travel_dude

I don't think they played scared. I think they took it to be a throwing of the gauntlet and reacted by playing to hit, expecting SJS to come at us hard. Instead, they psych'd us. Everytime Eric Francis opens his mouth about stuff, the Flames overreacted. I wish we had traded him for Louie Debrusk.

I have no idea what Neal's value was in other GM's eyes. I do know that Holland would not trade for him if he felt he would put up less than 20 points. What he can achieve there is another topic entirely, and I really don't care since he wouldn't do much better here this year. He's probably going to be a minus player with crappy fancy stats regardless. All I can say is that a GM hoping to get rid of a NMC and $6m contract certainly got better than he should have. Lucic would not have gotten them Turris, even with a cap savings of $750k. That's all I am really saying here, not complaining so much about the player. We overpaid plain and simple.

I think this was a targeted deal. There were many reports of EDM receiving underwhelming offers for Lucic (w/Puljujarvi). If that was the starting point for negotiations, how is it all we got was $750k off Lucic in a one-for-one. Holland was after a 20 goal guy. Getting that while ridding themselves of the Lucic contract solved two problems. BT suggested that they were looking at Lucic and they felt he was due a comeback. If Turris was offered for Neal, would that be better? Probably more likely to rebound, but not a heavy player and an extra year. Not exactly a favorite of mine, but might not be an anchor contract as soon. Nashville might have offered $750k to take that one off their hands. They did pick up Duchene, so Turris may be not needed as much. This is just speculation. It makes sense from their perspective and they aren't shy to makes deals. It was also one team that showed interest.

If I truly believed that Lucic was the best available in trade, then I might agree. And considering that EDM was desperate to get rid of Lucic, I think BT could have done better. Lucic had to be asked to waive, and actually had to be convinced to come to CGY. This was a case that CGY wanted Lucic. Plain and simple. They paid sticker price. A player with 10 seasons in a row of 20 goals with one bad season. EDM was desperate to add a 20 goal guy. EDM wanted Lucic moved, but was playing poker. To us, this represents a reasonable deal. We lose a bad contract of a one dimensional player. We gain a player type we needed at times last season. The player coming here will help us even if he isn;t scoring. But, let's not pretend this was a good deal. We bit on the deal at a time of the year when it didn;t need to be done. None of this is an indictment of the player.

I think about the days of Jagr and seem to have similar memories of Neal. In fact, Jagr was in about the same shape as Neal, except Jagr felt unready. I'm really disappointed in how Neal played here, so it doesn;t matter to me what he is when he leaves. The trade bothers me from a cap management sense. Garbage contract out, another one in. Like Big Ern, Looch will win some fans here. If he takes dumb penalties and loses us games, it will be different. Then again, people still defended Smith.

PITTS went on to win after they traded him away. Maybe that happens with us.

When you think about it.... We signed Neal to be top 6. He played bottom 6. We traded for a guy that was barely top 6 in the Oilers. For this to make any sense, he has to play top 6 here. In other words, he has to replace Frolik for this to make sense. He won't.

Good to hear from you MAC

So, we are hoping that the Lucic of the Oiler playoff year and the Talbot of the same year and the Davidson of that year all show up to make us a better team. I hope all are rebound candidates, but I'm more concerned about Talbot. Lucic just has to play the same style as the line he is on. Play with Bennett and the other team is spitting chicklettes. Play with Ryan, and he is creating room for Mangiapane. Play on the PP, he's PO'ing the goalie.

Looch made $1m per goal last year.

I'm choked about the trade, but that's nothing to do with the player. I can hardly wait for the Smith-Lucic dustup. Kassian will do nothing in the BoA games. I don't know what role he will have in CGY, which is part of the reason why the trade is perplexing. He's not 1st or 2nd line LW. Bennett is on the 3rd line for now. Frolik is still here. Mangiapane proved you don;t have to be big to score. Gio seems happy. Tkachuk can draive people nuts and not worry about it. Iggy advised him that CGY is a good team to play for, the fans are great, it's a Flames city.... This coming from the EDM kid who forced us to trade him to PITTS. Whatever. If Lucic gets into 5 fights, it's worth it I guess.

I get it, but there's only so much space. Don't have a book on Zag, so I don't know whether he can be a NHL goalie or not. But the timeline is probably a bit earlier than 26. Should get a good idea of him this year in NA. He's not going to be in Kansas. He didn't come over for that. But we'll see if he's anything to write home about. Keep him away from JS long enough....

I am sure they have scouted DEL, if not DEL2.... But at the DEL2 level, he facing the scoring prowess of guys like Dustin Sylvester (remember him in Abby?). I'm wondering why you suggest this guy. Rookie of the year? We gave a contract to a guy that has faced tougher competition, who may actually be able to handle the NHL level at some point. As far as signing this kid, what can we offer him? Is there enough reason for him to make his way over here? I'm assuming they could offer a 2 year ELC, but he would make 70k in the AHL. Maybe we should be looking at Sorokin, as a player already in NA, who looked pretty good in past seasons. Long term, they have Hotlby and Copely, plus they just signed Vanacek who had a better season and playoffs.

There is some hope that the early season Rittich is what we get for a full season from him. Talbot is being looked at to be the backup. You are right, it's a big change from last year. Talbot needs to be a backup the same way he was in NY. If not, then we have to look mid-season at a replacement. My biggest concern with him rebounding is the goalie coach trying to change him. If Talbot can come in good after working on his game, he should be better than last year. The differences in teams should allow him to be better.

He's going to be pushing hard for a spot in the opening night roster. Not saying he has a chance, but he does have the size for it. Talent wise, he should be at least as capable as say Hathaway. NHL readiness is the issue. He's played against men, but not in the AHL or NHL.

I think they should have bit the bullet and gone after Mrazek or Lehner. Koskinen is not a guy I would bet McDavid on. Having him and Smith to take on the ire of fans and possibly lose the locker room will kill their team. Not aying that will happen, but it might just shake out that way. I lost my patience with Smith due to his failure to accept the blame. He changed a bit as the year wore on and became more supportive, but he PO'd me. Basically they have two equal goalies IMHO. Both are big goalies. Neither would be athletic. Both are weak on the glove side. When they had Talbot and Brossoit, I thought they had something.

The difference is that Talbot is signed to be the backup not asked to be the backup. Smith struggled with that concept. His play didn't really improve because he played less games. It improved because he got the chance to play a bunch of games against lesser teams. He played some good ones against a few tough teams. Talbot never got a chance once he cratered. Koskinen was worse, but they had made the decision. All in all, I saw a lot of good play from Talbot, even if his numbers didn't show it.

I am looking forward to a new AHL team this year. Some new guys that graduated from junior. Some new recruits from across the pond. Very few D prospects, but as noted many of the best are in the NHL. I doubt we hit on a lot of the late rounders or undrafted guys, but there is a chance that guys like Ruzicka, Phillips, Tuulola, Gawdin and Philp produce at the AHL level and get the chance to play NHL games. Sometimes the right opportunity just comes along and the player shines. Not holding my breath, just saying that it happens.

Smith will have the same media types praising him no matter what he does. The fans will be split much like they were here, but they will tolerate any losing streaks even less. There is no feel good story for them to start with. We had him come in and provide 2-3 months of Vezina quality, then meh, then horrorshow. They are coming off a year of horrorshow. The first 2 game losing streak or pittyful showing will turn the fans against him pretty quick. First and foremost, he's an ex-Flame. Secondly, he's old and coming off a sub-900 season. Smith's tendency to play the puck will have a similar win-lose effect as it did here, maybe even more harmful. The D has to know how to play the puck when Smith start wandering. They aren't good at breakouts, but they are good at dropping to McDavid or springing him. Not an easy thing to compare a goalie in two different settings. No idea how either would have performed on their respective new teams last year. But this year isn't about whether Smith will still have legs left. He did not fit. He's looking to play 45 games or more in EDM. We would never get that here, mostly because he only has about 25 good games in him left. And that's being kind. How's his high-danger chances look? That's where he will fail. It doesn't matter what he does in EDM. They have a worse goalie graveyard than us. It's whether Talbot can come into camp in top form. He's working on it right now. Learning how we move the puck and defend will determine whether he's as good as Rittich. I'm not going to say he's a great goalie until I see it in a Flames sweater.

If the choice was Rittich and Smith or Rittich and Talbot, the answer is pretty easy. Talbot can redeem himself. He's not broken down. He's working on his game before he comes here. Not a high chance of injury. I pitty the Oiler fans. It's not like they are getting Smith in his prime. He has been a poor goalie for the better part of two seasons. And the only other choice is glove-high Koskinen. Gully and Smith and Tippett. Perfect match.

I was thinking he can sign a pro deal up to the start of the Q season. Can you do that if it's just an AHL deal? An ELC NHL deal gives you a bit longer for him to progress, and he could go back to junior or the AHL, making only 70k. I'm just thinking that having him under contract would be a good thing for Pelletier. Anyway, it was just a thought.

I'm hoping that camp invite McKenna picks up a contract with the Flames. He's a RHS RW, overager, and played last year with Pelletier. They are good friends. Might be a good player to add to Stockton. Or he could go back to Moncton. Either way, he has some skill. Not sure how he looked at the camp here. On another note, how did Philp look? Hard to judge Canadian College hockey compared to other leagues.

Potential. Likely goes low in the draft, depending on the class. Willing to give up a 1st for maybe not BPA?

I believe they lost the goalie coach in Stockton, which might be a good thing. Parsons was a big-game goalie before he went to the AHL/ECHL. Either it messed him up a bit or he was struggling with depression before hand. They need to get him help to get his confidence back. No reason why he shouldn't pass all those guys. The other guy who could really surprise is Zagidulin. I'm going to focus on spelling his name. When he makes it, we can call him BSZ.

I'm not going to go back there to see the context because it relly doesn't matter today. Would Nashville have traded for less? We were supposedly offering Tkachuk pick for MAF. Or maybe that was Bishop. It really comes down to what is available for how much. Teams are not going to give up top goalie prospects for little. Andersen could have been had, but ANA didn't want him in the West. Anyone of value is going to be held onto. Drafting is a good way to get a top goalie, if he develops into one. Sometimes completely out of our control. ANyway, we are going in circles here. Enjoy the debate. Perhaps if Talbot or Rittich beat the odds and become that next Renne or whatever, you might change your mind. Imagine that. A goalie we have for 5 years that posts a .925 SA%. Would be nice for a change to not go throught the goalie search every year.