travel_dude

That's nice. Perhaps he can spend time on how to generate rushes. Dump and chase is all well and good if you attack with a heavy forecheck and you don't mind spending a long shift just trying to get one shot. Ice cold Backlund has had a ton of time to get used to the top line. One might ask why that even makes sense. A struggling C moved to a position he's never excelled at. There hasn't been any signs that it's getting better. Is Ryan prodicing because of Lucic or because he is a good player? We've actually gotten worse at scoring as time has gone on.

Something changed. They overpass because they aren't used to it. We went from a good transition team that generated odd man rushes to a slow plodding team. I don't mind the dump and chase and heavy forechecks, but that's only part of the game. I don't see the current coach being able to fix the team. The team responded with a decent record since BP left, but there was nothing left for the team to do but win. There's been enough practice time and breaks. We haven't seen any change that has been positive.

Please explain to me how playing Backlund with the top line is supposed to have a positive impact. It's one of the biggest head scratchers. Lindholm scoring goals now, but Tkachuk not. Gaudreau scoring for the top line, but Monahan not. Dube has gone quiet, but Ryan is doing ok. I get that you make line changes to spark something. Other than difference, I see no spark. Lindholm is scoring because he has a good shot. I doubt we see any coach change now. Even though we desperately need it. Ward was part of the group that lost to COL in the playoffs. They had no answer.

If we want a defensive minded coach, we netter trade at least one D. We don;t have the horses. Brodie can still adjust his game. Gio will do whatever. Explain to him he hasn;t got the offense anymore and just focus on defending. Ras, Kylington are most of the way there. Hanifin is a study in I don't know. Hamonic is so slow it's painful to watch. I feel that we had more success when we transitioned fast. We don;t seem to do that. No rushes.

Two coaches that have gone to the finals. Coaching maybe isn't the reason for the struggles, but it helps i changes are made that make a positve impact. We got better goaltending and some scoring. Not a lot of scoring recently. Lindholm has been doing a lot of it. The areas that struggles continue to struggle.

I am with you. I think BT may have been expecting a good coach to become available, maybe not so soon. Assuming he would come here, moving Ward back to A/Coach would not b viewed as a demotion. Interim coach is just that.

And there's the rub. He's a good coach and mentor, but maybe not the best head coach. The issues I had with BP are that he got results in the regular season and not in the playoffs. So you have the guy that leads during peace, but is not right during war. Sure the team caved, but the coach owes some measure of responsibility. Ward was part of that group. I would think that maybe the best approach would to hire Gallant to a one year deal. At the end, both can part or both can sit down and nail a new deal. Maybe that's unrealistic, but would allow us to build a coaching replacement rather than the guy just being handed the job after BP left.

Couple of comments. First is we have almost the same PP#2 as last year and the exact same PP#1, maybe the exception os sometimes including Doc last year. No Brodie on #2; Hanifin is there. Lucic is on #2. Ras plays up on the PP and Hanifin plays the line. It's a mess. Personnel has to change because it's a bunch of spare parts. Backlund at C, but Lucic plays better with Ryan at C. If Mangiapane is there, no Lindy or Chucky. We've had success with the top unit. Depending on who drew the penalty, we might start with unit 2. In other words, if the bottom 6 draws the penalty, the #1 unit starts. I'll use EDM as a (poor) example of exploiting time on ice. McD draws the penalty, McD starts the PP, unless he is bagged. The object of their 2nd unit is to win a draw and get the 1st unit in the ice, while not giving up a goal. The top unit will play 2 minutes in most situations unless the score a goal. Against CGY, they had one PP, and the top unit played 2 minutes. Against NAS, they had 4 PP's and scored on 2 within a minute of the start. McD and Drai played 3:40 out of 8:00, but 1 minue was at 4 on 4, so that doesn;t count. So, they really played one unit for 50 seconds on the 1st PP goal and 34 seconds on the 2nd PP goal., and 21 seconds on a PP before Neal took a penalty. That's about 1:45 out of 1:45 in 3 PP's. That leaves the remaining 2 minute PP they didn't score on, of which PP1 played all of it. All that shows is a team with only a handfull of good players can only ice one PP unit but be very successful with it. Our 2nd unit is currently a waste of time. Loading up a line and burning them on icetime to win games is all there is. That or get a couple of decent PP players on the 2nd unit. Using Lucic on the boards is useless if there is nobody to get to the blue paint. Using Lucic in the blue paint is useless if nobody can keep possession long enough to get a shot from the blueline. Too much drivel I know, but I am frustrated with watching the 2nd unit burn valuable seconds in agame where we need a goal. While it may not be on Ward, he is watching what I am watching.

Did they not have two chances to hire Ward as the head coach? Gully was picked then fired. BP was picked then was fired/quit. I'm not even sure what they can evaluate him on by the end of the season. Miss playoff. Lose in round 1. Neither acceptable, but the mold was pretty much there unless the players take a step forward. Not that they are doing that bad, but they aren't doing that good either.

Big Save Dave is now a NHL All Star. Just added to the roster.

I agree with some of what you are saying here, especially the PP. Starting to wonder about Gio's overall effectiveness. I don't like his PP work. Maybe he just needs to play with a partner that can activate. Try him on the 2nd unit with Hanifin and put Ras on the 1st. Pretty hard to say a different coach couldn't impact the team, if the lines/pairs are almost exactly the same. Backlund has been the biggest change, and that hasn't worked well at all. Tkachuk-Lindy-Mange is a good offensive line, but less a defensive stud line. I personally think that we play better against certain types of teams, so our team looks good in those games. Whether it's inconsistent effort or just results is anyone's guess. I can blame the MTL game on distractions to the team. Chucky didn't play like Chucky. He wasn't the only one, but it was noticeable.

He only got the promotion to head coach because the one hired had previous issues (nice way of saying it). As far as I know, he was the one responsible for the Flames PP. The personnel and results aren't much different now than the start of the season. I like Ward, but maybe he's not seeing things the way they are. PK is pretty good (Huskins), but the PP is not. 5v5 seems very up and down. I don't hang the results on the coach, but the blender is out every game. What exactly does Backlund do for the Monahan line? Is the Hanifin-Hamonic pairing so good they haven't changed in 95% of the games?

I think it would be a good guy to bring in. But what is the issue with him being the coach in Vegas? It's not like they were out of a playoff sport for most of the year. Does he have ideas about players that differ from the GM? Has the stars complained about him? I just don't get it.

I would suggest that Ward's lineups are not much different than BP's. Some different looks, but nothing wholesale. The PP is exactly the same. Something has to change with this. There is nothing dangerous about it. It can score, but only if the passes are crisp and the entry is clean or they win the faceoff. Gio should be able to do something, but his decisions seem stale. Tkachuk is rolling to the wing and supposed to keep the puck in. The 2nd unit is made up of some of the coldest players on the team. Only Ryan and Ras seem to be the exceptions. And they are using Ras on the half boards, while Hanifin, who can't hold the line, is holding the line.

Well deserved. Just another thing to add to the list of why fans were bitter losing to the Flames. Talbot seems to have worked really hard to fix the issues he had with his game in EDM. Though I do think they can make any goalie look bad. They destroy confidence and ruin careers. Talbot was best when he first went there, and they actually had vets.

Talbot didn't gain the trust due to shaky starts. It took some time to get a win. The coach is going to lean on the guy he knows first. It's taken awhile and some shaky play by Rittich has allowed the coach to show some to Tabby. Well deserved, but we need both going without too much time between starts. This game is an exception, but I would prefer they use each goalie for about 2 starts before they swap. 50/50 unless one has a real good record against a specific team. Talbot starting is for two reasons. Grudge match. Playing really hot.

I agree with this. He was being used for no good reason. You can't always just go with the starter because he has won more games. Look at how the goalies played in losses.

I can safely say every fan was unhappy with the playoffs. Where we all diverge is why. We had an "easy" schedule to finish off the season, but we had Smith playing a lot of those games. We lost to non-playoff teams and won games against playoff teams, some of them resting stars. First half iis always going to be feeling out lines and coaches. We started slow, came on strong, faded a bit then finished with enough wins to get 2nd n the league. The team had and still has issues. We had a better PP and more points from the D. This year not so much. Our PK is better. We can agree or disagree. It's just dangerous to generalize and say we are bad because of X. We lost in the playoffs for a bunch of reasons. We struggled this year for a bunch of reasons.

The team has disappointed this year for sure. What I don't get is the hate on for the top players on the team. Soft, lazy, one-dimensional, no hart, etc., etc. Justify it with last year's playoff results if you like. 4 players are scoring above .7 p/gp. The rest of the top 9? In points: 22 (Ryan), 20 (Backlund), 15 (Mangiapane), 10 (Looch), 6 (Bennett). Coaching style and getting away from what they did to win last year is hurting the team. If you want to rebuild, start from the net out. Rittich is fine, but has gotten into a funk from being overplayed. No reason to do that if you have any trust at all in the backup. Defense. Some of the best games they have played have had good breakouts and good defensive coverage. Stone is not playing well enough to sit Kylington. If you aren't going to upgrade with a top 4 D, then play the heck out of him. Use him with a vet. (Rant over)

I just don't see the Flames pulling the trigger. He could clean up the D, but I'm not sure he would fit the group.

At least ours was due to previous indiscretions and not results based. A couple of substance issues in other decisions. I'm up and down about Laviolette. He took a team molded by Trotz. I don;t know what the issues are with the team this year.

I know we have cap issues, but it would be nice to reward players from the Heat. Gawdin leading the team with 31p in 29 games Phillips just a point back with 30p in 18 games Gawdin, Ohillips and Quine all averaging more than a p/gp. Goal scoring leaders: Phillips 14g Robinson and Philps both 13g Gawdin and Lomberg both 10g

And to take this back to the Oilers.... They suck defensively. Nurse is a goon, and looks to hurt not defend. As well and good, but somebody is always going to take you down. They are riding Costco the goalie becuause they realized Smith doesn;t have it. They played weak teams and he won enough to look like he was playing well. The numbers always suggested that would come back to earth. They are no different this tear than last. Riding McD and Drai helped convince some that a playoff was coming. Those two look burnt already. Costco will be what he was last year; small sample goalie. After that they have nothing. Next year they have to buy out Neal just to be able to afford to repsign Nurse and overpay Kassian. Nobody will take their crap in trade. Decade of Darkness 2.0 a comin

There are games every series that a goalie is the only reason a team wins. The first game was one that their goalie let in crap and Smith held the fort. Some of the other games could have easily gone a different way with a different goalie in nets. Game 2 was winnable. Mostly even and on the way to a victory with 3 minutes left. One more even strength save and we go up 2-0 on the series. Game 4 was a much better goalie performance and I am loathe to suggest he's the reason we lost. But the OT goal was underplayed. A flopping goalie is only good if he's always in position to make the save. If he's face first on the ice, he won't have much of a chance.

You can look at it a couple of ways. Smith made a lots of saves in rapid fire but would let in the last one. In other words a lot of rebounds. The killers were two OT goals. Neither was unstoppable. Neither were screened. So he was good. Sometimes great. But he wasn't the savior. Glad we moved on. And no he wasn't retiring. he wanted the starter spot here and starter money.