travel_dude
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Everything posted by travel_dude
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That's all I am doing. Numbers no better than Ramo don't suggest a better goalie, regardless of his playoff performance. He may be, but barring a buy-out/cheap signing as a backup, I don't see him being the answer.
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I think you have to look at the body of work over the regular season, not just the playoffs. Lettin-it-in had a worse SV% over the last two seasons. At age 32, he could be on a permanent slide, while Ramo could actually improve a bit. Ramo adjusted his style after he cam back from Stockton. He improved a whole lot. No, I am not suggesting Ramo. Too risky for CGY as the starter or even a 1-b. I would prefer we get someone with recent .915+ stats at a minimum.
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The NHL is full of productive guys approaching 30. In fact, that is the tail end of the prime years. There was no reason for BT to think Raymond couldn't come in and score 20 goals. Sometimes players just don't fit. Hartley's system does not fit all players. Perhaps we are even giving him too much credit for what Johnny and Monahan accomplished. How long did it take to put Johnny and Monahan together? About half a season. If a suitable replacement for Hudler could have been found earlier, then this year could have been a top 2 season for Johnny. Anyway, I digress. BT gets a lot of flack for a few roster decisions, goaltending, and firing BH. The timing makes people question it. I look back to last season during a bad losing streak. He supported the coach then. The team rallied and managed to make the playoffs in spite of some of the curious coaching decisions. BT had two years of Hartley's decision making to evaluate. I think he had seen enough.
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Any trade involving Rinne would need to include retained salary. Or sending back a huge contract. Wideman and a pick/prospect would be a huge win for CGY. Maybe unrealistic, but at least a starting point for discussion. Nashville is a little light on D after the top 3. Ekholm is an up-and-comer. Jackman has little offense. Great shutdown guy, but adds little. Nashville is a tale of two teams. The older guys like Fisher. The newer guys like Jossi and RJ. What could they possibly want that we can afford?
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You don't?
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Playing 1b for your home team at same money vs being traded to a Canadian team (CDN taxes) or some other team not a contender. Generally speaking, he would lose net salary coming to Canada. I can't speak to the player's mindset, but a new team with less salary sounds like a reason to stay put. If he values money versus opportunity that is.
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The NMC could limit the teams they can talk to. He could make it virtuously impossible to trade by eliminating teams "in the market" for a goalie. I think he has to submit a list of 12 teams (or is it 8) that he wouldn't go to at the start of a season.
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Pitts is going to have an issue if the expansion occurs. MAF is on a NMC, so he is protected. Makes it a bit harder to protect their "core".
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There are examples of teams that have brought in new coaches and they had immediate impact on puck possession. Look at Pitts. Almost no change to the roster, but possession jumped by quite a lot. As far as goalies go, we were 10 points out. Take out about 5 games of Hiller that were about 4 GA, and replace with a reasonable average of 2-3 GA, and we could have had 5 more wins. You don't even have to look much past his last 5 games as a Flame. 5, 4, 5, 3, 3 (the last one was 3 GA on 5 shots).
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Let me throw out a hypothetical.... Scenario #1 Coach Newguy appears at training camp in September 2015. He evaluates three goalies he has to work with during pre-season games. Instead of running with Ramo and Hiller for the first month, he decides to play Ortio for a few games. Scenario #2 Coach Newguy shows up. His marching orders include improving the puck possession of the team. He looks at game films and determines some areas that can be changed to improve possession. He implements them. Less reliance on shot blocking and more placed on keeping the puck. Possible result, less injuries from shot blocking. In scenario #1, there was a certain amount of loyalty given to the goalies from last year. BT had to waive Ramo just to have the coach entertain even starting Ortio. I think you would agree that Ortio might have played better had he been given a chance before the end of October, and then only because Hiller was injured in a game.
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I have a harder time with Raymond's than I do with Engelland's. At the time, we were in need of cap dollars to reach the floor. Doesn't excuse the contract but makes it more understandable. I doubt he had to bid that high otherwise. I can only assign part of the goaltending blame to BT. Yes, he created the "competition" for finding the best. Yes, he put the coach in a situation that gave him too many options. I applaud BT for taking ownership. He could easily have fired the goaltending coach. Best Results - I laugh at this. In a season of negatives, Ramo played some of his best hockey after he "won" the starter role. He was instrumental in the Flames going on an 11 game winning streak. I wonder what we would be saying if Ramo wasn't injured and Hiller never played a game. Would Ortio and Ramo have made us closer to a playoff team?
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I tend to agree with what you are saying, in that we have a team capable of being better with the right coach. Some improvements in special teams, possession, and reducing scoring chances will do wonders for a team that was 11th in goals for. Possession may sound like a weak argument, but if you gain the puck, then dump it, you spend the rest of the shift trying to get it back. I can't remember the number of shifts of our top line was spend trying to get the puck back. Usually by that point, all they have left is to dump it themselves. I think you can fix most of the problems we have without turning over a lot of players or making this a boring team to watch.
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Re: Engelland - I think I was defending BT's signing of Engelland, not saying BH was fired for his usage. If BH was able to get that much out of Engelland, then both made good choices. Re: Baertschi - I think I basically said that Baertschi asked for a trade, and that he did no better on the Canucks. Whether he disagreed with Hartley or felt picked on is not important. End of story, time to move on. Re: Goaltending - BT put 3 goalies at BH's disposal. How they were used is on Hartley. As it turned out, the two goalies BT expected better out of were the two that finished the season with the best results.
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Engelland was a move to make the team a bit tougher on the backend. The cost should really be the only issue. As a 6/7 D, he provides that. Are you going to blame his usage on BT? Baertschi - the kid wanted out. He didn't see eye to eye with Hartley. I don't see him performing any better than he did on the Flames, though. Still just a complementary piece. Brossoit? Really? Why are you going there? Not a BT decision. Anyway, he has less NHL games than Ortio and still hasn't proved anything. May be a backup this season in EDM, but I believe they are still looking for a backup. Goaltending - hard to dispute the results. You commented many times on how Hartley misused Ortio, so I'm not sure why you are coming down on BT now. The biggest fail on BT's part was believing that Ramo was going to provide stellar goaltending. Failure to trade Hiller, yes, but he did attempt to move him in the summer. Moving GlenX was a positive move. He was an expiring contract with declining play. The team did just fine without him. Moving Russell and Hudler this year was also a positive. Both players had underwhelming results prior to TDL. Both were thought to be wanting a raise. We were out of the playoff prior to TDL and 9-8-3 after. Expectation may not have risen, but you at least expect to be in the top 2/3 of the league, not bottom 5. Players like Wideman, Hudler, Bouma having great numbers, plus adding a possession player like Frolik and a top 4 defender like Hamilton would give you belief that we are better than a bottom 5 team.
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A couple of points... The team is really only down Hudler from last season. He will be replaced. Jones was nothing special. Russell for Jokipakka is not that much of a loss. He wasn't able to handle bigger guys in the D-zone. We will be down 2 or 3 goalies, but they all had forgettable seasons. Whoever we get for a starter will be infinitely better than the goalie circus we had. Ortio was one of those kids that was supposed to be allowed to make mistakes. Well that didn't happen. What about Bennett? Didn't exactly get much PP time did he? Specialty teams. Interesting that you think it was 100% on the players. No responsibility on the coaches? What systems did they rely on? Dump and chase to regain possession. Or give it to Johnny. Teams adjust to that. How about D-zone coverage? I wouldn't use Bouma and Russell's bruises as proof that BT had the room. Bouma plays that way because that is what he knows and how he has to, to be in the league. How many years did you want to wait? Hartley had 3 years with one year not in the bottom 5.
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I have never been a fan of MAF. Saying that, he posts some amazing stats on a team I feel doesn't have great defense. The cost would be high in trade. I don't know that they are ready to part with him yet.
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That's a strange thing to say. Keeping Hartley is much more risky if things didn't improve. The new coach will be endorsed by Burke, so I think he still has that extra life.
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No point in comparing the three. Johnny has had two standout seasons in his first two years, regardless of age. He did that in spite of his small size. Monahan put up good numbers in his 2nd and 3rd year as the number 1 center. Bennett played most of his first year on the wing. Three different types of players/talent. None should be the basis of a deal. They are all too new to the NHL to use as a bargaining chip. Since this is about goaltending, how do you feel about a trade involving Ortio and some non-core players, picks, and/or prospects for a number one goalie? Would you just prefer to keep him as a backup and sign Reimer as a UFA?
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Overstocked with 1st overalls. Absolutely. I don't know who these prospects are. Lander? Pakarinen? Davidson? Yakimov? Reinhart? Some of them might be able to be 4th liners or 6/7 D-men on a real NHL team.
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Overstocked team like EDM? I have never heard anything so funny. What are they overstocked with? They have a very good LW that takes shifts off and prefers to protect his +- stats over finishing a play. They have a top rookie center yet to play a full season, but will be a very good player for years. They have a big German center that played 1/2 a good season at center, the other 1/2 at wing. They have a very good RW that doesn't really want to play all the time. They have a good center that is to slight to play 2-way, and is not a #1. They have one good D-man and one good D-man prospect. They need to trade two of these players just to have a decent defenseman and a player that will show up. The cupboards are bare. Every good prospect is on the team.
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Truculence was a word used by Burke as an asset he liked. Grit, meanness, etc... Gaudreau helped lead his team to the playoffs in 2014/15. He managed 6 points in 6 games against the Nucks, while posting 2g and 1a in 5 games against the Ducks. One year in the playoffs and he had 9 points. If they don't make the playoffs, is that the fault of a point per game player? Ovi never won a cup, or even made the finals; he must not be dominant.
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You mean Barklay Goodrow of the Sharks? Too small. Not enough truculence. Heard it all before. How many 2nd year wingers get 78 points in 79 games? On a bottom 5 team? I'm not sure what he has to do to convince you that he is an all star, and a crucial player for the Flames to compete every game.
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I wouldn't trade Gaudreau. FULL STOP. He is in the Best Young Forward in the League category. Two year in the league and he has done nothing but improve. The GM that pulled that deal would face an army of pitchforks.
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Calgary Flames Drafting and Development: Your Analysis
travel_dude replied to rickross's topic in Flames Talk
The Kanzig pick was disturbing, in that he was picked in the 3rd. Clearly a 7th rounder type of choice. Janko, no comment other than we will know soon enough if it was a great, good, or meh choice. At the time it was a mistake due to needing impact players not 5 year projects. Poirier is one that I am still okay with. Of the players taken in the 1st after him, only a few have really showed up yet. At the time, he was a scoring forward, not much off the production of Shinkaruk. Burakovsky was really an unknown. The Q can be a little suspect, but I don't really see a problem with the pick. -
As a backup he had better numbers than Ortio (NHL anyway). He would be a good guy to bring in as a 1a/1b guy. Give him the chance to succeed, but don't bet the farm on him. Kuemper/Andersen sounds like a good combo. Expansion draft aside.
