travel_dude

OTT and MTL only 3 points back of us before the results of this game. ARI only 6 back.

No idea what they think. Technically not eliminated yet? 91 points possible by winning out. Likely nowhere close to a chance in H..E..Double Hockey Sticks in making it. LA needs 5 points and NAS needs 2 to elimate us. And that's assuming we win out.

Kuzmenko is a treat to watch. Such a set of hands on him.

No changes to Saturday lineup. Flames down 0-1 after 1st.

To put it in perspective, Weegar is on year 1 of his 8 year deal. He just turned 30 and has one season more of production to equal Ras. Neither of their windows is 2-3 years, unlike Markstrom. I know that's not what you suggested, but the point is we can or do have them locked up. The last 5 players we traded were not Flames drafted, just UFA's or trades we received. Only Tanev was an age vs re-signing cost. The rest didn't want to be here. It's a business, so trading to get better is a fact. Trading to get a single draft pick doesn't always make sense. Not when that player has a long time that they can remain productive.

Every year there is a shoulda-woulda.

Iggy, Iggy, Iggy.... I hope we don't draft him. I think we have pressing issues not solved by drafting based on a name.

5 wins is pretty ambitious. There is a B2B that I would consider a schedule loss. Add that 2 to WPG, EDM and VAN games. The 3 home games against the spoiler teams might be wins, but I think that's also not a given. Currently we sit at 8th. It's just as likely we only keep pace at 8th.

If there is a specific player available earlier that we know won't reach us, I can see offering a 3rd or later to move up, but we aren't talking about moving to the top 15. What would we be able to trade to get an additional 1st? Markstrom holds the greatest value that we are willing to part with. Other than that, I don't see it.

From what I understand, LA is interested in Markstrom and would likely not care about outbidding NJ or the like. They have a narrow window with the current core. Yes, they have good players coming unto their own, but Kopitar and Doubty are near the end of their reign (excuse the pun). They have a 1st in 2024 and all picks in 2025. I could see them offering up the 2024 1st + Kaliyev + Turcotte. That seems like overpay, but they haven't had a real goalie since Quick. Really, it's an underperforming winger and a prospect that hasn't hit yet.

Seriously, the more likely situation, and it would equally piss off everyine here, is we win the draft lotto then trade down to 12 and pick Tij. In exchange for the trade to 12th, we get a usefull idiot NHL roster player that nobody here would be impressed with. And that player is a pending UFA that we re-sign for 9.5M. There, that has you beat.

ONe of the games against ANA is the 2nd in a B2B starting with the Kings. We haven't won the 2nd game of a B2B all year. We have only won 2 games (first game) in all the B2B series we played all year and have 5 double losses this season. The two SJS games could go either way, since we have trouble with them at the best of times. ANA is running hot and cold. But us winning or losing is only half the story. Ottawa is charging. MTL is playing for their coach. Seattle is unknown what they are. The teams in front of us have equal or better win %. We get a big win and think we are turning the corner, just to see it evaporate. Do we really expect to overtake any teams over the last three weeks of the year? My suggestion to the coach and GM is see what you have in Wolf. Use the remaining two callups on D. Call up Grush and Poirier. The former due to seeing a bit of what he could bring, the latter because he is the most offensive D we have. It's just plain dumb to give Markstrom games. And the AHL players will need some reps before the playoffs start. Wolf in particular.

We haven't had any activity in the Pospisil thread since the summer of '22. Was a bit surprised by the initial call up after 6 AHL games this season, but anyway. First game had that speed demon goal. 3 goals in his first 7 games. He's had a rough road to the NHL with all the injuries. Maybe that's what made him focus on all aspects not just being tough. I think sometimes we cut bait a bit early on players. Maybe rightly so, but sometimes it looks early. Unfortunately, it sometimes means they go back into the draft. That rarely works out. With all that in mind, do you know of any picks that really have fallen down the list? 1st rounders looking like 2nds. 2nd rounders likely to go 3rd. We have two 1st rounders this year and in other years a late first is gold. The draft position for the 2nd will be 37-39 if we continue to lose. So that would give us 3 picks in the top 40. Nice. With any luck Dallas doesn't win the division and then takes the conference. But that loses the 3rd in 2026, which could be something. At this point, live for today. A bottom 10 2nd isn't a bad consolation.

On a lark, I went back to a couple of threads about Wolf and Francis to see the discussion. What was most surprising was how far down the list Zary was by some. And Pospisil wasn't even there. BTW, how is Ortio doing these days? Spolier alert, he's near the same age as Markstrom.

Well, I think having two D on the 2nd unit is dumb, since Ras almost never shoots. Nothing but lefties on that unit except for Mirror-man.

Kuz was the odd man out in VAN and was considered a cap dump. I feel that way about Zadorov, even though he was good for some of his time here. I just didn't want to pay his next contract. Seeing Zary with Coronato and Sharky is nice to see. Same with Pospisil with Kuz and Kadri. I think that's the best those two lines have been. Well a little early to say that, but Cononato looks like a NHL player finally.

Kings don't look very good tonight. We don't have the horse to be beating them. The two goals were ones that most goalies would let in.

Filthy passing from Kuzmenko on both goals. Much better passer than Huberdeau. I don't care what anyone say, Kuz was a steal from VAN and we should re-sign him.

I saw the lines and thought, well why not. Zary and Coronato with Sharky. Huberdeau backluns Coleman. Yup. Kuzmenko Kadri Pospisil, didn't ehy combine for 2 goals last game?

Kylington back in. Mangiapane still out. Markstrom starts. Haha the mayor gets a booing ovation.

If Backlund could hit the net he would have 40 goals.