travel_dude

Dube is a wildcard. He plays well enough at RW to be a big difference maker. He did it with Bennett and Lucic. He looks good with Tkachuk. But I think Dube with Monahan and Mangiapane back with Tkachuk could do noth lines wonder. Lindholm is a better finisher than Backlund, so I think that line will score. Mangiapane-Lindholm-Tkachuk Gaudreau-Monahan-Dube Bennett-Backlund-Leivo Lucic-Ryan-Simon It leaves Simon on the 4th line. Then again, that may not be a bad thing. They would be good forechecking. Ryan provides some chances for Lucic to score. Simon gets the puck off the boards.

Bennett adds a better defensive element to that line, but I question if he's effective as a RW. I think Ward is sensing that Leivo is a 20 goal scorer and was just out of practice last game. But there are so many options for lines. I'm interested to see Dube build on his time with Tkachuk. I'm not as high on Leivo as Mangiapane. Simple switch: Move Leivo down and Simon up. Other option using Mangiapane in a more offensive role: Gaudreau-Monahan-Mangiapane Bennett-Backlund-Leivo With the defense, I wonder if we are seeing where Ras is now the dominant player and we are looking for the guy to play 2nd most minutes with him. Gio - had some good shifts, but he looks similar to his play in the playoffs. Hanifin - played really well with Ras, but maybe not the greatest complement to Tanev. Valimaki - 14 minutes of pretty even play, but nothing really standing out yet

I saw the same as Peeps. TBH, I haven't seen him score hat I would call a snipe in quite some time. Maybe I forget, but I see a lot of in close pushing it in. Or a deflected shot. I don;t know if it's a flex thing or what, but he is top corner or nothing. He can't seem to shoot it close to ice level. He does not have a shot like Monahan. He has a hard shot, but that's about t. Maybe I'm too hard on him. I get more frustrated than excited. He scores when the ice is smaller (playoffs) and he beat the puck into the net.

Talbot at 33, going on 34.... Markstrom a "young" 30 who hasn't had as much wear and tear. I agree that he could have been better with a better team in front, the same way Talbot was pretty good last year. Overall, I think Markstrom is a better goalie by a wide margin. Talbot had tendencies for 1st shot goals. And he really play that much. SHort of giving up assets for a good young goalie (how many are really out there), drafting or UFA is the only realistic way to go. We drafted two guys that could be starters, but I think it's closer to just one. 3 years out, and we drafted him over a year ago. I give Markstrom about 4 good years. That is the least, IMHO. He may not be elite, but I haven;t seen any that I would describe as elite right now. Any that seem close are over 30. Most play on good defensive teams.

I think you have to accept that the 4th line is a problem. If they are going to be -2 on 4 goals, then it's not going to be on the goalie. I didn't line the Laine goals, but one was a breakaway and the other was a weird sequence of no hot/shot.

I would be fine with Mangiapane in the top 6. Leave the shutdown line for player that can shutdown only. 2 scoring lines is all you really need. Park the 4th line if they are not doing much. Play Simon over Ryan. Or Ryan over Lucic.

At least Rittich is back. What didn't work before is the solution I guess. Try, try, try again and again. Force the lines to work.

When the supposed "shutdown" line had 60% O-zone starts, it's even more perplexing. Expose the Monahan line to the same thing they had in the playoffs (more D-zone time). Use the best 2-way C more in the O-zone. I must have missed all the scoring from the shutdown line. The first period was good and showed the type of play they are capable of. The second period showed that the 4th line is well behind other team. Have to figure out if the 4th line is an going to be rough and tough or play with pace. I'm not saying Leivo should sit, but Simon was a better fit for the Monahan line. And figure out what role Lucic is going to have. He's not up to speed for rushes. He's losing possession when he gets it. The line looks bad. I would like to see Gio play with someone else. He looked like he lost a couple of steps. Tanev was good. Nesterov seemed solid. Valimaki only struggled a bit. Hanifin was an adventure at times.

I'm just happy for them to split games against foes in the North. Can't have any team beating them every game. They need to win to prevent other teams from getting too far ahead. Looks like all the depth they signed only amounted to ensuring the top 2 lines could get goals. McDavid get zero points - Oilers lose by 2. McDavid gets 4 points - Oilers win by 3.

I didn't get the starting of the 4th line. I don't care if WPG starts their toughie line or not, we should be starting on the most minutes people. The 4th line was horrible. Looch wasn't good, but it was the combo that didn't work. Made Bennett look bad. Ryan on the 3rd line may make sense, but he did not look strong out there. Ended last playoffs the same. I would have preferred to see Simon get in there. Leivo with Monahan was okay, just not the same page at times.

I think we all notice things that could be changed to improve the team. Saw things in the playoffs I didn't like. Some of that wasn't cleaned up in the scrimmage, but I expect some rust. Obviously not much time at camp to try different things. I like that they have tried a few guys with Monahan/Gaudreau as well as setting up a 2nd scoring line plus shutdown line. Bennett's usage is still troubling. Lucic on the PP is too. I would prefer that you reward Lucic for good play with PP minutes, not gift them. There is some reason to believe that the Monahan line could be as good as two years ago, if they can get chemistry with the 3rd wheel. Getting them away from top coverage may help. Having two other lines to face tough competition should as well. I just hope Ward learned a few things from the playoffs. It seemed like he was out-coached. Not to put the blame on him, but he could have been smarter.

Looks like Stone and Ritchie were both released from their PTO's.

It wasn't until the playoffs that Bennett looked like he had taken a step. It may have been a result of a new line with him over Ryan. To me, it's a situation that Bennett plays better with better players (big surprise). Maybe it was not consistent use, but I don't remember him looking as good with Gaudreau. That may have been due to playing RW. For some reason Bennett was held out of practice to begin with. Was there simply not enough time to experiment? If they leave Monahan with Gaudreau, would Mangiapane (or Dube) be enough of a difference maker to provide the missing piece to that line?

Janko leads the NHL in scoring.... 🙄

Where I find Bennett struggles is that he tries to do things himself. When he played with Dube, they were a mobile pair. By himself, Bennett will try to walk through 2 players. He's good if someone gives him an option to pass to/from. Catch Bennett on the fly and let him get a shot away. Or he's carrying the puck and a player gets open. Lucic is really only useful once the puck in on the boards. He doesn't have the greatest mitts anymore for passing plays.

Yeah, I wasn't sure. I remembered a lot of talk about Bennett needing to play at C. I think the decision to use Lindholm at C pushed Bennett down the lineup. Lucic is one thing, but Nordstrom makes it worse. I would be fine moving Bennett to LW and Leivo to RW, paired with Backlund. It doesn't change the top 2 lines as much, but it gives you a better top Tkachuk-Lindholm-Dube Gaudreau-Monahan-Mangiapane Bennett-Backlund-Leivo Lucic-Ryan-Simon Not ideal. But at least Bennett would be on a better line. Dube's performance in the playoffs seems to be resulting in him playing top 6. I would have like to see the Lucic-Bennett-Dube line in the regular season. Then you could do Simon with Gaudreau-Monahan and Mangiapane with Tkachuk. Would need to have Nordstrom with Backlund and Leivo. Not sure that would work.

Out of curiosity, what was your suggested lineup based on who we have available? Is your frustration with Bennett's use because he is still with Lucic or the 4th line?

Treliving says the #Flames can keep their AHL players in Calgary, separate from their NHL group, until their leagues are up and running. Dustin Wolf and Connor Zary will stay with the AHL group, while Jakob Pelletier will be going back to QMJHL, to quarantine before restarting. BT made a point of saying that Mackey made the team, regardless of whether he stays on the taxi squad. Not sure how Rinaldo did, other than being a good teammate. Buddy is meh for me. I guess they can decide to demote anyone from the taxi squad anytime once the AHL starts up. If they did it before then, it would not require quarantine, unless they are at the AHL camp. Technically, I guess they could hold the camp in CGY. Not sure on that, but it would give them more flexibility to begin with.

No great surprises there. I guess they haven't released Stone and Ritchie yet. I guess they can sign them, but they would need to stay up at least until after game one. In order to waive them and assign to taxi squad, someone would need to go to the AHL or back to active roster. Weird times.

Oilers suck.

I'm more visual, so I can't listen to hockey unless it's like the way Danny Galivan did them. You didn't have to watch to know where the puck was or the danger areas. I'm lucky to live in the same province as my team. I'm from the east, so SN only broadcasts SENS games there. And that was back when they sucked (hint - they still do). Get to watch every game played, and only have to use streams once in a blue moon. I don't care for Cassie, but once the play stops she has valid but annoying thngs to say. Debrusk always sounds like he is trying to find something nice to say about the Flames, unless they are laying the Oilers. He doesn't belong on a national broadcast. Neither does Hrudey, but that's because he's not that professional. He knows stuff, but really isn't a gifted speaker. Ball is just okay. Better than some, doesn't sound like a homer. Quinn is the worst.

Forgot about the PTO's. Stone should not be here. Ritchie should be ahead of RInaldo for sure. Ahead of Robinson too.

Mangiapane stood out. Kylington was rusty, so I don't know if the plan was to use him in AHL or keep him up. Yelesin was good, I thought. Not quite as good as Lerby, but close. Mackey was not good. Nesterov is better than I expected. Valimaki moves like a dream. I would keep Ryan over Nordstrome, but that a positional thing. Both were good and bad. Ryan is on the taxi squad. May still play a lot, but you never know. Yelesin or Lerby or Kylington could be the extra D on the taxi squad. Two max. I'm not thrilled about holding a taxi spot for RInaldo, but that's because I don't think he is more than a fringe player. They will probably keep him for EDM games. Robinson isn't a first choice for me either. If the reason for having a taxi squad is to have players play alternate games on B2B games, then he doesn;t make sense. If they are just there due to the quarantine period, then it doesn't matter. I would have Kylington, Lerby, Ryan, Ruzicka, Domingue and Robinson. If they are not going to play much, then Kylington, Ryan (alternates in), Domingue, and RInaldo. EDIT - forgot about Richie and Stone. I would prefer Ritchie over Rinaldo. Stone I don't care about if he suits up again.

I am expecting they only carry 6D, and maybe even just 12F. I would not be surprised to see Ryan on the taxi squad not just for days off. I don't think Norstrom is better, but they have 4C at present. Ryan is a better C than winger, but they have Bennett right now. As much as they chose to waive Kylington to save cap, they may also do the exact same with Dube and Valimaki. Have one on the taxi squad off nights. But the logistics of that is more difficult due to needing bodies for injury replacement. 2 skaters + Ryan + Rinaldo + Kylington + Domingue doesn't really give you much depth if one of the two spots is used for Dube or Valimaki. In fact, I wish they would use a player other than Rinaldo; maybe one that has a higher ceiling? To be honest, I hate being this close to the cap.

What I took from BT's comments over time was that they hadn;t been talking. Mangiapane was a bigger issue to deal with. And the UFA's they wanted to sign, including Nesterov. It may have been Kyl's agent holding out for 1-way, or BT was trying to finalize everything else and only had exactly enough to sign him as such and did so Dec, 16th. I don't pretend to know the immigration rules, but I don't think he could stay here or come back without a contract in place. Anyway, he cleared, so it's just a question of whether they use him as the 7th D, or put him on the taxi squad for 30 days and save some cash. Rotate him in when they feel like it. Send him to Stockton for the year. Other than playing it safe on game nights after 5pm, there is no reason to carry a 7th D on the roster.