travel_dude
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Everything posted by travel_dude
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Sigalet uses a sharpie.
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If I had my drothers, I would have him start 2 of 3 as well. It's not head games, it's reality. He hasn't played well enough to be the 1st choice on a given night. Unfortunately, this "smells" like Sigalet or Smith deciding the rotation. The coach only knows what he's seen. One guy 4-1-0, the other 5-4-1. One guy had to mop up in a blowout to PITTS, which cratered his stats. Rittich's only loss was a 3-2 loss to MTL. I'm not going to freak out about this. If he doesn;t win in ANA, then I don't think you can go back to him in the B2B. Our best chance for a win is in ANA and LA. Can;t be dropping any because we went with the starter just because.
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Smith in starter's net today at practice. Will get the start against Anaheim. I think it's the right call, only because he's played well against them in the past. Was responsible for our first victory in Anaheim in, like, forever. The only things I don't like about this choice is that it sets up him playing in LA or SJ, and his last game against ANA was not good. Does the team have to come up with another 3rd period comeback due to leaky goaltending? Difficult with Gibson in net. Will Smith the Good show up Wednesday? Haven't seen much of him this year.
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The Official Calgary Flames "New Arena" thread
travel_dude replied to DirtyDeeds's topic in Flames Talk
Oh, fo sure. Call it something else and you don;t have to worry. So, I guess the massive project of the Sea-to-sky had nothing to do with the Olympics. Not arguing with ya man, just don;t believe when budgets are balanced. There are many ways to "hide" stuff. -
The Official Calgary Flames "New Arena" thread
travel_dude replied to DirtyDeeds's topic in Flames Talk
Actually, the position I take is in reference to other major infrastructure project of recent times. Rogers Place. LRT line in EDM. Olympics in Vancouver. Olympics in Montreal (many of it racketeering). Rio Olympic Cost Overruns Reach $1.6 Billion. "In the past 25 years, costs and cost overruns have soared. Olympics in Barcelona 1992 ($9.7 billion cost, 266% cost overrun) and Athens 2004 ($3 billion, 49%) contributed to soaring debt in both Spain and Greece, which fueled the subsequent European sovereign debt crisis. Moreover, the high costs of London 2012 ($15 billion, 76%) and Sochi ($22 billion, 289%) added to heavy indebtedness in the UK and economic erosion in Russia." That's less staying in the house because I may get hit by a car and more staying in the house when I see a crane carrying a unstable load over my front door. I would love to have the chance to see the Olympics. It's not reasonable to plan for it without understanding what the costs may be. -
The Official Calgary Flames "New Arena" thread
travel_dude replied to DirtyDeeds's topic in Flames Talk
Have you ever heard of a major infrastructure project that doesn't have cost overruns? Inflation, material costs, labor shortages, increased security.... -
I think it's the only call. You have to consider the team in front of him and what that says to them. The unortunate thing is the next game is against Anaheim on Wednesday followed by LA dn SJS on Saturday/Sunday. He won starts against ANA, but his most recent game against them was 3 goals on 11 shots. Lasted 2 periods. Smith doesn;t have a great record against SJS, but does against LA. Thinking ahead, but the starts need to be managed well.
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Somehow I doubt it. They have that duo locked up for the next 2 seasons after this. I would overpay for him this year if that was the case. Can;t begin to think of a trade scenario that would work. Picks and prospects and a goalie back to them? They have cap space. Smith as part of that?
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After the COL game, do you suggest they start Smith and allow him to get his game back? We can't afford to wait right now. What we can afford to do is dress the guy the coach thinks is showing a winning attitude or record. Start Smith. If he doesn;t look good, next game dress Rittich. If he looks great, make th decision based on the way the team looks and his record against the next team. Dress Rittich, if he doesn;t look good, dress Smith. If he looks great, make the decision the same way as above. Starts should never be given. Smith has to compete the same way as every player on the roster.
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Your observations are sound. Agreed. The conclusion is debatable. He looks like his reflexes have slowed down. He's essentially waving at pucks. The shorty was amazing to watch...him so badly play it. I had no idea where the puck went in from watching him. The leaky goal was from being too slow to close the door. The deflection off Ras was preventable, or at least he could have been in a position to make a kick at it. The tap in goal was about the only one I give a pass to. He played shooter and had no room to get back for the tap in. Not even close. The waved off goal was him losing it, probably had no idea where it was. Landeskog's goal was maybe decently played, because he only played well in spurts of the 3rd period. Got the Bronx cheer from the fans every easy stop he made. Classless, but warranted. I know that BP is keeping it close to the chest, but lets be real here. Rittich is playing well, Smith is not. You can be coy to the media, because it's a coaching thing to keep the other teams in doubt. You can;t seriously start Smith with any confidence that he will be Smith the Good on a given night. Rittich plays the same way every game. No surprise there. Maybe he can;r b the starter even in the short term, but you have to split the starts leaning more towards Rittich. It's not an insult. It's reality. If Smith takes a pouter over that, then he's not a team guy. Rittich is his biggest fan. He supports him the way the backup should. BT needs to be looking out there. It may even be time to talk to Mason. Had a tough year, but honestly he couldn;t be any worse. Send Smith on a conditioning stint. Ask him first. But he needs to be part of the solution. Carrying 3 goalies is bad, but we may need to bring in a starter to keep the team above water. Sorry for the diatribe. Frustrated watching Smith fail. One or two good games and that's about it.
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Burke said last night is was #35 from CGY, compared to #30 and a 2nd from TO. The 35th ended up going to STL for Elliott. He didn;t talk about the 2nd part of what CGY offered, though. It would need to start with Smith and Bennett at a minimum. The potential ask from Bennett (assuming he starts to play better and is worth it) is $3m+. That frees up $4m from the goalie and $2m from current cap for Bennett to re-sign Bob. Yes, we would need to shed Stone and maybe even one of Brodie or Hammer with Tkachuk's new deal. Obviously, we only do the deal if we know what the ask is from Bob and we re-sign him before the season is done. Interesting speculation. If it has legs, then BT has to do it, assuming we can afford the trade.
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Every time I see Lindholm have a so-so game, he comes up big time the next one. One of the few one-timers on the team (Neal is the other). It's hard to break up the top line when they keep doing that. Janko between Bennett and Neal has looked good at times. Give them a few to get some chemistry going.
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I find it odd that Smith has played this badly at the start of a season. Last year we had bigger issues on D and more holes in the roster. He should be playing better than he is. Maybe it's just me, but I think Smith needs to play every 2nd game. Not because Rittich is better, but because I think he's still worn out. Face down on the ice for 2-3 seconds after a save and the puck still in play? Maybe that Nashville game almost killed him.
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The big thing Sigalet does is monitor the goalie situation. Suggests starts to the coach. I believe the start in STL was his choice. Sounded like BP made the call to start Rittich in NY and MTL. I've heard in the past where SIgalet made suggestions to Ramo about playing deeper. Smith plays really deep in his net this year. And he's getting killed on his glove side.
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He leads the team in high danger chances and 3rd in overall chances. Seems like all he needs to do is connect on them. Tkachuk is one behind Gaudreau in points and PP points. Over a point per game. If he stagnates, then maybe you change him up. He's being given parts of games on the top line, so the coach recognizes his D game and like to change things up when the top line struggles.
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Hard to say what the lines will be aganst TO. The way the game ended, it was: Gaudreau - Monahan - Tkachuk Dube - Backlund - Czarnik Bennett - Lindholm - Neal Frolik - Ryan - Hathaway Giordano - Brodie Hanifin - Hamonic Valimaki - Andersson I like the idea of Lindy between Bennett and Neal. He has a good passing game, so maybe Bennett doesn;t need to worry so much about doing it all himself. Neal shuld get setups as well. As it stands, there is a good defensive player on each line. Backlund's line has at least two, as well as the 4th line.
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I think you mentioned that Helle worked with one of those prior to last season. Probably not much chance of changing Smith for the better, since he believes he has to play the puck. Rittich may never get to be a starter, but there is always room for improvement. He's very athletic. Needs work on consistency, but he isnt getting enough starts to really help there.
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I say it has to wait because they will not make any change in season. I agree there has been little success under his tenure. Then again, what happened to Gillies and Parsons. Gillies may be a result of him limited time here, but I don;t know what to say abouut Parsons. Goalies are voodoo, but it seems like the voodoo is very strong here. I can only blame some on scouting (MacDonald), but the results are worse than expected. Lack was crap, but didn;t get starts early enough. Rittich struggled when called to be the starter, but why was he played so little before that. By the sounds of it, JS is making the case for the starter this year again. Given the results from Smith, it doesn;t sound like the right choices are being made. Sure, you go with Smith after a shutout, but anyone without a clue could make that call. You need to look at records in that situation and teams played.
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I have trouble remembering if he was completely dialed in or the defense was keeping the shots outside. Maybe both. I think we were all impressed regardless. The next start, not so much. The prospects are not doing well. Any upgrade or change has to be looking to a team with a weakness elsewhere and paying the price. We could approach a team that is struggling with wins and have injuries, or we wait till TDL for a team that is out of the playoff race. The goalie coach change has to wait.
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I don't just look at the immediate. If there is no plan for next season, then I worry. My biggest complain about Smith used to be overhandling the puck and putting the breakout in disarray. The shutout gave me some temporary relief. Not so much confidence after that. There may no be an answer this season for succession. We may have to ride it out. I can live with that, since nothing was done in the summer. I expect that BT will monitor the situation from the box and make plans accordingly. Nothing I say is more than observation. 5-10-0 record in last 15 starts since returning from injury. 8 of those were > 4 GA. Let's hope that he can put the team on his back, if they have miscues, and be the good Smith that we saw early last season.
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So, Smith's end to last season and start to this season doesn't give you pause? Just pointing out that Smith has not been great in years. Last year we saw some of it, but mostly average. Obviously, if these starts are an aberation to what he will be like, then nothing needs to happen...right now. But we are talking about goaltending, so some thought does need to be given soon or next summer by the latest. Darling was just an example of a goalie that may be pushed out. Cheaper than Schneider. Cheaper than what WE are paying for Smith. Next year we either go back to a 35+ contract for Smth, assuming he can continue and we want to go there. The future needs to be considered, and there are not many Raanta's out there.
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Was on a conditioning stint, and has been activated. Look prior to last year.
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Taken by itself, the comment is harmless if it means what you think. The rest suggest that he believes he has little blame in the losses. I can see how whatching Rittich in NY gives him that feeling. As afr as records go, what is Smith's record the game following a blowout? We know what it is after a shutout (around 5 GA). Let's see him earn the starter net. He's done that once IMHO. If the defense doesn't help much, steal the bloody game yourself. Be a gamebreaker.
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I don;t knwo what type of person a goalie is, but it struck me as odd that he did not want to see the goals scored. Maybe you don;t make changes when you are on fire, but lets hope that Sigalet was watching and told him. If he listens.
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What do we know about Darling. Not much. Played well before CAR. Dubie turned into something. Just saying.
