travel_dude

Well, that warms my heart. As recnt as a week or so ago, the media kool-ade drinkers were saying how great it was that Neal was back. He scored two goals. Would bring more bottom 6 scoring. Bla bla bla. Maybe there's a chance that some team with cap space takes on this Stupid Deal James Neal. I can't believe any team would look at the lack of depth of the Oilers and wonder why they won't even keep him. Would have made more sense to waive Kassian, but I guess he's injured.

I could live with that switch too, but I'm interested to see if Dube actually would improve Monahan and Bennett's game fits a bit better with Tkachuk. Either or for me. Something needs to happen with the top line.

He's got a few moves now. Top shelf wrister 5 hole (save for shootout) backhand elevated Monahan benefitted from having a RHS RW, but I'm not seeing as many slot shots where he has his hands free. He's getting chances, just not the money shots we are used to.

Lou, just a few comments about the post. I'm not in love with the Monahan line right now. Monahan has been silent, and while he gets the occasional good chance, it's not looking good with the execution. They got a couple of decent chances last nigh, including the Gaudreau goal, but we need three players going on that line. RobRob suggested that it may be Bennett gravitating toward the C responsible areas. I know they get in each other's way at times. With that in mind, and the fact that Tkachuk has gone radio silent, I think it may be time for a minor change. Switch Bennett and Dube. You can always use Bennett to take some draws, providing a RHS RW for him on those shifts. Or you play him on LW and use Tkachuk on RW. Maybe allows Tkachuk to use his skills more than just his butt. Bennett can be the grit and go to the net. At least until Tkachuk finds himself. Some suggest that the mini tantrum set the others off. I don't know that is true, but he has been less effective recently. When he plays hockey close to the edge he's dominant, but I'm just seeing the gritty side not the other parts. Dube on Gudreau's line provide a couple of targets for Johnny. Maybe gets Monahan available in the slot more. Don't really know. I know it takes time to build chemistry, but the top 6 lines are doing less than I would hope. Gaudreau is scoring on alley oops, which is awesome. Is that the line or the player. Great to have that scoring, but I would like to see better shifts when being sheltered like that.

47.3 in the O-zone is worrisome. He struggles against some team but has a better time with others. I do agree about wasted chances with a FO loss. Needs to be better or use someone that wins them.

I haven't looked through every face off stat for Monahan, but if he's starting in the O-zone against the other team's best FO dude, then he's likely going to lose possession. He faced Statsny in the last game (even though we had last change) and barely won a draw. Also, the downside to not having Lindholm is having to take all the draws. I'm not excusing him, just pointing out what does not show up in that chart.

Whether or not Tanev had a big impact on Hughes can be debated, but he does not have the same poise this year. We are seeing some growth from Hanifin, but part of that is that Hanifin got away from Hamonic this summer. He was part of a good pairing then. I think we could see benefits to Gio and Ras if we swapped Tanev with Ras. Would it be mutually beneficial for both pairs? No idea. I'm liking the Valimaki-Nesterov pair again. They seem to be building on some of their good play as a pair.

The engine was running fine last night, but there were some sputtering. Need to check the oil. Bad analogy. What I am getting at is that you look at the performance after both wins and losses. Koskinen was not good. Scoring 6 doesn't mean we have the best lines. I was impressed with the gritty win last night. But it was closer than it should have been. We had last change and still were content to have the other coach determine the matchups. Shouldn't fixate on it, but be aware of who they trot out there first. The fact that the scoring came from the bottom 6 and a PP goal should be concerning. No blender required, but you need to look at things and tweak if necessary.

Some comments. I don't think a 50% O-zone usage is sheltrered. Ward continues to allow opposing coaches to line match; he just likes to roll lines. We get last change and Monahan faces Statsny how many times? I don't think it matters which line Mangiapane plays on, they will be better. I do think it's more important for Ward to be strategic when he gets last change. For me, the bigger issue is what to do with Bennett. I don't see the fit with Gaudreau; two opposite players. Don't think it makes sense to play him with Lucic. Perhaps playing with Tkachuk might have a better outlook.

I can't see a case of us exposing him in the draft. He also should not be part of trade discussions as a way to increase the value. I have been pleasantly impressed with his progression as a pro.

Both interesting perspectives. I wonder if the swap of Mangiapane with Dube does anything bad at all. The Backlund line is essentially the line that scored in the playoffs, with Backlund replacing Bennett. Mangiapane joins back up with Tkachuk, so the impact would not be negative. But I do wonder if long term (not suggesting it for Thursday) is the following: Bennett-Lindholm-Tkachuk (or reverse the players) Gaudreau-Monahan-Mangiapane Lucic-Backlund-Dube Bennett needs to fit obviously. It can't be one man against the other team, has to be a line that works. 2nd line has more breakaway speed but has two guys that are good in close. Dube gets Backlund for his good passing and Lucic to give the other team something to worry about.

My issue with it is that it puts 3 or 4 skaters standing still. 2 man entry works pretty good. 1 man entry works, but 3 or 4 guys standing still doesn't exactly provide support. The breakdowns occur a lot of time because we are using one side too much and not moving it fast enough. Allows the PK to be aggressive.

Why do the Flames do it when they have two or three good zone entry guys on one unit? Gaudreau, Lindholm and Ras. Gaudreau and Ras are skaters and carve up the blueline; Gaudreau is best served if other players gain the zone with him. Lindy is pretty good at entering on the fly while passing or getting a pass. The bump is so old, and the Flames are actually getting worse at it. When it has no success, we see the worse play of a dump in without speed. In and out. Once they are in the zone, they control well, but are passive. They can whips it around and they can be a lot more active with success. But we are using Lindholm and Johnny wrong. Gaudreau is dagerour on the right side. Lindy could actually get a one-timer from the left. Much more lethal that way. Dube's goal the other night is the off wing shot you see that way. But, I digress

I'm a realist, but I do have high hopes for some players. Maybe he's not NHL ready, or maybe he has the right jam to play. It's not a shiny new toy thing at all. I've seen some of his play and he seems to have good skills. He's not going to come in (even if he managed to get a call) and play top 6 with Monahan. As a 3rd or 4th line player, I would expect that he hope he could put up 2 points in around 10 games.

I am in no means suggesting that they shouldn't give it some time. Getting a bit of a garbage goal from that line is fine, but it's not their strength. I say garbage only because most goalies stop that one, with the upper part of the net open. Having a C/LW playing RW sets off alarm bells for me. We've done it so long.... Simon played with a play driver at times and hasn't been much of a fit so far here. I don't think too much should be expected with a depth guy that can play up and down the lines. Maybe a trade isn't in the cards and this is about all we can expect; a decent line with Backlund and an okay line with Gaudreau. The latter could improve. Or we end up making a trade for a top 6 RW. For what Bennett is delivering so far, we probably get that from Ruzicka.

Not sure what that means other than one body to replace Ryan. I think he could be an improvement to Nordstrom or Simon. At worst, he's still a better idea than Froese or Rinaldo.

It's way too small a sample size to make any conclusion. Just the only thing I could find about it. The only thing it says to me was that it wasn't all roses when he played there. I don't think he's a fit there, but then again he's not a RW.

I know there's not a lot of data available, but I will just post this summary of Gaudreau/Monahan with and without Bennett. Not my comments, just an opinion piece: GAUDREAU – MONAHAN – BENNETT Let’s take a dive into how this line has looked together, using data from Natural Stat Trick. To learn more about the stats in the chart below, please check out our primer. Line TOI CF% xGF% SCF% HDCF% GF% OZS% Gaudreau-Monahan-Bennett 17.55 28.6% 29.0% 25.0% 20.0% 66.7% 72.7% This is… not good. For a line that starts most of their shifts in the offensive zone, they are clearly unable to generate chances in the offensive zone. Although Monahan has only won 45% of his draws so far this season, even when they win the faceoff, they are not generating any real chances. Then, when the puck is in their own zone, this line struggles defensively. GAUDREAU – MONAHAN – BENNETT Line TOI CF% xGF% SCF% HDCF% GF% OZS% Gaudreau & Monahan w/o Bennett 107.04 54.3% 55.0% 52.6% 48.5% 66.7% 59.5% Although it is a much larger sample size, Gaudreau and Monahan clearly look better without Bennett. Whether they are with Andrew Mangiapane, Dominik Simon, Josh Leivo, Dillon Dube or anyone else, the Flames’ dynamic duo just looks better without Bennett than they do with him.

I agree with this. We are a better team than what we have shown. We should not be struggling to compete in some games. Marksstom is easily good enough to give us a chance to win each game he starts. Gio and Ras are better than what we have seen; there may be some communication issues or current practices they need to fix. Too many deflections by D that are killing us. Piss poor line 4. The unfortunate thing is that there are only division games by everyone in front of us. We need to take care of our games first, and look for help for teams above us. In some ways it's better that EDM wins about half of the games against MTL and TOR. And that OTT and VAN beat WPG, TOR and MTL. I'm not as concerned about winning the division as much as keeping pace with them.

With any luck, we will be playing VAN before they figure things out. Holtby is furious. The D is a mess. Lazy backchecking. Coach on his last legs.

I gotta say I am perplexed by the big change to the lineup after the WPG game. Ryan was out, yes. Did I miss something about how we sould be dressing 1 PK forward and two guys to warm the bench as a 4th line? Couldn't even double shift a good forward with them. BT needs to step in and make some good GM decisions about the taxi squad. Ward doesn;t seem tp think Simon or Leivo are NHL payers. Sorry Wardo, you are pretty dumb to think that Rinaldo and Froese are going to change the team somehow. You don't want to play Leiov or Simon, BT needs to bring in two prospects that may acually have NHL careers. So, we get 2 minutes of a couple of 4th liners. Might as well dress Kylington as an extra D and use him on LW. At least he can skate.

TBH, the original MAC hasn't been on for some time. They changed to another user, but haven't posted. Everyone gets a little fed up at times, so I can appreciate that they left and haven't returned. I'm positive except I call out players. You might call it having a whipping boy, but I just get fed up with certain things. I rarelt call out Gaudreau, mostly because he is the one bright story we have. Sure, he's sometimes frustrating to watch, but he is all about winning. I see frustration in this team, mabifested in different ways. Some look like they give up on shifts. Some take it upon themselves to do it all. It's not a cohesive team. There seems to be some leadership issues. Is everyone on the same page here? I don't know if the plans are being lost on the ice in the moment? Or if the plans don't make sense.

Yeah, got no issue with focusing Backlund on McD. I just hope the blender does not come out tonight.

Interesting. I suspect we will be matching Backlund vs McD and Draisaitl mostly. If Bennett plays, that's not a bad thing; he seems to bring his A game in that matchup. Leivo hasn't shown yet that he's a good fit on the 2nd line. Maybe it's better to swap him with Dube. Smaller winger, but the Oilers only dirty player on LW is Archibald. Oilers will be likely dressing 7D again. Double shifting on the 4th line.

I know it's only a practice, but I keep hearing a lot of things and see nothing. The more things change, the more they remain the same. I get that Simon and Nordstrom were even for the night, but that doesn't mean they were positive contributors. Good thing we have last change Saturday. Should have the 4th line on for meaningful minutes.