travel_dude

I agree with the assessment. I hope that Grigoriev signs the ATO, since he would be a good guy to have as a future option. His skating is up there with Kylington, and he seems pretty fearless. Small, but experienced.

Stockton, Calif. – The Stockton Heat, proudly owned by the NHL’s Calgary Flames, announce the signing of current camp attendees Mikkel Aagard, Kayle Doetzel to AHL contracts and Stepan Falkovsky to an AHL/ECHL contract. The team also has invited forward Luke Adam and defensemen Colby Robak and Mikhail Grigorev to attend Heat camp on tryouts. Aagaard, 20, played for the Flames during all three games during the 2016 Penticton Young Stars Classic, scoring a goal and recording 9 shots. Aagaard began his career playing junior hockey for his hometown team in Frederikshavn, Denmark and quickly moved into playing pro hockey both in second and first divisions Frederikshavn squads. Most recently, Aagaard came over to North America to play in the OHL with the Niagara IceDogs and Sudbury Wolves. In 123 OHL games, Aagaard has scored 39 goals and added 55 assists. Doetzel, 21, enters his first pro season after five years and 292 games patrolling the blueline for the Western Hockey League’s Red Deer Rebels. An invite to the Edmonton Oilers training camp, Doetzel played two of three games with the Oilers during the 2016 Penticton Young Stars Classic, finishing the tournament plus-2 and recording 12 penalty minutes. Falkovsky, 19, enters his first pro season after being drafted by the Calgary Flames in the seventh round, 186 overall during the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. The 6’7” defenseman played for the Ottawa 67’s of the OHL last season, registering 32 points in 58 games during his first North American campaign. Previously, Falkovsky played junior and pro hockey in his home country of Belarus.

Aagaard has signed an AHL deal with Stockton. Wes GilbertsonVerified account‏@WesGilbertson Mikkel Aagaard, a standout for #Flames at Penticton rookie tourney, has signed AHL deal with Stockton.

Can't believe that you would forget Kylington.

Thanks. I asked because some fans here watch on Gameday or other packages, which gives them a balanced view of a player. I don't think anyone will dispute he is a top player on the AVS. And he would be top 3, probably, on the Flames. I guess I just expected him to be that much better than others in the draft class.

The one thing I wanted to know was how much you had watched him play. You took it as an insult and said it was none of my business and you know how to judge talent.. I explained several times why it was an important to know. I myself have only watched his play less than 10 games per year, against us, the Oilers and the odd game. Or the WCH, where he was top 5 on the team.

Instead of answering the questions posed, you are complaining about the way they are asked. Just back up the statements you make or answer the questions posed to you and nobody will have a problem. People may or may not agree, but so what. It's all opinions. I make statements of opinions then back them up if asked. You don't want to back them up or answer the question, then fine. Moving on.

Why are you so bent about the questions? This is a discussion about players and usage. You were making what sounded like an informed opinion based on watching a player in all situations. Instead, you decide to turn it into a "I know best because I know best" type of retort. No need to get into a snit if somebody ask you a question. If your feelings are hurt from an exchange of ideas, then perhaps you should find something else to do.

Here's the big question for you. How often do you watch him play? Just against Calgary or other games? I ask that because you seem to have a sense of the players he lnes up with or the usage he gets. If you said more than 10 games I would be impressed. If you believe, like me, that Bennett will be an exceptional center in this league, why would you ever consider moving him to the wing. Would love to have him on my team, but not at the cost of JH. Gio maybe. Imagine a 1st line of JH-Monahan-MacKinnon or JH-Bennett-MacKinnon. Absolutely deadly.

I wasn't saying I would trade him. I was trying to understand the logic of trading for him. I wouldn't move Bennett to wing, so MacKinnon would need to or Monahan. I just don't see that trade makng us better, which is the only reason why you make the deal.

Interesting thought. What exactly is MacKinnon. Is he a #1C, a secondary scoring center or a power forward? Why has he struggled at times scoring? Why has Monahan had more success? I have this feeling that Bennett will become a top line C possibly as soon as this year.

Different players, different impact. MacKinnon's stats line up closer to Monahan. Duchene is probably a closer comparable for impact. And that's after how many years in the league? MacKinnon has not beat JH in goals or points over the last three year. JH tops out at 0.88 p/gp, while MacKinnon is 0.70 p/gp.

And wasn't he part of the decision making for Phoenix? I like what we have gotten in the last few drafts, apart from from a few question marks. Bennett was the best available in the top 10 except for Ekblad, but for a different reason. Mony is killing it every year. Tkachuk is a new pain in the butt, maybe in the same vein as Iggy. Not in the pure skill area, but in the feistyness area. Hammy is like a 1st rounder ready to play. Parsons looks like the real deal already. Some of the other picks this year are quite good; Dube, Tuulola. Phillips could be a steal. Just get the JH guy signed. I hear he is pretty good at hockey.

It seems too obvious to argue about it. Johnson was better than most backup goalies in the NHL last year and we need one. Rittich could steal the job from Gillies, but he wasn't brought here to be the guy. If he doesn't know that, then he should find out soon enough. It's not like a long list of teams were talking to him.

The goaltending development depends a lot on the goalies themselves. Gillies will get tons of ice this season. Parsons will go back to junior. Johnson played 1/2 a season, so he is there in case we want to limit Elliott to less than 60. Who else were we going to use? Rittich was signed to have a backup for Gillies. You don't want to have your current #2 goalie prospect turning pro to be a AHL backup do you? McDonald will see plenty of ice in the ECHL. Probably rotates with Rittich to keep fresh as well. It's time to close the book on Ortio's time in the NHL. Too many younger guys coming into the league. Unless he manages to be consistent in Europe for more than a year, you won't see him back.

Then you would agree that we have good prospects and a pair of good NHL goalies going forward.

Yes.....goaltending. I like his positioning and he looked very smooth. Not bad for a guy that hasn't played a game in 11 months. We get a first chance to see Parsons tonight against the Oil Kings. Ooops I mean Pulju and the Kings. Demko got lit up a bit last night, so we have to provide Parsons with some defense against the top line.

According to Bishop, the numbers that were reported were not even close to reality.

Perhaps we can lay some of the blame on an area that was a huge factor. Goaltending. And, no, it isn't Calgary's failure to develop NHL goaltending that caused the mess. Want an easy goal? Take a shot from the top of the circle high. Bang, in the net. Or take a quick shot after a faceoff win. Hiller should already be on his knees. Goals against tends to be a team stats, while SA% is square on the goalie. Worst in the league.

What I had read was that Bishop was in discussions and was surprised that they went a different direction. He also said that the report of want 7x7 was a farce. The tipping point seems to have been Stevie Y wanting too much.

Hey, we could have traded for Andersson (he's injured now) and been closer to your ideal age. Anaheim had a say in that deal though. Pittsburg wasn't going to trade Murray and TBL wasn't going to trade Vasilevskiy. We could opt to bring in these young studs that you keep alluding to and wait for them to become stars. Or we could bring in a quality player. Even when you are happy, you aren't happy because we haven't met your specs. Irving and Ortio are busts. Maybe they would have become something elsewhere or in different circumstances on the Flames. But they didn't. Elliott developed into a good goalie over the years and now we have him. Hiller was the 3rd goalie on a team and lost his spot due to his declining play. He managed a good start in his first year here, but he was never going to be the guy.

Ya, that's sort of what I was alluding to. You could have the occasional game with Spoon sitting out, or play one forward less.

I don't think Wideman should play with Gio, due to the fact that Gio and Brodie face the best of the other teams. Offensively, it may make sense to do that for Wideman, but defensively Gio would need to cover for Wideman's lack of defense. Brodie could possibly do it, but does that make sense? As much as Wideman is due for a bounceback year, he isn't in the long-term plans and he isn't great defensively. Would it not be better to play him with Wotherspoon on the 3rd pair? You could alternate Engelland, Spoon and Wideman to form that 3rd pair, and at least you developing a long-term player.

So how long do you figure Elliott can play at this level? Last 4 years have been about the same. Not over the hill like some goalies. More miles left than MAF. You think it would be unreasonable to suggest that he has another 4 years of really good tending left? As far as defense goes..... Brodie and Gio are (so far, knock on wood) healthy to start the season. Hamilton looked much better in the 2nd half. Unsustainable defensive system will be replaced. Russell is gone. Wideman will either be performing better or ride the pine (I can only hope). Yokipakka looks like he could be a reasonable #4D. I doubt you see Smid play another regular season game here. So, it won't just be a better goalie coming in, it will be a combo of things. You can't win the cup without really good goaltending. By the same toiken, you can't win the cup with just great goaltending. A great goalie can make an average defense look good, but you still need to score. So, we upgraded the defense by parting with Russell. Improving the bottom pairing is another thing to tackle. We upgraded the starter and backup. We added a good player that will help create space. We will be changing from a defensive system that relied on blocking shots. At least now we have the luxury of developing Gillies as long as he needs. Have some backup plans in MacDonald and Parsons. We don't need to bring Gillies in next season as a backup.

At least Francis isn't saying too much about Johnny right now. If he did, he would be saying things like "miles apart", "wants to play in the East after this contract", etc. He should be nicknamed Click-bait.