travel_dude
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Everything posted by travel_dude
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Undrafted, as in a FA this year? Or available to the 2018 draft? If he goes into the draft, we would have to use our first pick in the 3rd or 4th. Think he would still be there? Wondering how much you watch this guy. Great in the WJC. 2 games in USHL. The reason I ask is one name that comes to mind...Justin Pogge. Not being insulting, just don't know if he's worth spending a pick or contract on.
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Here's the thing. They trust Rittich enough to play him in game 2 of a B2B, and previously game 1 of a B2B. There's a risk by playing him over 60. He would start in every game but one of each of the remaining B2B's to hit 70. If you have no backup capable (like EDM last season), then you play him 70. He's going to have to be your #1 in playoffs. He's only ever play 67 games in his younger days.
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It's what you need to do. You can;t risk losing Smith by playing him over 60 games.
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Good to see Parsons up with the Heat. Get him playing as soon as he s healthy. Need to ramp up the competition down there again.
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I will say this. I had my issues with Hartley, but his use of Brodie was not one of them. We have a much better defense core than EDM, yet their issues are more on the PK than any other thing. We have issues defending with players playing their natural side, if not strong side. How many teams would love to have 3 RHS D-men, yet perform as good or better with D-men playing their "off" side.
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2 years ago, people were quietly saying Brodie would start getting the Norris mention. Now, he's on track for the Wideman award. Watching Brodie struggle on the point in a PP is painful. He's a setup guy or a skater. Even having him and Hamilton on the same unit is having two guys that take wrist shots. Ah, well, Gully knows best. Keep starting Smith every game possible, even though Rittich has shown he plays behind a better team. Keep Brodie out there for 24 minutes when he's struggling. Ice the 4th line after a goal for or against. Refuse to even consider trying Tkachuk on the top line. Play Jagr in Frolik's spot. Sit out Kulak to keep Bart from getting stale. If Rittich doesn't get 20 starts, then there is something wrong. He's done exactly what he's been asked to do, and then some. He doesn't handle the puck too much. He plays the angles without giving up too much to the pass.
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The only loss Rittich gave up was a SO loss. Every game he plays, he looks calm. But, you are right that Smith will get far more games than he should. Waste his season on games where we don't even show up. Tire him out before the playoffs, even if Rittich gives us enough chance to win. Mangiapane being used for 8 minutes, while Jagr easily is a step behind the Backlund line. First shift of the game and he gets a scoring chance. Actually made the 4th line look like a decent 4th line. As well as he could. Ras is wasting away. Should never have been sent down. He's better than Kulak. But, hey, the coach knows more. Gotta get Bart in the lineup. Yes, Prout was a smart trade for depth, but why do we bother with an AHL team if we don't use the D-men being developed there. Spoon was at least as good as Kulak, and is top 2 in Stockton. Meanwhile, we suffer through Brodie's lack of awareness most shifts.
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BT making room for Parsons, when he comes back from injury. Great trade of a guy that would never play another Flames game for a D-man that we can move up and down for close to a month. Or, he may just replace Bart as the 7th D-man, coming in against bigger teams. We play LA and ANA really soon.
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He's shown us what a backup needs to be. Steady, never nervous, ready to play at a top level, I think he needs to get every 2nd or 3rd game for the next little while to both give Smith a break and see what Rittich is all about. He was perfect in the game and only let in a top shelf shot from the slot, with a falling player screening the shot, and a point shot that was deflected down by a player that should have been covered. He stopped two breakaways, one in the last second of OT. Even Smith is about 50/50 on those.
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The Official Calgary Flames "New Arena" thread
travel_dude replied to DirtyDeeds's topic in Flames Talk
Maybe she could use the carbon tax money on the cleanup. It doesn't matter because Nenshi doesn't want that area used for hockey. Doesn't match his dream. -
The Official Calgary Flames "New Arena" thread
travel_dude replied to DirtyDeeds's topic in Flames Talk
That's the theory. I don't think JT has any interest in fixing the problem, since creosote doesn't vote, and it's west of Ontario. Notley won't do anything alone. -
The Official Calgary Flames "New Arena" thread
travel_dude replied to DirtyDeeds's topic in Flames Talk
The cost of the stadium(s) aside, the location choice only checked a couple of boxes. The cleanup alone was enough to doom it. Nenshi will never agree to pay a cent to clean it up fir any sports facility. There's no votes available for taking on that monster, He'll wait until the Feds step in or until low-rent housing or luxury condos are built there that bring him votes. It's pretty clear that Nenshi has a vision for "his" city. He wants developers to build things according to his plan. You build the new stadium adjacent to the Dome and we'll tell you what going to be in that area. His plan may never be built, though he won on the basis of it. -
The Official Calgary Flames "New Arena" thread
travel_dude replied to DirtyDeeds's topic in Flames Talk
Maybe they could simply add a Weed tax on to pay for the arena. Seems to me that NDP will be raking in Carbon Tax money and Weed revenues downloaded from the Feds. Will any of that ever go to the purposes it's being collected? Carbon Tax - yeah right Weed Tax - regulation and policing - yeah right I don't get the lesser revenues from the Oil industry impacting municipalities. Tax revenues are property based, which have not dramatically decreased. Unless they move to another city, those revenues exist and increase every year. More people out of work, but that is only impact social programs. Foreclosures still result in tax dollars being paid by someone. I can understand the Flames not wanting the deal Nenshi floated, because they do not want to own the building without input on the development. -
The Official Calgary Flames "New Arena" thread
travel_dude replied to DirtyDeeds's topic in Flames Talk
King is the worse possible guy as a spokesperson. In reality he is the guy for the umbrella corp, not the Flames themselves. Made sense if they were doing a deal like Next. Not so much just the Flames. Nenshi is a tool. The city can't afford the Olympics. His vision of the Dome area sounds nice, but how do you expect a team to own a stadium and you put the development together without input. "We see you fitting into our vision, but we don't want you to have any say other than building a rink according to our specs.". Who would ever agree to that? If you are a developer, then you have your own vision for surrounding area. Maybe they should renovate the new library to have an ice surface. I've heard the Dome described as the library before. -
The Official Calgary Flames "New Arena" thread
travel_dude replied to DirtyDeeds's topic in Flames Talk
I think the article is crap. The guy is a fool. What I also think is that anybody could buy the team, if it goes up for sale. Whether that team is able to move to another city is another story. If they did, then the economic loss is tangible. To what extent is debatable. If that happened, then perhaps the mayor should resign. -
The Official Calgary Flames "New Arena" thread
travel_dude replied to DirtyDeeds's topic in Flames Talk
Eric Francis adding crap to the debate.... http://calgarysun.com/sports/hockey/francis-150-million-more-reasons-for-flames-owners-to-sell -
Every single one of these guys has a brain cramp. Some more than others. Kulak has a better first pass in trouble spots than most of these guys. Where he gets into trouble is trying to jump up on the play. He gets burned because of it and it looks worse because Stone is slow. Pair him with a guy that can skate, and the gaffes won't look as bad. The other thing about Kulak is that he rarely takes penalties for losing a guy.
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Rittich's poor play behind the net was bad, not not totally his fault. He's not used to the players (which were shifted mid-game) and telling them what to do. In some ways he was too calm. Hamonic an Kulak (IIRC) got their signals crossed about who was taking the puck. It happens. One of the reasons why I was suggesting Rittich is there s no book on him. He doesn't play the Marlies often. He hasn't been scouted by every team for years to know his weakness on the glove side high. We are going to need the better of the two goalies when the team is tired, and we inevitably get Bart back in because of the B2B games.
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And where is Brodie during these times where his only play is off the glass. Not supporting him I guess. It's great to think offense, but you need to recognize the time to do it. Honestly, if they are keeping Brodie on LD, then move Hamonic up with Gio. Have one unit that can shutdown the best players. Play Kulak with Hamilton, since he's pretty smart at knowing when to back off. PLay Brodie with Stone as a third pair, or at least no more minutes that Hamilton. Brodie is not currently the 3rd best player out there, so he should not be playing the 2nd most minutes.
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The current trend for Smith is poor save percentage and high GAA. I think you need to give him a few days off now. Start Rittich in TO. Start Smith in MON and against VAN. The defense has to perform better for the goalie, so start with playing for Rittich. They did it once. The team is fresher in TO.
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I see a struggling Brodie. How many different guys have been chained to him and looked good? Gio. I'm not saying Gio made Brodie better or vice versa, just that that was the last time Brodie was consistently good. Sure, he had giveaways when he passed across the ice on his backhand. Now he does that on his "strong" side.
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I think you are not happy with the prospect development, which is another argument. The biggest problem is that we don't have anyone lighting it up this early in the season in the AHL. Are you ready to give up on Gillies? He's had exactly one full season in the AHL. Add to that 7 and 12 games in separate seasons. If you look at a guy like Talbot, he spent 3 full seasons in the AHL before he started to put up decent numbers. This year both Gillies and Rittich have faced far too many shots per game. And they both put up decent stats. I would have preferred that Gillies be brought up for a season as a true backup, but that was given to Lack. We can agree on one thing. The backup position is not being well managed here. It should be the next starter getting reps. I think they only picked Rittich because he can come in cold as a backup better than Gillies.
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Freddie needs to go through waivers again.
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Parson, Gillies, Rittich, Schneider. The reason why I said that MacDonald was a right-off was that I haven't seen anything from him at any level that implies he's anything at the pro level. Schneider is too early to call, but is trending in the wrong direction. I would prefer that we have two possible starters battling it out in the AHL (Parson and Gillies) and that they stay there until they are ready, maybe another one to three years. Rittich could be a reliable backup this year and ready for a heavier workload next year. Smith may have a lighter workload if that is the case.
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Giving up on young goalies makes no sense. That's how team miss out on future starters. Not all of them start their careers as stars. I'm not big on MacDonals, but that doesn't mean Gillies or Schneider are flops.
