travel_dude
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Everything posted by travel_dude
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A 45 game season for McDavid, with him tearing it up only gets them 17 wins. Their record without him was actually better. Go figure. If they improve it will be due to getting scoring from the backend and decent defending. A -42 in goal differential is just plain bad. And that was with a decent goalie.
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Think about what options they used this past year, and how Johnny was able to still be top 6 in scoring. Plug is an exaggeration, but essentially the other two will lead the line. Will EDM be any better? McDavid only helped them win something like 17 of the 45 games he played. They will start Pulju this season, so he will need time to adjust to the NA ice. They haven't addressed the defense at all. If they do, it will make them weaker somewhere else. They have to trade Eberle or Nuge or Hall to do that. Even that will be lucky to bring them a Shatty or equivalent. Winnipeg will be better, but they are only a Wildcard concern. Arizona couldn't be any worse. They beat us because we had sub-par goaltending. They haven't really added anything yet. Strome and Dvorak maybe. Still light on defense, unless they play Chychrun this year. Vancouver is going nowhere. They are trying to rebuild in place, but their GM is making all the wrong moves. Last year the West was an enigma. I don't think that will happen again.
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^^^^^^ I think Anaheim is beatable this year, in Anaheim. Andersen was always an issue for us, even though Gibson beat us a lot. We had chances to win every game, but were mostly let down by goaltending. They are also going to lose one of their top D-men. We finally have goaltending to beat some of the Pacific teams we struggled against. If we can beat EDM with sub-par goalies, we should have no issue. Van is on a re-cycle/re-build phase. If Arizona actually played some of their kids, they might be a lot better.
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Ballsy prediction... Well, that's a prediction. You talked about the positive things that improve this club, then you look at last season's results and don't think we can improve by 20 points? League worst goaltending swapped out for a league leader. There's 20 points right there. A coaching change can happen mid-season and still have great results. Boudreau made a change during Anaheim's goal scoring drought, and they went from being below us to being tops in the Pacific. Having a camp to implement is not that bad. We need a top 3 RW. Honestly, you could put a plug on that line and they will still lead the team. With a more stable defense core (trade/buy out Wideman and Smid) and decent goaltending, you can expect that we will not lose as many of those 2-1 or 1-0 games. Definitely we should have a real good chance when we score more than 3 goals.
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Only way it happens is if Mason stays in junior for his overage year. That doesn't appear to be the best situation, since they should be staggering contracts going pro. Schneider can possibly stay 2 years in Junior, while Parsons will likely go pro in 2017 or 2018,
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Ortio needs to stay away from the AHL. That is Gillies net to start and Rittich's to backup. If he isn't able to win a job as the backup or the Flames don't want to take the chance on him with 30 games, then let him go. He has no value in that case.
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Elliott said that he met with the team and talked about moving on. They both felt it was the best. Don't know exactly when that happened, but it was fortunate for us.
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Burke said they are comfortable with him as the backup right now. He said they were ready to move on, but he pulled himself together. He went on to say that he would have to compete at camp like every other player. That sort of implies he will get a QO. Burke isn't the GM, so anything could happen. It just seems like they both like the goalie.
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What do you think the Flames should do regarding a backup for this season? I know you have brought up a lot of goalie ideas, but wondered if you still think Ortio is the best plan for a backup? Do you think he needs a bigger workload to be successful or are you ok with him starting less than 30 games? Or do you think there is a viable 30 game guy out there we should be targeting? BTW, I am thankful we didn't get MAF. He would have been more expensive than Elliott. The Pengie bloggers are feeling they made a huge mistake and will pay for it. Dallas seems to be out now as an option.
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I think you have to look at the available market this summer and see what there is. I think you qualify him just to retain his rights, but I would hold off signing until you do the due diligence of exploring options. Burke said that he has earned a look in camp, so they may not go beyond that until then. Maybe bring a guy in on a PTO? As it stands, we have Elliott, Ortio, Gillies, Rittich, and MacDonald. If a really good backup is available for next to nothing, then you walk away from Ortio; he will not be fighting Elliott for the starter job. Really my only issues about Ortio are his slow start and seeming to need to play games in bunches. If he is the backup out of camp, then you give him 2 out if 6 games. Keep him relatively fresh. As Phoenix says, maybe you just go into the season with him as the backup and see if he can win more than 50% of his starts. If so, keep him. If not, look at the myriad of other options. I would like to see the two new Heat goalies (Mac and Rittich) alternate between the ECHL and AHL to get more reps in. I don't want them to go to Gillies for an NHL injury replacement.
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The pre-draft comments are just that. He didn't know he was getting Elliott. With Bishop, you can roll with Ortio as the backup, but with Elliott, you need someone that may need a bigger workload. Forget about the cap space created; it was a fluke. Any vet brought in will have to be on a reasonable contract, not a big overpay at FA.
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I tend to think that Ortio is not good unless he gets a bunch of starts together. I'm not sure that the Flames can wait for him to be consistent. He's typically (some might disagree) shown to be a slow starter in the fall, be it AHL or NHL. I think that there is an interest in someone else out there. Might be the wrong time to get one, though. I am at least very happy with the Elliott trade. JR can suck on it. He had his chance to eliminate some cap, lose a dressing room distraction, and now may lose Murray for nothing in the upcoming expansion. With Bishop, I think that the re-signing number scared CGY off. They were in-like-Flynn and had a viable deal with the Bolts when they talked to Bishop. After that, the talks dried up in a big hurry. Worse case scenario for the Flames is that Elliott has a less than stellar season, they make a trade for Vasilevskiy for less than par value. They protect Vasilevskiy and sign Elliott is he goes unclaimed, assuming that is something they even want to do. There will be 29 other goalies available.
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I think there is a bit of a misconception about Elliott. He has always been the 1a/1b goalie on the Blues. This year Allen was the 1a. Last year he was the 1a, but they gave the playoffs to Allen. The year before he was 1b behind Halak, then they brought in Miller. Before that he was 1b. That's not to say he can handle 60 games, but I think he will gets starts more frequently here. Not to snib Ortio, but we need at least a good backup that can play cold and win. The backup isn't going to get a bunch of games in a row to stay consistent. That is the reason why I wonder if we still need to look.
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Hard to convince a cup winner to part with their #1 guy, even if he sat out the playoffs. They talk tough, but have very little latitude that gives them a decent return. Niemi/Lettin-it-in is the worst choice.
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Between Elliott, MAF and Bishop, I would rate the best fit as Elliott and Bishop. I started to think about a pending reduction of goalie equipment and think that MAF would look like a squirt in smaller pads and gear. Both Elliott and Bishop cover the net pretty well as it is. I think there is a deal there, for either Elliott or Bishop. We should get a freebie for the JBow trade, or at least considerations.
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Bishop is a realistic target, but a hard sell. He's a legit top 5 goalie in the league right now. If Tampa wasn't in such a bad state with the cap, they would keep him over Vasilevskiy, if the choice had to be made. But they have to make hard choices. RFA's like Killorn and the bunch. Trying to keep your franchise player before he goes UFA. Trying to keep your #1 goalie when he is a year away from a big raise. Trying to retain a possible long term replacement for your #1. If you are closing on a deal for Bishop, there has to be the discussion about the re-signing with the player. If you are going for Elliott, you have less of an issue, but need to keep the cost reasonable. Reimer is a fall back plan only. Any others have to be short term deals so you aren't stuck with a goalie that can't handle the starts.
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I was alluding to that previously. He's not going to get a raise unless Allen somehow craps the bed. Even then, I think they believe that they can ice a playoff team without him.
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We spent $8m+ on crap goaltending last year, and $7m the year before for average. Are ya really concerned about spending $5.9m? Money is not the issue here. Return is. Quality is. The GM's are all playing a game of chicken. BT is making it known he is interested in Reimer. Let's see how long GM of the year and Stevie Y go before they back down a bit.
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The 6th is out for sure. The 2nd rounders and 3rds are more likely in play (not all of them). I would think that some kind of conditional pick would be in the deal based on him re-signing. WOuld have to be in 2017, as it would be too late for a 2016 one.
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I think what I was getting at was trading assets for a goalie that may not even be close to NHL ready seems risky, if you have to wait till camp to find out. If you wait till the start of the season, then you have no draft currency from this year to use. You have to trade prospects (good ones) and decent players. Not knowing if these goalies are even available, I wouldn't say that this is a viable option. I'm not saying I want to give up a 6th overall for a very good goalie, but if it comes down to a couple of 2nds or 2nd and 3rd for that goalie, or 3rd round picks for a chance of a good goalie, I'm not sure the latter is worth it. Kudos for the suggestions. I think the draft pick currency evaporates by Friday/Saturday.
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Are those prospects you want or candidate for starting goalies/backups? What do you trade for either of those guys? Any concern with Martin spending most of the time in the ECHL?
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If we are looking at a bigger deal, I would be looking for Killorn.
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No idea what you are asking. The expansion draft is next June. The expansion draft happens, then the entry draft. Vegas gets the 3rd position, pending the lotto results (they get the same chances more or less that Vancouver did this year). The 2nd round on, they pick 3rd. FA happens after that. 2017/18 is the first season of the Vegas team.
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The difference between Tampa and Chicago is the young core they have, mostly on ELC's and cheap contracts. Vasilevskiy is affordable now and into the future, but will likely be the one that they protect. If they can afford both this season, they will keep both and try to trade Bishop or just let him be selected/walk. If Vasilevskiy was available, it would cost similar to what Murray would (a 1st plus other pieces). I don't know that for a fact, but suspect it to be the case. And to make that clear, Murray is not going anywhere.
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True. The idea term for Bishop would be 3 years. Gives us the chance to get Gillies (or MacDonald or whoever) up to speed, ready to be the #1. Elliott, in my mind, is the better choice of the two. He will get paid, but not as much. I actually think Elliott will be available. He is not their goalie of the future. If they protect a goalie next year, it will be Allen.
