travel_dude
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Everything posted by travel_dude
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You are right. I forgot that. There was a closeup of his face in the 3rd and he looked gassed. His energy level was probably next to nil by that point.
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Last night is a perfect example of just okay goaltending in a winning cause. At times, it looked really solid. At other times, Hiller was in the butterfly (or low to the ice) with traffic in front of him. Risto's wrister was a bit of a muffin, but he was on the wrong side of the net, trying to look through a maze of players. The 3rd goal was a fluke, similar to a bunch scored in the early part of the season. All in all, it wasn't a great showing, but it was enough to win.
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At the time, Demko was playing on a powerhouse team with the best offensive line in the NCAA. The next year he played with Hanifin in front of him. Based on his play up to the point of the draft, he wasn't posting super numbers. His play in the Frozen Four was less than spectacular. At the time, the Flames scouts were keeping a close eye on the NCAA, and BC in particular, with Arnold, Johnny and Hayes (potential FA).
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In our first year of the rebuild (2013/14), we had JoeyMac, Ramo and Berra. Ramo was brought in as a 1a/1b, the same as Berra. They ran with the latter two most of the season, except for the start and for injuries. That says to me that we took signing and developing goalies seriously. A choice was made to cut loose Berra and keep Ramo. Just because Ramo and (later) Hiller haven't panned out doesn't mean they weren't developed. You can't always get your future starter right away in a rebuild. You may have to draft (years away), trade for (costly to the rebuild in assets), or sign a FA. Having a stable crease presence is just as important during the rebuild as finding the right guy right away.
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Scrivens and Fasth and Dubie all looked good to start. At some point the useless defense will hang him out to dry. Against the Stars, they basically did that, but he won it. I recall Scrivens having a 50 save performance last year in a win. We need a consistent goalie. Doesn't have to post shutouts every night, but in a game where the Flames can't score much, he needs to keep it to a 1GA game. In other words, he just needs to steal a game or two when the Flames are lacklustre on offense or defense. Ramo is yet to steal one this season. He was close, but one bad goal per game isn't going to cut it.
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You are right in the distribution of scoring. But GA are killing us. PK is killing us. We aren't losing 2-0 or 1-0 or 2-1. We are losing games where we have a lead. Or tied going into the 3rd. The only times Ramo has looked comfortable are the games he has let in 2 or less. The rest have at least one Ramo-esque goal. Most have 2. He has not been great even strength, just average or worse.
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A little hard to constantly have to score 3 or more goals per game to win. That is what our goalies presented us with earlier in the season. That was reduced for awhile, but we are climbing up again. And that is with improved defensive play. You need to improve from the net outwards. We have a better top 3D than a lot of teams. We need them to have a dependable goalie to help make that 1st save. When you have that goalie, you can better deploy your defense, knowing that the odd gaffe doesn't end up in the back of your net. Another top 4 defenseman is going to cost a lot. Teams are constantly looking for that. If we happened to be able to swing a Hamonic deal, I would cut loose Hiller and get Bernier or other as a backup, for little cost. Ideally, we trade in-season to a team looking to build a winner (TB could use cap space now to make room for other trades). COL could decide to cut loose Varly to begin another rebuild cycle. Andersen may not be a problem in ANA, but he could help them get picks, prospects or players (Hudler or Wideman??).
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The only risk of trading for a legit #1 today is the cost in assets and the potential to climb out of 30th. The positive outcome from last season was playoff experience, the growth of Johnny, Monahan, Bennett, Ferland, and seeing Brodie for what he is. We were able to sign two FA's that would likely not have signed with a 30th place team. This year's shaky start has more to do with goaltending than anything else. The coach using a win/you're in system and not knowing who the #1 guy is. The GM keeping 3 goalies to give more options. The coach not trusting an AHL tender. The two main goaltender playing like crap in their 1st game in a rotation. Soft goals. Shaky starts. If a goalie is available that you feel you can win with and afford the trade, you make that trade every day. You can improve every other part of the team and still be a 30th place team with 30th place goaltending.
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Regardless of whether TB needs to free up space, they would want a lot for a goalie of Bishop's calibre. I think it would be more than CGY is willing to pay. Riding Ramo and Hiller is likely to eliminate the Flames sooner than later, so I would be looking to upgrade sooner than this summer. Unlike previous years where American Thanksgiving was the point of no return, this year the Pacific is going to be a horserace up till at least TDL. If there is something better than Hiller, then I think BT needs to actively pursue that right now. Ramo is most likely going to be what he is today, not a lot better. Hiller has never seemed to recover his form from last year, early in the season. He is a big risk right now, as evidenced by Hartley's reluctance to play him. If he was available to play, Poulin would probably get starts before Hiller.
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Either of these could be a good 1b option in nets. Both is smacking of what the Oilers did; have two career backups fighting for a starter job, while a 3rd is the guy that won the job (Scrivens, Talbot and Nilsson). We still need that #1 guy.
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Good article about some options: http://flamesnation.ca/2015/12/6/10-options-for-the-flames-in-net
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I would say that Ramo has been the reason we have a chance to win most nights. It's not the number of saves or his GAA, it's just making the timely save. There were far more good saves last night than routine ones. He let in one goal that was even possible; teh top corner shot was pretty close to being unstoppable. The penalty shot was disheartening, but it was a goal scorer's goal. We need to upgrade in nets. Ramo is getting us through right now, but is not the future. Hiller is done. I don't see him able to rekindle the magic. We need to find the next one to get us through this and next year at a minimum. Andersen would be a target for me, dependent on cost. Valry is someone to consider, as is Mason if either were available. Bernier would be an upgrade to Hiller, but may be too risky. But then Hiller is a risk to start.
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Do you think Anderson in Anaheim should be a trager the Flames? Young enough, well established.... Costly maybe. At least he is worth a 2nd + something else. Any thoughts on what it would take or whether we should make an offer?
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Stockton Heat Updates [2016-2017]
travel_dude replied to travel_dude's topic in Calgary Wranglers and Flames Prospects
Was half expecting this. He was bothered with this last year. Affected his WJC and season play. Get this out of the way and have a healthier player next season. Joni will get a lot of playing time, so he may actually earn his way back up. -
One only has to look north to see the impact of an average defender. Neilson is playing better than the defense. He is giving them average or better tending. It's hard to imagine them being worse, but put October Ramo and Hiller there and they would be lucky to have 5 wins.
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He was a different player last night. The first goal was mostly on him, just for coverage, as Ramo should have had that. There were a few plays where I thought he was a step behind, but he added some toughness that hadn't been seen by the defense in awhile. All "clean" hits. How I have missed that. Engelland can do it, but gets out of position some times doing it.
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I believe they were talking about playing as a unit, not breaking out as one. I think what you see in the defensive zone is what is consistently practiced. It's not really that much different than last year. It can work, if the other team plays a certain way, but is also easy to predict. Two of the best played games this year were ones where dominated on the shot clock. And we had better than average goaltending.
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I watched the Leaf (bury) beat the Oilers last night. If our defensive system or breakout approach matched that used by the Leafs, we would be winning a lot more games. Can we rent Babcock for a few weeks?
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If the Flames motto is always earned, then Hartley has not earned any forgiveness this season. Like last year, Russell is still blocking a ton of shots, but is that the best defense or just a last line of defense before the goalie? I would rather see him play the man. The coach seems to put a lot of stock in blocking, and it takes its toll on players (Russell, Bouma, Brodie). I think we have a good enough defense to be able to keep out 80% on the PK. Scoring on the PP is low because of lack of any consistent strategy. Have 2 wingers stand at the blueline and wait for a player to skate it in? Or the same setup with a dump in? On a nightly basis, we see two lines producing offense, but usually it is a two-man unit. Or it is a 4th line and they don't get enough minutes. Granlund, Ferland, Frolik and Bennett have looked like the most dangerous players the last two games, but are sparingly used or left off special teams. I would like to see the coach adapt to what is happening on the ice. If a line is getting its head kicked in, change out one or more of the players. Like last year, Hartley took a long time to realize that the best players are the youngest. Johnny, Bennett, Ferland, Jooris and Frolik have played the way we want, but the supporting casts or usage has not been optimized. How long before we see a regular shift of Johnny-Bennett-Frolik? Or a Ferland-Granlund-Hudler line?
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I don't think Hartley is at fault for the GT situation as much as his usage of them has not helped. The only positive outcome this season was from running Ramo for 12 games. Had he done that with Ortio for maybe 3 games in a row, we might have a better idea if Ortio is a NHL goalie or not. The win/you're in system worked last year, but there was no real strategy of giving starts to one guy until Hiller was injured. Where Hartley is most at fault is not adapting to the struggles of individual players. Backlund is struggling, even if his line if providing offense in spite of him. Johnny's line is really struggling, even if at times Monahan is having a good game. They are getting the best starts, but struggling with it. Russell is struggling with defensive coverage, so why are you still giving him the green light, or using him to exit the zone? The special teams are struggling, and even if it's the responsibility of the assistant coaches, Bob still has to step in to fix it. I agree that he is not mixing up lines enough. We have the exact same top line as last year. The 2nd line depends on a gritty center playing the wing. Backlund is up and down with his FO%. Against CHI he was 72%, but Pitts and EDM he was below 30%.
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I think it's an excuse to blame effort. A lot of games we get on our heels early due to not being able to execute a zone entry or zone exit. We end up spending the next 3 minutes in the same cycle. That can set the tone, and it's hard to break out of, since the other teams feed off it. I have seen quite a few games where we were outplaying the other team, only to see a simple dump in by the other team turn into a deflating goal. If Hartley is responsible for the systems used, he needs to go.
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Leafs are supposedly thinking about waiving Bernier. I don't think it would work to claim him, as we don't have the space or roster available. Perhaps a Hiller for Bernier trade would make some sense to both parties. Not a big risk to the Leafs, as they don't have any confidence in Bernier anymore. Not a big risk to the Flames, as he couldn't be any worse than Hiller and he could get some confidence back. If they waive him, he will likely clear. We could make the trade with him assigned to the Marlies and bring him to CGY (or Stockton). Would need to call up Simpson or Ortio until we saw what Bernier looked like in the AHL. He may be one of those types that get better with a move. His stats were better in Y1 ib TO, similar last year, and better than Hiller this year (even in 0-8 starts).
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It's a pic of his 5-hole, his 3-hole, his nn-hole. It also a picture of the well of Hartley witty sayings about this team - as you can see it's gone completely dry.
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I would also think that Russell playing halfway between the two forwards definitely left lots of time to make a clean pass or shoot. Very little gap, and the pass may not be on the tape. Too much and it really turns into a two on one. You could see that Hudler had a good angle on the player, but Russell backing off gave enough room for a good pass. It didn't have to be perfect.
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We are beyond the coach's ability to fix the goaltending problem. Hiller has not shown the ability to stop 92% or better of the shots at all this season. There is no reason to believe that will change. BH can give Hiller all the starts in the world, but he isn't getting that SV%. Ramo has shown the ability to turn in that kind of game, but will still let in a game-changer every once in awhile. I don't think we will see much better than 6/10 from him. The defense is playing safe, for the most part. They will pinch at times but mostly on the rush or trying to hold the line with pressure. What you don't tend to see is those 50/50 plays that the Flames typically pinched on last year. The ones where the puck is close to a Flames defender at the line, but they back off. These happen a lot when we are applying pressure. The things that BH can do are fix special teams and defensive systems. Those two things alone could be the difference between a loss and a win. 0-3 on the PP and Sharks 2-2 on the PP. Possible 5 goal swing. The only other thing BH can do is play the goalie that makes the most sense. Rusty Hiller? Don't start him on the 2nd of a B2B against a division leader.
