travel_dude

I think it has been reluctance to waive Hunt, because he is somewhat a typical 13th F. In what I have seen, both Pospisil and Zary are more effective. That may come off sounding like I hate Hunt, but I am looking for the most effective players. Hunt competes every game, but I just don't see the impact in a positive light. It's perhaps a tough call, but Dube might be the one most likely to sit after Mange gets back in. Connie has to talk to the coach about roster decisions. It failed last year where players get the call and sit instead of playing. I don't mean the coach makes the decisions alone, just that you want a decision to be made and it means bringing up a player to play. And if you need to waive a player, make sure that the coach shares the opinion.

Yeah, I noticed that as well. Seems to have fallen off a cliff. I think you may want to use him at C, but do it on the 4th line for now. If the practicing players were able to go, I would line them up like: Huberdeau-Lindholm-Zary* Ruzicka-Kadri-Sharangovich Pospisil-Backlund-Coleman Greer-Dube-Duehr Seeing the relative speed of Duehr and Greer, I think Dube might get some rushes going.

Personally, I didn't think too much of the top line after Mange was kicked out. I hate to play a prospect on a top line, but Zary is the one player that seems to make others better. Seems Dube is just the placeholder for Mane missing ONE game. I don't know how close Ruzicka is to playing, but I hope he is healthy soon. I do hope that Pospisil gets one more game, since a hot start can give you a real boost. I don't know about roster fit, but I think he makes a fine 13/14th F. After the suspension and Ruzicka returns to game action, we have some decisions to make. Who comes out? Pospisil most likely, but maybe he knocks down Greer.

They fired MacLellan and temp hired Hitch. Got the new coach bump for a few months. I don't know that it's something a new coach can fix without dumping half the roster. But, you may be correct in saying that a playoff miss is a firing offence. That is some roster mess. Two emergency player adds to reach 14F. They just signed Gagner and sent down Erne. Brown pointless in 10 games and now injured. The D is a one way mess, except Ekholm.

Gibson is the best goalie on a bad team. If there was some way we could land him, we could get rid of our two current goalies. If we could, trade Markstrom and Hanifin for him. Or Vladar and Hanifin. But that doesn't make us any closer to the exciting style that ANA plays. It just means we have to remake the D a bit and we have the best goalie behind us.

And my point was that the NHL is all over the map. They don't protect anyone. Stars get a pass because they are not "dirty". Repeat offenders only get the book thrown at them if the player is out for any length of time. Ras got 4 mostly because Laine was out. Should not have mattered. What if he plays through an injury and later it catches up with him?

What's working against a longer suspension is the player came back during the game. Mange has no suspension history. So, the hammer won't be what it would look like in other situations. Probably should send a message. But, the NHL is all over the map. Ruzicka was hit by a dirty boarding and no call at all.

It was sort of a back and forth about Hunt, and I suggested the lineup looked good without him. I get that we will lose Mange for a few, but I also think that Huska is looking at other F on the fram to replace Mange. Technically we have enough cap to call up Klapka or less money, but we don't have the roster space. We can run with 6D and call up any forward. Not like they are far away. It's all temporary anyway. Ruzicka is likely to be back soon, maybe before Mange is off suspension. Last night was one of the best games we played and we did it without Mange and Hunt. Go 11-7 if you don't want to call up a prospect.

Goes hard to the net and scores his first NHL goal in his first NHL game. Gotta love that. Again. I agree that we actually saw a game that looked good. Not only did we outshoot 2-1 but we doubled them in goals. The PP started to look better as well. Almost like they needed to get frustrated with it and make some adjustments.

Skates hard and in fact so hard he leaves the zone without the puck. Just kidding. I watched most of the pre-season and wasn't impressed. I haven't seen him do anything positive with the puck. The play dies on his stick. If you want Marginal players on the team, that's fine. I would rather they sign Phil Kessel or bring up a prospect.

I would say it's a talent issue and D coverage. They have nothing after the 2nd line and have to double up McD and Drai to just get close to a win. The D is pityfull. They have nobody that knows how to defend other than Ekholm, but he has to babysit Bouchbaby. Bouch the Douche? Anyway, they have a smart PP but deficient PK. Some games they barely can score at 5v5. When you listen to their coach, it's like listening to a coach talk about teaching kids. Basic stuff that they don't get. McD is going to have his back, so the coach won't get fired. Perhaps the GM should get fired for bringing this team to this state.

I support the waiving of Oesterle and bringing up someone. It's not the only player that (so far) hasn't cut it. Hunt should be next. I'm not a hater for bit players, but I haven't yet seen anything about him I would call usefull or impactful. Whenever Ruzicka is back, he immediately bumps both Hunt from the top 12. Greer should be higher than Hunt anyway. The unknown is Pospisil, who could earn the spot in the top 12. That means Greer is likely 13. Pelletier is a more difficult placement. He would (or should) bump Greer, Hunt, and Pospisil. You are right about Connie and to a certain extent Huska. They are willing to use young prospects. Pospisil is earning his start tonight. As he should. Last year he could have been the AHL scoring leader and Sutter would laugh at any suggestion of using him. The only reason these guys shouldn't play the year here is they are 14th in the best player list. In several games this season, our top players are guys that played little or none last year. Ruzicka had a start like last year and injury the only thing keeping him out. Zary was the best player on our team last game. Solo had a good game and just needs a little seasoning. Govich is getting better and just needs the right line. I am interested to see how the lines shake out. Weird they want to use Zary on LW, but that's Steinberg journalism. He often shows it backwards. Dube off an injury playing C on the 4th line. Okay I get it. I would also venture to say that his last few games haven't been great. Need to find the best fit on lines and if C is better for him, great.

I think it a bit early to suggest Vladar completely sucks. For all the good Marky does (5-3 loss instead of 10-3), there is still those goals that abso-f-in-lutely crush the team. We should have beaten Dallas but the goals against were bad. Can't say the rest of the team was playing perfect during those goals, but holy Gord. 54 seconds in a period, less than a minute in a period, wow. Our best game of goals against was a 3-2 shootout loss. The wins still had 3 goals against. Last year we would not have won many of these gams by comparison, so Sutter hockey style remains. I saw Sutter since this is looking like the exact same team except for Toffoli missing.

Seems odd we can be so bad when our main goalie is .897 with 3.03 GAA. Shows you how deceiving goalie stats can be. A record of 1-6-1 make the plus/minus more understandable.

DiSimone called up as the extra D. Really he's on par with Gilbert.

I'm not sure what they were trying with him. Trying him everywhere to see what worked? The same could be said for Huberdeau, who has used the excuse that the players aren't where he expected them to be, so he passes to nowhere. Take a shot if you have no pass or drive the net. He isn't 5'6". Anyway, I am supportive of Coronato finding his game. Too many here also looking, so bad environment.

#Flames at practice Friday: Huberdeau-Lindholm-Mangiapane Zary-Kadri-Sharangovich Pospisil-Backlund-Coleman Hunt-Dube-Duehr Greer Weegar-Andersson Hanifin-Tanev Zadorov-Gilbert Markstrom Vladar

Oksy Richard

Well, it would be senseless to waive a guy like Lindholm. Lose a trade is more impactful than just a waiver loss. It would be very dumb. I think any shakeup is going to be a guy healthy scratched or a trade. There's a short list of guys that don't deserve to be traded.

My response to you was not based on your opinion, it was trashing trash. I have read dozens of their "articles" and they are no more informed than Francis. Other may not see it, but I tend to dismiss most of their conclusions in articles. I suspect you will see at least a player moved because of issues. Might not be the one you think is the problem, but is a problem no less. Others have alluded to a culture problem that we never seemed to fix. Guys that might have been a problem have moved on. Bouma, Tkachuk, Gio, Hamilton, etc. May have been a problem. We still have a core of guys that have been here a long time. Guys that might look like they are trying, but don't give the extra 10% needed to win. I would say that there are some that are frustrated with that attitude. Hey, I am giving 100%, but you seem to give up on plays. I block a 100 mph slapper and you bail on hits.

Please. When you start linking that "analysis" site, I really wonder. About as deep research as the average X poster. Of course the players have a part of the blame no doubt, but to say that talent is the issue does not take into account the success of other teams with similar talent. The noted change from last year was the D-zone coverage. Not working so far. Otherwise we are seeing the same style we saw last year. I personally think this is the wrong roster for that type of style. Is that still on the players?

I think we need to re-think the wing usage. Dube was out for "injury" of some form. Ruzicka is still D2D. But, aside from that Zary belongs. As does Coronato. The latter hasn't has consistent lines this season. The best wingers so far: Ruzicka, Mangiapane, Zary, Coronato, Govich, Duehr, Greer The players struggling the most: Huberdeau, Backlund, Hunt Overall, not bad but not great: Lindholm, Kadri, Coleman, Dube By looks, Zary, Coronato and Govich should be top 9 RW. Figure out the complement. I like Govich with Zary and Kadri. I might prefer Coronato with Backlund and Mange with Lindholm. I think that leaves Dube, Ruzicka, Coleman, and Huberdeau fighting over the top 9 LW. Ruzicka has played the best on top line or Kadri's line. Huberdeau is struggling with Lindholm and Kadri. If we can keep Zary and Ruzicka is healthy, I might just suggest the following: Ruzicka-Lindholm-Mange Govich-Kadri-Zary Huberdeau-Backlund-Coronato Coleman-Dube-Duehr Ex: Greer Waive Hunt I would consider some adjustments in the top 6, but I don't think Coronato is ready yet for top line.

For sure. One guy's name starts with M and the other is N. Uncanny

Did you see the hit on Ruzicka where he went upside down and barely saved his neck? Think it may have been the same game as the injury. Tripp by the goalie, so it was likey DET game. It was behind the net.