travel_dude
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Everything posted by travel_dude
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Maybe elite was a bit strong. We've had average goaltending over the last two years. If we had Andersen last season (not elite but very good) the cost difference was less than 1/2 a million. I like Rittich and have more confidence in him this year. He was not handed a good situation last year. He seems more consistent this year to boot.
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Gillies recalled from the AHL. Hope Parsons is ready to play there. Lomberg re-assigned, even though they have one free roster spot. Gillies may or may not get a start this weekend. They could give Rittich the start in the B2B ganmes, if the Minny rematch is low event, but it makes more sense to have Gillies step in for one of the two. Next week is a busy week with 3 games and just single days off between. If the intent is to play him in the B2B, which makes more sense? The Minny game will be a tough rematch, but the Flames will be fresh. The STL games has an up-and-down team, but the Flames will be a little tired. No extra forwards to slot in at this moment. They might be bringing up a player to replace Lomberg.
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Not a Crwford fan I guess. Never felt he was any better than Niemi, but that's just me.
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I was also thinking about what the present talent would look like in front of a elite or close to elite goalie. Unstopable? Build from the net out, but skip the goalie and look for bargains. I get not trading Tkachuk for MAF. We couldn;t seem to land Bishop either time. Elites rarely end up on the market. We've traded away a lot of good picks for D-men, but wasted a lot of picks and one prospect on goalies. What do we have to show for it? A FA playing better than the guy we traded a pick and a prospect for 3 moths of a great Smith and the rest a bad Smith. Elliott for Kyrou. Didn;t last past the playoffs.
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Just read this tidbit this morning and though about his short lived career with the organization. Was never really sure of what he was. Never really found out.
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I place as much faith in that source as I do in Francis. As far as the call up goes, should know tomorrow after practice, if there is an announcement of a callup or if Smith's on the ice.
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An interesting footnote from the KHL. Best goalie of the week - Joni Ortio earned three victories and one shutout (his first in the KHL) with a save percentage of 98,04 as well as averaging 0.67 goals against. Anyone remember him?
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^^^^ Good points Carty. When I re-watched the 2nd period, and the goal in the 1st, I didn't see anything glaring. One play, he took longer than normal getting up, but looked fine in his movement. Seemed quick as recent games. The 4th goal looked like he got mixed up or became disoriented. Seemed like he had no idea of the angle to cover. Or just lost confidence. I know it's an off day today so we won't likely hear anything today, and I've been wrong before, but what I think happened was a private conversation between Smith and Sigalet. His confidence was shaken with the quick goals. He needed an out, without impacting his next start Saturday or Sunday.
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Any word on Smith? If it's anything obvious, then they would be needing to do a series of transaction (recalls etc.). If Gillies were to come up, would need to send Schneider to cover in AHL. Flames play Saturday and Sunday. Heat plays Saturday. Not that I think it's a conspiracy, but it seems weird that the coach didn't know about Smith not being "good to go" until they were getting ready to return to the ice. A/coach told him Rittih was going in. That should not have been a surprise, unless it was a nice way of Sigalet shifting the blame from performance to "illness or minor injury". I don't need to know, just wondering about Smith's status.
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Considering he was losing his job to Schneider for a stretch, and been on and off since, it may just be the wrong time to bring him up. Point is that if he can't win consistently at the AHL level, is he going to have better results in the NHL? If this was for a wek or less, you could live with giving Gillies a start and see how he does. Any longer than that and you have to consider the options.
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If it's an injury, then you have to look at a NHL goalie. High risk, but the worse thing is to do nothing. You go to Gillies and he can;t do the job, then what? Got nothing against Gillies, and maybe he's ready, but my gord this seems so familiar.
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Alternate goalies or is this a thing? Hope for a big game from Smith; he seems to be very good at home over this season, so not a bad choice.
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There's very little that they do with Smitty's game. They spent enough time just getting him to relax and let the play come to him. They like him playing the puck, and making that first pass. BP has also publically said that they get in trouble some times with some of the plays. I would imagine that they review it everytime they look at tape. It's a tough habit to break. They don't want him to get rid of the things that are good, at the same time, they also don't want to have him overthink everything he does. It takes 30 days to break a habit to the point of just not doing it. Work in progress.
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And that's the point isn't it. The D are usually better at judging that. When they have the puck they have many options. When Smith decides to fire the puck on glass, he is making the decision for the team and they have to regroup. My beef is that most times that clearing attempt doesn't even clear the zone. When Smith is playing well, the extra shot or two because of the zone not being cleared may not be an issue. The extra zone time, however, can be taxing on the D.
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I gave you a list of 8 things, not 1. I clearly pointed out the ones that bother me or can come back to haunt you. Off the glass and out....Why is the goalie doing that? It's different if a D-man does it, because it has a better chance of actually making it past the winger. And I don;t really like that as an option either, unless you are killing a penalty. The point is that possession is what this team thrives on. Make the stop, make the short pass, allow the team to control the puck going up the ice. Seems to make sense. Or, you can fire the puck away, get a short breather, and face another wave. That's my beef.
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Stockton Heat Updates [2016-2017]
travel_dude replied to travel_dude's topic in Calgary Wranglers and Flames Prospects
The Heat play Saturday and not again till Wednesday. Parsons was asked when he was coming back, since he was just cleared. He said likely by next week. So, he will start either Saturday or Wednesday. -
Calgary Flames Drafting and Development: Your Analysis
travel_dude replied to rickross's topic in Flames Talk
I think it's pretty hard to overlook the powerhouse Mooseheads. They have produced a lot of great players. Bennett was a top 3 pick all year, and fell to us. Burke had a hand in the draft and absolutely loved Bennett. Going after Ehlers wouldn't be going off the boards per se, but they would only have done that with some compensation to move down a couple of slots. Considering the other picks that year (MacDonald and Smith), I don't think they would have made good choices with those options available. -
Calgary Flames Drafting and Development: Your Analysis
travel_dude replied to rickross's topic in Flames Talk
Well, it may not have been the best idea, but they should have taken a closer look at Ehlers. 104 points in his 1st year in the Q. Sure he was playing with Druin, but 49 goals is nothing to sneer at. Could have traded down by a slot or two, assuming VAN and NYI were interested in trading up. I think this was a case of the #1 player on most lists dropping a bit at the combine. As the best pick we have had in draffts, there probably wasn't a lot of chance we don't take him. -
Let me be a bit more specific, so as not to confuse criticism with being a Neg. Nancy. Smith has a few different things that he does: 1) stop the puck behind the net on a dump in 2) play a soft shot with his stick to his D after he gloves it down 3) make short passes with no traffic to his D 4) make longer passes in traffic to his D or a forward back in the zone 5) fire the puck up the glass 6) hang onto the puck behind the net with forecheckers coming at him and the defense less than 3 feet away 7) freeze the puck behind the net against the boards 8) fire a long pass to a streaking forward I have zero issues with 1, 2, 3, and 8 if they are safe. Even 4 can be made safely sometimes. 5 can result in a turnover, and mostly does because you are clearing the puck not moving it from goalie to D to F. 6 and 7 can work, but is risky most of the time. 8 can be picked off if not perfectly executed, much like the stretch pass doesn't always work. I may be a minority here, but I prefer to control the breakout starting with a short pass to the D. Use the goalie to do it in an emergency only.
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To ignore the obvious is worse than what I say.
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Regardless of Smith's supposed "turnaround", I would still be feeding Rittich regular starts. Give Philly to Rittich and Minny to Smith. Then 2nd game of a B2B (STL) to Rittich. The next set of games is more difficult. I've put my preferred starts in (). Dec. 18 - @DAL (Smith) Dec. 20 - vs TBL (Rittich) Dec. 22 - vs STL (Smith) Dec. 27 - @WPG (Rittich) Dec. 29 - vs VAN (Smith) Dec. 31 - vs SJS (Rittich) Rittich played well against WPG, relief against STL Smith played well against Minny, VAN; 5 goals against playing STL. The one sure thing for me is that Rittich plays well against the high event teams. Maybe he is fixed. If that's the case, run Rittich against TBL and STL, then Smith against WPG and VAN.
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BSD earned another start. That was a clinic he put on. Pefect positioning through the entire game. One goal on a perfect pass to a wide open player. BSD gets the toughest starts. 1a or 1b he is, not a backup as HNIC refers to him as.
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What he said, and I agreed with is that you give the guy struggling a bunch of losses in a row and still go back to him thinking he can find his game. If you looked at anything but the numbers, you might see some weakness still in Smith's game. Out of position and making the save looks amazing in the highlight reels, but the tendencies are still there. He's battling through some of them and has looked good overall. Nobody disputes that. Rittich deserves a big credit to where the Flames are today. Smith looked like an MVP last season, until he wasn;t. In other words, don;t forsake the guy that held the fort.
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Well said. Rittich's last two starts weren't goalie fails, they were more the team in front. Smith drives you ro drink because of his puck handling. Yes, there are a lot of them that set up the play. There are a lot more that result in turnovers in the D-zone or neutral zone. And his penchant for freezing the puck behind the net drives me crazy. We need both goalies getting a feel for the game, not sitting while the "hot hand" gets the starts. Rittich is the reason we are not in the basement. Smith helped once he came back, and while he is making some great saves, he is also looking uncontrolled. The Scorpion save was because he was swimming. Last night he gave up a really bad goal that almost truned the tables. His save right afterwards was a combo of position, luck, the D helping and a weak shot. I think they need to get back to one or two each, not giving it to the "starter". Determine each start by scouting and circumstance, not so and so played good or bad.
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Rittich got burned on the goalie interferrence no call in the Dallas game and it messed with him. The fact that they went to Smith for the next game didn;t help. And then the next. Controversy over. Give Rittich his due. He's had one bad period.
