travel_dude
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Everything posted by travel_dude
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The risk is that between now and the start of the season there may be a team that has a goaltending injury and need to shore it up in a hurry. A cap team could easily take a minor risk for a $600k contract. Worse case scenario for them is that they use him and return him to us when they have to demote him or run with 3 goalies when all healthy.
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What I heard was that a player that passes through the draft can be claimed by a team prior to the CHL season start. Has to be on an ATO, I believe. When the Oilers tried to sign Vladdy Hockey, they used this option. Had Vladdy played a full season, the contract would have been valid.
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Weird CHL rule. Had to be signed before start of CHL season. Ranked 9th in NA Goalies this year.
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I would say that all the goalies had similar results. McDonald probably had the hardest time due to some breakdowns. Ortio looked better this year than last year, so that bodes well for him. He was terrible to start the season last year.
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Hartley said they didn't know if it was a concussion or not, but they were treating it like it was. Hope he gets some game action in the pre-season.
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This year could be a challenge for Hartley. Three goalies who could all battle for #1. Or no goalies really taking the reins. In the last two years, Hartley has been pretty consistent in goalie starts the last two years; go with a goalie and keep starting him even when he loses a game (if the goals were not all his fault). Two loses in a row would signal a change.
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According to Vickers, Gillies is under concussion protocol. Pat Steinberg retweeted Aaron Vickers @AAVickers 5h5 hours ago #Flames G Jon Gillies under concussion protocol following hit sustained against Dinos on Wednesday. 5 retweets3 favorites Reply Retweet Favorite More
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If you sign a deal in the NHL, there is always a chance you will get demoted. If Hiller was the guy sent down, he is going to do everything to show he is a team guy. Taking a pouter doesn't do that. Working with a player does. Just really throwing out possibles. Signing Ramo is a sign that either Hiller has lost the spot, or they don't think Ortio is close to being ready.
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It's and odd situation, since we have Gillies needing to play a ton of games in the AHL. Maybe waiving one of the vets makes sense. They mentor Gillies, and stay in the AHL until we get a good baseline to evaluate the NHL guys. Hiller would be PO'd if he was waived, but would like go unclaimed. Ramo and Ortio would be a battle to the Finnish.
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Compare last year to years where we had Kipper. When Kipper played well, it hid the problems with the team. When he play just OK, the problems were exposed. Last year, the goalies played well enough for us to have a chance every game. Not stellar, but good enough to give us a chance. There were games where 4 goals were scored, of which 2 were the goalie and the other two were the fault of the defense. What I am saying is that the defense has to be better and the goalies have to make the saves that they should. The impossible saves will still results in goals, unless the goalies steal games. Last year there were very few stolen games.
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Pretty hard to project Ortio as the number 1 guy in Calgary, based on what 10 career games? He started the season really bad last year. Do you think he would get the same amount of rope if they kept him up for the first 20 games? He would have to win 2/3 games to even be considered. Watching games that we struggled in last year, it was pretty apparent that the defense had a big effect. Once the other team got in our zone, a defender might break up the cycle, but then chip it out to the neutral zone, and the cycle would start again. That might ensue for a stretch of 2 minutes, broken up by faceoffs (either a loss or chipping it out again or icing) or a goal as a result of the defender losing position. You can't expect a goalie to make an initial stop, deflect the puck to your teammates, then have to make two or three more saves in rapid succession. There weren't that many games where the goalie was at fault for more than one goal per game. The only safe way to proceed with Ortio is to have three goalie up, play them each for stretches of games and see who sinks or swims. After you are down to two, run them like they did last year.
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NKOTB? Donnie Wahlberg? Seriously though, you must be forgetting Boston and Pittsburg (semi new kid). Thank god we didn't get Benning.
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I can agree with some of your assessment: Bollig is not a great piece, albeit it only cost a 3rd. He's also on a 3 year deal. Kylington was a great draft pick where he was taken, but would classify it as a huge win yet. Engelland is not a good UFA signing. Too much and too much term. Raymond was not a good signing; he played in TO for $1m, but he gets a 3 year deal at triple the rate. The Gooch wasn't too bad, except it was a waste of a position. Bouma was not a great signing, as he came in pretty close to what he would have gotten in arbitration for a shorter period of time. Overall, I rate the first summer as a learning experience. He didn't think Johnny would be such a force, and signed some extra depth on defense. This season and off-season, he made up for it in spades. Solid trades for picks (2-3rds to get a second + Reinhart for a pick). Solid re-signings for Brodie, Backlund, Gio, most of the RFA's. Good drafting (chose skill over size). Good YFA to date with Frolik.
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Not so much no love as he is on an expiring contract. He will likely be looking for $4m+ on his next one. For a LHS, smaller d-man, that is a lot. His true weakness is being able to handle bigger teams like LA and ANA.
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This season's challenges will determine his true value. He has done things so far that few GM's are capable of, but trimming the roster and various expiring contracts are the big challenge now. 2015/16 is not a do-or-die season to eliminate the bad contracts, but finding a taker for Engelland and Raymond will be crucial next season. Buyout is the last resort, but at least those guys only will have one season remaining.
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Mostly you save cap dollars by giving an NTC to a player. It doesn't prevent a trade, but gives them a feeling of security as long as they enjoy playing here. NMC are worse; can't demote the player.
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Frolik and Stajan are limited/modified NTC. Dougie is limited NTC in year 5 and 6. Big deal.
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This probably isn't the place for it, but the reason the Flames made the playoffs was that the first line was the highest scoring line in the NHL for the month of March. Having Engelland meant that Brodie had to play with Engelland not on his normal side. Saying that, BT managed to get us above the cap floor. The term and AAV for both Raymond and Engelland is going to hurt the most, come year 3.
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I was supportive of BT, not so much the player signing. I hated him as a Nuck, and have been mostly opposed to him being on the roster this season. If the aim was for goal-scoring, he may have originally fit that description. As a player brought in to fit the Gio-Hartley system, he was an epic fail. This was the 2nd chance the Flames had to sign him. It could have been in the previous season, where he showed up wanting to be be a TC try-out. That season may have been different, since we weren't competing, and we would have seen first hand how he fit on a 1-year deal. The Flames were not interested. BT obviously didn't listen enough to his coaching or scouting staff, as they probably wouldn't have suggested him to a 3 year deal. BT gets a pass for that. He learned what the Flames truly are and need.
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It didn't really bother me at the time, since I thought Raymond was a better player than he showed. The NTC bothers me a bit. Engelland would not be a worry if we didn't increase our cap by having 3 goalies this season valued at $9m, having a new top 2 D, and signing an excellent player like Frolik. The only way I see BT blowing it is if one of these first contracts is the cause of losing a great player for cap reasons. I seriously doubt that happens. After this year, Ramo and Hiller come off. Jones' contract is done. Hudler and Russell are UFA's. Those are a lot of players that could come off the books, make for great trades, or be re-signed.
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The Raymond and Engelland signings were bad term and dollars in hindsight. At the time, BT was like a lot of analysts - where are goals going to come from? Who was going to fill in on D? Wotherspoon was injured, so no idea if we had a prospect that could come into the team and perform. So, he outbids for Engelland. He signs an offensive d-man in Diaz. Takes a flyer in Potter, who could also start in Addy. End result, we are cap compliant. Raymond is a bit of a headscratcher. He was coming off a career season after being a walk-on signing in TO. We had that luxury but chose not to sign him, even though he expressed interest. Maybe the combo of wanting to play here, having a good year and Burke's assessment. The Bollig trade was all BB. A GM without any knowledge of the Flames would think we needed a functionally tough player. Bollig mat be that player on a good 3th line, but didn't display it here. I agree that these contracts will either hinder the GM or vindicate him completely depending on how he escapes or uses them. None of them are really needed now. Bollig is the least problem, since he doesn't take much space. Raymond could be headed back to the East, since he could provide the Leafs with some scoring.
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What makes Ramo good is that athleticism. He needs to put some stickum on his pants, though, as he slides way out of the crease. He is a good 1st and 2nd shot goalie, but you need to clear the puck or the player. He was getting run too much and had players hacking away at the puck in the crease. What makes Hiller good is the calmness that he brings. He stops 95% of the pucks that are shot, but tends to get beat when he is deep. He moves too little. You can beat Hiller in close, up high. Orti is a little of both. I was a little worried at how he looked in game 82. He was the same in Addy in the first month. Wonder if he smokes in between practices like Kippper did? Hiller was PO'd the end of the season, when he lost the net to Ramo. The friendly rivalry was gone, as if Hiller figured he was getting the Anaheim treatment. I am fine keeping whoever is the best two at TC, but also believe that Hiller or Ramo is the best option to waive. Moreso Hiller. Unless a team lost a goalie in pre-season, I doubt Hiller would ever get claimed. Teams are trying to fit their rosters under the cap, and might have to waive/trade another player if they wanted to claim Hiller. BT would be aware of the roster situations, so he would likely keep three goalies if he was worried about losing one to the waiver wire.
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You said things were looking good for both McDonald and Gillies with Thiessen being a UFA. I'm not sure what else you were implying, and you are being coy. So.....
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GlenX was originally a "priority" to re-sign. His failure to put up really good numbers, followed by him taking a backseat to the younger guys resulted in him questioning his future. It was a bit of catch 22, since he couldn't put up career numbers in a lessor role, and could get a better role because he wasn't putting up big numbers. The trade was the best reality check that both parties could do. Did we need him to make the playoffs? Nope. Was he good enough to get re-upped by the receiving team? Nope.
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I like that BT is looking long-term at the roster cost. Every move he makes takes the cap in 5 years into account. He has not overpaid for any player that will hurt us long-term. Even guys like Engelland and Raymond can be lost for nothing, and it is still just FA signings that we are out, no picks to get them. Getting a pick for a guy we were not going to keep was great. In one sense, it shows committment to the player to retain and trade. On the other hand, it is good asset management.
