travel_dude

It's good when people can keep tabs on our draft guys. I don't think there is any concern that he will be a NHL player. Guys with heart seem to find a way. I think Phillips would be a shoe-in if we didn't have so many healthy bodies. Not that the healthy ones are any good. I wish there was someone among our community that was able to watch Stockton games. The only person I know of that does is a guy that posts on Flames Nation. His monikar is Stockton's Finest. He doesn't comment on every game, just generalizes when a player comes up in a thread. I'm really interested to see how Pettersen plays out. As well as Tuulola and Ruzicka. Those two have NHL size and sluggish starts to their pro careers.

I don't really like the way he plays for a big goalie. His mechanics that I am talking about it how he plays to cover the lower half of the net. Most bigger goalies use their size to take out the lower half. Gillies looks small, but tall. He does not use size to his advantage and relies on reaction time. I agree that it takes him some touches to get a feel for the puck, but his body is not doing anything useful. For a goalie to be successful, they have to either be lightening quick in reflexes or be able to cover the net without much movement. Having both is a recipe for real success. MAF is quick. Bishop is big. Koskinen is big with a decent glove. Rittich is quick, but his overreaction gets him in trouble. Smith was big and overreaction was his folly. He's been luck this year to seldom have to make a 2nd save.

All this talk about Markstrom. Is he even going to be available? I don't see why he would, he finally emerged as a strong goalie for the Nuckers. As for Rittich, he's shown that he can be a 1a. I don't think there is much more that you should expect from a goalie. Did he have a few games where he let in some stinkers? Sure, but how many of those games were the D causing them. I think I can count about 1 or 2 that were his losing the net. A 1a is only going to play 40 something games in a season, not clumped together like we ran him. That is true of the majority of good teams. As for the backup, I think that there will be some available options as good as Talbot. The money may not work, so I would keep Talbot as an option. As you say, $2.5 isn't that bad. It won't get you some of the really good backups out there. The Flames could decide (not sure I agree) to re-sign and use Gillies. He needs work, or at least did at the NHL level. He's exactly what a lot of the good goalies look like. His problems are in mechanics or game readiness.

Oh for sure about Parsons. I would prefer to see them go with Zag and Parsons in the AHL myself. He had a good year as far as wins go, but the team was helping by scoring a ton of goals. No doubt he would have some leverage, and his goal was to play in the NHL. I wouldn't call it a failed experiment. It takes Euros longer to adjust to NA ice. I don't know what to make of Schneider. Better SA% in the AHL. But that could be an illusion, as it was some time ago when the team was a bit better defensively.

I'm not really sure why they signed him to a one year deal. At the time Gillies was not a standout, so they needed to be thinking forward. As a RFA with arb rights, it sets him up to fail to agree to terms with CGY. Perhaps that was what he wanted, or it may be a rule for unsigned goalies. Either way, I don't know if we have seen the best of what he can offer. He would have had a massive adjustment to smaller rinks and increased traffic/bumping. I would like to see the Heat platoon Zag and Parsons. I know Gillies has looked better, but I just don't know what he is. He could have another gear, but I just don't know. He has some if the right things to be successful, but he has known weaknesses. He's not old, but defineitely not young

It's a bit of a shame he is so young. Have to wait another full year before he really has any shot at a NHL game. They could give him a game at the end of next season, assuming playoffs for WHL are much sooner than NHL. I would say that his first AHL game will be interesting. How much does he have to change his game, if any. Whatevs. As long as we don't have the goalie coaching carousel of death when he gets here. Gillies started to somehow get his game back on track, only to see the season end. He's a UFA that may be extremenly lucky to be offered a contract. Considering his up and down season you wonder if any team will bother. I say that like he was really bad. Not so, but you would have hoped he would have less down games than up. Zag was better at winning, but he let in a ton. It's a work in progress thing. I just don't know what the thinking is. We have 3 goalies needing deals. A RFa with arb, a RFA and a group 6 UFA. Two are coming off the same basic money deals. One is about 100k more. Ages 22 24 and 26. I would keep Zag and Parsons myself, but that's just because I think Gillies has come about as afr as he can. Back to Wolfy. He faced the 10th most shots in the league, but blew out everyone including Hofer. Wins is the only place where he was even tied. No equal in the OHL. I just can't fathom where he will be as a 21 year old. I think a lot of people discount it. As an example, Brossoit was 917 in his ffianl jr year. His third pro season he played 8 games and was 928...with the Oilers. He's been up and down, but has always been a relaiable backup. The teams in front of him affect his play. If you project Wolf from Brossoit (a lanky kid then), you have a 928 goalie in his first NHL taste. That's not even allowing for the better jr record. I don't think it's a stretch to suggest he will be the best backup we have seen. The AHL should be an early gauge of his win capacity.

Knight was really good in his games, but he couldn;t stop powerful teams from scoring. Even Wolfy let in 3 in his one game. I think that was nerves. I expect Wolfy to be the star this year in the WJC. If he gets a chance, he will be a force.

Knight is still eligible. Knight has the keys right now, but a good warm up tourney or camp could unseat Mr. Knight. I tend to think as well that Wolfy could play a much better game against kids. He's seen a lot of players that would be on the rosters for other teams. Knight has seen a lot of older college players, with a smattering of high end players. Let's face it, Hockey East is not a powerhouse.

Sorry, my bad. Tried to upload the tweet. Good ole Jtec or Cross might have better luck.

CanadianHockeyLeague @CHLHockey The 2019-20 #CHL Goaltender of the Year Award presented by @VaughnHockey goes to Dustin Wolf! Congrats to the @NHLFlames prospect who led all netminders with a 1.88 GAA, .935 SV%, nine shutouts, and tied for @TheWHL lead with 34 wins. MORE: https://bit.ly/379y2ds #CHLAwards 1:02 PM · Jun 8, 2020·Twitter for iPhone

It all depends on what ties you have to Canada. If you own property, receive any dividends/interest from Canada (held by a Canadian bank), maintain your health care you would have to pay taxes. The dumb thing is they have to pay US tax. They get to deduct the tax from their Canadian tax owing though.

I don't pretend to know what will happen with oil or COVID-19 next season, but I don't think there is going to be a big impact on team makeup. The immediate need is to get fans back. Poor playoffs or poor start to next season isn't going to do that. Diluting the club to save money is going to hurt in the short and long term. Fans will stay away, except for the die-hard fans that just want to see hockey live. Will they shed contract that are not performing to the value? Sure. They are not going to continue to pay Bennett over $2m for a tough guy role. If he isn't stepping up in the playoffs, then his value is marginal. I'm not discounting the other thing he adds to the team, just being pragmatic. Ryan will be here until he is passed by others for his faceoff and utility vale. They may ship out Gio, but mostly to get younger or add a new leader. When it comes to coaching, it's a matter of who gets the job done. This playoffs is do or die for the coach. When the new arena project costs begin, then you may see some movement in payroll. It really depends on where they are as a team. If they suck, they need to improve.

I honestly don't think there will be any restraint shown by the owners next season. Sure Oil revenues are in the toilet, but demand (and prices) will be back in the fall. The NHL is losing a lot of revenue from TV right now, but that will be offset by increased viewership during the playoff, with nothing else on TV that is new. Even if revenues don't rebound much, the team stands on it own to make money. Unless the Flames win a playoff round or 3, the coach will get turfed and other changes will happen. Going on the cheap for a coach with a poor record doesn't make any financial sense.

If it's NJ, then why have they not hired him? He may want to wait till other offers are there, but if NJ was in the running, he would have been made a mega offer. I doubt even a mega offer would make him want to go there. And yes, the timing is right for them to sign him. Out of the playoffs, no more hockey this season.

So, is Gallant tied to FLA or NJ? I haven't heard much rumbling. If he was in fact tied to NJ, you'd think he would have been hired by now. FLA is going to wait until after the playoffs before they make any moves. I think.

It's his last chance to get it wrong. If the coach survives, then BT stays. If the coach gets fired, then BT is probably following.

He wanted to be paid like a starter. He's paid like a good backup. I don't think there's bad blood, just that he wants more. 30 other teams can make an offer if they desire, but there haven't been too many starter openings. he'll play where the opportunity (2nd) and money (1st) is.

If and when the season resumes, it won't be like the regular season panned out. You talk about being 17th. What is the point, we were 17th in 2019-20. So we have a fresh Rittich and Talbot got his confidence. That is the point for this season and playoffs. Did the defense learn anything as the season wound down? Will the forwards be up to speed or rusty? I don't think there is any way to predict how teams will finish out the season. Since the AHL, CHL and some of the other competing leagues' seasons are done, you might have some players jump into play. A basement team could fill the ranks with AHL'er to gauge readiness or tank. Previous contenders could be pretenders. That just points to a different looking race and seeding potentially. What does that all mean, Gene? Any team could be as good as their best run of the season or worst. It's why I talked about having goalies that could stop the puck.

If you had consistent play by the D, without such poor play in the D-zone, then having two goalies that can stop the puck is all you need. Even with that, the games were not blowouts, with a few exceptions where it was a tirefire out there. We lost a lot of games because we couldn;t manage to score. And that's going to be key for the playoffs.

I'm not a fan, but that is the in-game stuff and some of his vurious decisions. The team was winning in spite of his decisions. With that, you are correct in saying that he was a good teaching style coach. But we do need that guy who has a better grasp of the game. Remove a few of the players that were used in the wrong situations. Add a bit of attention to detail. Be able to show that to the players who have a talent to execute without any really good strategies. Replace the goalie coach because he's unable to develop anyone.

They burned Rittich this year, the same way they burned Smith last year. The year EDM went to the 2nd round with Talbot, they burned him too. Play Rittich less often instead of 4/5 games for the early season and you get the results you want. It's no cooincidence that his game tailed off after running him early and especially giving him frequent games of 40+ shots. Sure it's a stopgap, but Rittich/Talbot is really all you needed to be successful. Maybe look at the impact of crappy defensive play. 41 games of each and an improved D would go a long way. This year we were not able to outscore our defensive mistakes and the occasional off game by a goalie.

Well, even though I agree with his assessment, the NHL is the ones who will make the determination of clauses related to the NHL season. It's a tough call either way. The NHL could make the statement that any clauses in contracts are subject to be prorated. Goalie X plays a certain number of games gets bonus Y. A player who plays X games or gets Y points in a season gets bonus Z. Let's put it this way, if the season is decided by the present standings (points percentage first decider), you could make the argument that all other clauses related to the season are prorated. Smith would get his bonus, Flames would get theirs. Players with bonuses in their contracts would get theirs. The flip side is that a team has the right to sit a player to prevent a bonus from kicking in. The letter of the law is any contract (including trades) stipulates what the criteria is. I doubt there is any language about points percentage or games played prorated to a full season.

I may be one of the few here, but I have high hopes for the kid. Hope they can develop him in the AHL, when he is eligible to play. I'm sure they will give him a look in the training camp, but I don't think it's a good idea to go from junior right to the NHL. Too much chance to screw up his development. He's small by today's standards, but his positioning and athleticism should make up for that. He obviously can't get by by just being big and wearing big pads. I hope he gets a chance next WJC.

Scratch the concept of new glove due to a wrist injury. Elbow, not wrist.

Cassie talked about it during a game he played with it. She said it's not like the old ones that you needed to put a rock in it or use baby oil. It's seems to be odd that he would make the change during the year. It could be the new one supported his wrist better? Or the new one made his wrist sore. Don't know if it's even the same hand that he injured or what. I was projecting it as a cause or effect of the injury. Unrelated if it's his blocker hand. I guess I made the leap because you tend to use the trapper more freely, so it would be subject to more poking and bending.