.

It's just talk, so I don't buy it. If he was starting to make the lineup decisions, that was when he was getting ready to fire Ward. IMHO, Ward was done weeks ago, and they just needed to get the guy they wanted. We will never hear what went down, but it's possible that Sutter was mulling it over even before the Ottawa series.

There was one breakout I saw that I really liked. I didn't see it in the videos above (may have missed it), but I think it was Ryan that skated into the neutral zone diagonally and the D hit him in stride. Middle of the ice. It split the ice. Can't remember the outcome but it was a zone entry. I detest the 1-2-2 forecheck. I'm okay with a modified 1-2-2 to 2-1-2 or whatever, as it forces the other team to rush the pass. Gaudreau needs to use his speed effectively. If he's the one constantly holding onto the puck on a zone entry, his options are limited to what the other guys are doing. He can catch other teams asleep if he is not always the one starting a rush. Don't abandon the zone if we don't have the puck control, but get open. Use the ice to your advantage. And start attacking the net instead of nothing shots from crazy angles. Once, sure. Not every bleeping time. He's got a deadly shot and he should take the puck to the net when he can. It's going to set up 2nd chances for the 2 foot guys. Or it draws a penalty. I would be parking Tkachuk a foot outside the crease on the PP. Let Monahan cover the other areas like the slot or taking the puck behind the net. Tkachuk is losing too many battles there because other teams know the butt check is coming.

I tend to not believe a single thing Kyp says when it comes to the Flames. Maybe he gets it right 10% of the time, but I think this is a reach. Leivo is a perfect example of why I don't think BT was in on the lineup decisions. He was supposedly brought in as a potential top 6 RW. He played there sporadically. And was dropped to 4th line or popcorn spot often. Anyway, I think the comparison between BP and Dutter is interesting. Maybe they hated him, but boy they could score in his system and deployments. If they tired of him, it was more in his post playoff season, where he tried things to fix the problems he saw in the playoffs. But that's just an opinion. Not an "insider" like Kyp, and not as smart as MacLean.

I think it was obvious with him skating with Stone that he was out. Not sure that Kylington with Valimaki is the greatest combo, but I think they are less risk together than Nesterov was. I know it's early, but I think we won't see a change to #2RW yet. Ritchie ia only going to play so many minutes, so you have a fill in on that line. Whoever is going that night. Could have been Leivo if it was like last game. Or Mangiapane. I tend to think it's less likely that Bennett plays there, just because that's not the role they have defined for him right now. More to the fact is that he's going to be used at C or LW. He might get some PP time.

I thnk that part of Sam's game was missing some details. You don't put him on a PK if he just finished a lazy shift. I say lazy if he didn't backcheck or hooked a guy becuase he lost the player or was begind the play. But, I will say this. Not every guy getting PK or PP minutes was 100% deserving either. Sutter mentioned in passing that the 4th line was out there possibly becuase he couldn;t use another line (or player). Since we were not chasing, there isn;t a reason to overuse Monahan and Gaudreau + Ritchie. Since we had a lead, you go with Lindholm or Backlund. Lucic and Tkachuk and Dube played less in the 3rd than the 2nd. Mangiapane one shift less, Backlund and Lindholm remained about the same as the 2nd. Gaudreau and Monahan, maybe one less shift. PK accounts for Backlund and Lindholm having a bit more time, plus penalty took away time from Mangiapane. What does that tell you. Not a lot. Daryll being Daryll. He was mostly just rolling 4 lines.

The thing for me is that they have found similar success to what their junior careers brought. Pospisil seems to have rounded out his game a bit after last season's injury (fight with Cave). Good to see players take the next steps. I think one could say that Phillips is NHL ready and has ripened fully in the AHL.

I laughed last night when I saw Bennett make a bad play that gave away the puck. You could hear him clearly say Aw, "shucks". LOL He knew as soon as he touched the puck what he did wrong. He also didn't sulk. You need guys that can do things when other players are not feeling it. I like that Sutter is giving him some hope and goals to achieve. Only took how many coaches to figure him out? Work in progress of course, but guys having some confidence or knowing where they fit in the grand plan does motivate them to play better.

JO would be a welcome sight on this team because of his size. Was also impressed with him, though it was him that knocked Tkachuk out of the playoffs. The one name I keep coming back to is Dunne. Not a huge guy, but I was impressed with his play in the SC 2 seasons ago. I think STL is in tough to re-sign everyone. Should not be that expensive to get in trade. Pending RFA with arbitration rights, but I don't think he commands a big payday that way. He's not a top pairing guy, but would be ideal to bridge the gap with Gio's play starting to decline. Not sure what we would need to send the other way, but it might have to be a Nesterov or Kylington and something interesting.

It's one game and two practices, so I'm not going to read into it too much. But, I think there has been better game management. Maybe the roles are clearer, but there is still some tweaking that needs to be done. When the 4th line is your best line, that shows something is still not quite right. I don't think you break up the line, but I do think you need to revisit the use of Ritchie with Monahan. There is opportunity to look at game tape and adjust the line. I don't think Ritchie hurts the team, but you may need to use him on a line that more suits dump and chase. The team seems to have bought into Sutter games. Winning one is nice, but I don't want the team to consider it a big feat. It was a win against a tired team with one of their best D-men sidelined. The season is so short that every game is going to be hard fought. There is room for improvement in every zone and situation. I thought they did some things well, some were a product of a tired team and some need to be improved. Guarding the house seemed better most shifts, but there was a breakdown at times. One resulted in a scramble, the other a goal.

Nice to see the Heat going on a heater. Unbeaten after the first two games of the year.

Projected lines for tonight (there still could be changes): Tkachuk-Lindholm-Dube Gaudreau-Monahan-Ritchie Lucic-Backlund-Mangiapane Bennett-Ryan-Leivo Giordano-Andersson Hanifin-Tanev Valimaki-Nesterov Markstrom

Here's an interesting comment from Sutter about Bennett: “I think we just want him to be a 200-foot, straight-line, work-hard, honest player. That’s sort of how I envision him coming in and that’s basically how we’ve addressed it with Sam. Obviously, I like those kind of players.”

I'm afraid they will know about him by doing scouting on team's available prospects. If you want to hide him, hide him in plain sight. He's going to need an adjustment to the NHL as it is. Then again, he could become a top 6 F in literally months.

Petrovic looked terrible in his brief stint with the Oilers. Not that is mans much, since they can make lots look bad, but he doesn't do anything for me. Phillips with either Monahan or Backlund would be fine. Maybe a bit better balanced with Backlund, but better scoring chances with Gaudreau. Eeeks, that might be a bit scary in the D-zone. Phillips is fearless, but I don't know if I want two small wingers (one tiny) trying to defend. Actually, come to think about it, you could have Dube, Mangiapane and Phillips on line 2, 1 and 3. Dube's speed with Gaudreau would be interesting. You know Mangiapane fits with Tkachuk. 3 home grown RW's.

I think he gravitates to the strong side when he gets a zone entry, as he tends to go for that side. If it's a O-zone face off, he has options to go weak side. But it's set for that shift or possession. I think we've seen all kinds of versions of the two strategies. Some night deadly, some night not. But it seems to come with moving it quickly. Whatever Dutter does, I hop he makes suggestions about the things they need to fix. There are some games where we have zero PP time, but for the most part we have chances. Going O for in a night can be the difference between a W and L. Seen it too many times. We heard the same thing. Yet we see little difference. What KV said about Dutter was good to hear. In game adjustments. Switch things up when something isn't right. Biggest problem with Ward was not having that understanding. Waiting till a period was over, and in some cases the score out of hand. Maybe it's best to leave Gaudreau on the strong side. On the 2nd unit, use Mangiapane or Dube on the weak side. Both of those guys (Dube espceially) can hit the net on a one-timer. Seriously think they need to reserve Gio for the PK and evens. Valimaki would be my choice. Rangey guy with an accurate shot. Doesn't lose many foot races. I thought Gio played okay again OTT, but he easily could have cost us a SH goal.

It should happen. You can't ignore the talent. Not exactly the same, but if Yamamoto can make it in the NHL, so too should Phillips. Wonder if Phillips is still a buck forty?

If you can provide a list of the players that would be traded, that would help. 🙂 We can speculate which players are the problem, but I think it's a little hard to say at this point. Sutter should separate the wheat from the chaff, I suppose.

Many reasons for a loss, aren't there. But if they play the way they are capable of playing, then a loss is much less in question. There is going to be an adjustment for sure. One game isn't going to sink us in the grand scheme. Looking like we did against Ottawa would. There is a big picture to look at. Can this team change to being a team that shows up consistently. If the answer is yes, but it takes a few games to turn that into wins, then we don't lose the players. I think the excitement is there because the players have a chance to show that with the right coach they can be that team.

Interesting that we still have Ritchie on the 2nd line, but again it's just a player there right now. Sutter will use that for now and probably line up the player he plans to play there at some point. Could be mid-game or in a morning skate.

No doubt that could work too. The key point is splitting up Ras and Gio. I just don't see it working. They look good at times, but I don't think it's the best idea to continue it.

I have to point this out, because it's being painted as a player/culture problem. We have had 2 rookie coaches, an old school coach that had one good season, and one that was forced to quit. I would say none if them have been a good fit here. Hartley - had a season where the players were given the keys, then changed the way he coached. Was not a good fit in what he was selling. Gully - poor choice to begin with. BP - had good results but his following year was not able to finish what he started. Ward - not a coach that was able to adjust to other teams. There is a problem with a team that showed mixed results this season. Saying they are 100% responsible for the problems is incorrect. Poor coaching can put you in that situation. For that reason, I am interested to see what a good coach can do. I have confidence that the season will be better. Whether there is enough to get in the playoffs remains to be seen. We could still be 100% better and still miss. Is that a reason to rebuild?

It's a fair question. I suspect it may be a staged recovery. We make some strides now and if that continues into the playoffs, we don't make major changes. We get some benefit but fail in the playoffs, we know that we have to make changes. Probably better to approach it for now as if it's going to work. Changes can be made over the course of the off-season.

I don't know why I have such optimism about having a new coach, and expecially Sutter as a coach. Could it be a sense of a perfect fit for a bunch of guys that don't really have a sense of teamwork? A guy gets run over and nobody sticks up for him. Why is that guy going to risk it if nobody has his back. I don't know if Lucic fought Nurse because of a firty hit, but I don't think you have to look to hard to find one. Neal is known for being a douche, so I have no doubt Tkachuk did it for the right reason. But those two deserve having their backs looked after. I don't think Sutter is going to point and say "Go", but I think the team starts to realize that the guy that gets a cheap shot put to him needs to be avenged. I still remember Brouwer saying that the hacks on Guadreau were no bg deal, he does it all the time. Such as loser. Then again, where was his backup? Why was Staal able to walk out of that game unscathed. If they have some pride in the team, perhaps they can play like one. Make CGY a place that teams don't want to visit. Make losing unacceptable, no matter what moral victories we managed to achieve. Maybe I have the wrong idea about what he will bring, but I have to think it's going to be positives. If he can turn the boat around it could be an epic finish. For one thing, it would prove that they are not one dimensional and fragile. It would mean that they would be cruising into the playoffs. And that they are beating the very teams that they face in the first and second rounds.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/video/flames-sutter-explains-holds-fast-paced-practices/ Expands a little on some things. I loved the way he answer EF's question about Ritchie playing with Monahan and Gaudreau. Typical Dutter. 🙂