travel_dude

I'm not sure it is a wise thing to let walk a guy that provided equal numbers to Hiller in the regular season. Yes, I get that he was injured and we had Ortio come up and play outstanding. Ramo is better than most of the backups in the league, at least from my perspective. If Ortio comes in at TC and blows the doors off, then we have a replacement for Ramo or Hiller.

We could have gone with either Hiller or Ramo in the playoffs, if Ramo had come back a week sooner. Both have been clutch for us. Berra may have seen his game rebound a bit in COL, but I watched some of his games and he stunk it up. Bu-bye. He was a poor choice over Ramo last season, and created the need for Hiller in the off-season.

Wotherspoon and Morrison are in a similar boat after this season. We have some guys that could replace Smid, Engelland and Schlemko, but it remains to be seen how soon. For now, I will give Spoon the benefit of the doubt, depending on how he does in the playoffs.

You have me there. I am actually thinking he may be higher on the pecking order than Wotherspoon, but for a different reason. Spoon is more in the shutdown mode, while Morrison is higher offensive potential.

The top 4 has done a valiant job. On some teams they would be all top 4, while on others, only 2 would be. Do you only want to stay the same at best, considering all 4 have had career years? Or do you continually seek to at minimum stay the same, and more likely improve? We have to decrease the number of shot attempts, shots on goals and goals against.

I get what you are saying, but the bottom line is we don't even have prospects trending towards a top 4 role. Diaz and Schlemko are bottom 2. Wotherspoon could become a top 4, but we don't know (his offense doesn't suggest this, unless you consider a top 4 to be strictly shutdown). Ramage, Kulak, Culkin are possible NHL'ers in the future, but again, likely bottom 2. Kanzig, Rafikov, Gilmour, Mattsson, Roy and Hickey...These guys are a few years from projecting, but apart from Rafikov (QB on PP), I don't know if any will even make the NHL. We need top 4 D-men in the system, ready to step up. We lost Gio for the biggest part of our season, and almost didn't make it. As our senior defence keep aging, they become more likely to be lost for injuries. Two years in a row, Gio was injured. Last year Wideman was out with a wrist issue and came back flat. As much as Diaz and Engelland have taken bigger roles on this team, we can't expect to improve if that is our solution to lack of depth. Making the playoffs is great, but we want to improve every year. We can't just say "we have top 4 now so we are set".

We do know he wanted to take on Cam Ward's salary for their pick. Widely reported. You are right that we can't evaluate what trades he didn't make, but the fact they weren't means he didn't take asking price. That is good to me.

Agreed that Sam was a no-brainer. But what he didn't do was trade up to get Sam (or other) at 2nd or 3rd. He didn't trade up to get Ekblad. The asking price would have killed us. One of the things he tried to do was get another low pick from Carolina by taking on a bad contract. Didn't work out. The GlenX trade didn't hurt us, and at least we have some futures for him. The Sven trade was bad asset management. Trading when the value is lowest. If you need to up the value of a player, don't sit him in the pressbox or on the farm. I like the way he talks and what he says. He is a good choice for a rebuild. He didn't get too hyped on what he has as a team, nor did he bring in rentals for a playoff push. Some of the later deals at TDL seemed low cost, but who knows what they wanted from the Flames.

I get the lack of love for Backlund (injuries, lack of offense). But he is the best possession forward we have. He regularly faces the toughest competition. Unless you have one of the rookies show repeatedly that can do that, losing him would set us back more than you think.

I see Raymond falling out of favour with the coaches and GM. He isn't living up to his previous year or his promise. I can see him being traded as early as October. LW's who have passed him on the depth chart? Bouma, Ferland, Johnny Hockey...Ferland has potential to be more than a Bollig, so he may just replace him. He may also start scoring, and keep a spot in the top 9, after Bouma comes back.

Ramage is nothing special, so far. Kulak was out-performed by Culkin and only made it back to the AHL (from ECHL) when Culkin was lost for the season. Schlemkp is fine. No word on Diaz. Wotherspoon had a good end to last season, so I think he has promise. Playing with Seth Jones in junior, he had an amazing season to end his junior career. Engelland is serviceable. He brings nore toughness than the rest of the D core, so we need him for the playoffs.

Bouma is not in the $3m tier of players. Lpve the player, but he is a 3-4th liner that can play up to the level of a 2nd line on our team. He is a heart and soul player, and deserves a raise. Not that much, though.

Not sure who you were responding to, but I will give you some of my thoughts: Raymond 57gp 12g 11a 23pts -8 1gwg Jooris 60gp 12g 12a 24pts +1 4gwg Backlund 52gp 10g 17a 27pts +4 2gwg Backlund and Jooris played against top lines or in a shutdown role. Raymond was mostly given the high ground. Jooris and Raymond were similar in TOI per game. Jooris is a rookie. Jooris can play effectively on the PP and PK, while Raymond is mostly only PP. Jooris can play center or RW. Raymond can only play effectively on the LW. Jooris plays hard on the puck, while Raymond gives it up fairly easily. Forgetting salary, this was an experiment that didn't work out. No hard feelings, but he takes up a roster spot that a rookie/sophomore could easily replace.

Miller will be a liability for the Nucks. Play him if they want and watch him struggle again this year. Watch the crowd turn on him. Would it make sense to send down the guy you called up to be the backup? Are you thinking Thiessen or Gillies? Gillies, yes I agree. Sign him and play him as a backup or send him to Addy.

Wideman is exactly what we paid for; an offensive D-man that isn't much of a liability. Not much different than a Yandle or Franson. These guys are not Norris material. Brodie, on the other hand, is Norris calibre. He made Gio a better player. He is a smooth-skating guy in the mold of J-Bow, but a little tougher to play against. Compare him to a Duncan Keith in the early days of his career.

I don't think Raymond is any better all round than Byron. Byron has speed and hits/blocks, but isn't finishing. Raymond has speed and finish. If you like Raymond, then Sven was a similar player. Sven at least has ability to grow as a player.

Only problem with carrying 3 goalies is that you leave yourself with only room for 12-14 forwards and 6-8 D-men (total 23). Fine to carry more players than that up to opening night, but you have to trim the roster then. Two goalies is what you can carry and have them play normal rotation. Sending one down results in a waiver situation. Trading one means you are giving up one of them. I would be fine with signing Ramo, letting them fight it out and picking the two top dogs. Trade one if you can, or take the chance on the waiver loss (TBH, the last day of cuts is the safest - assuming some team isn't desperate). Ramo and Ortio are similar style goalies, I think. Hiller plays deep and doesn't give much room to deek him out. You watch him when the play is away from the net, and it looks like he is sitting down for a rest. Ramo is very lively, and takes away a frontal assault. But he can get caught out of position. Ortio is more technical than Ramo, and uses his abilities to cover the net.

Poor kid, exposed to that. Loses 3-1.

No way they take a chance sending down a healthy goalie with playoffs on the line. He is ready, and really surprised that he was cleared 2 weeks before schedule. I agree on the rusty part. If Ramo comes back, Joni joins the Black Aces.

I agree that Engelland was an overpayment both in term and dollars. It did help us get to the cap floor. He provides toughness that Bollig can't, due to minutes and competition played. He can always be bought out. Not a major issue in my mind. Missed Diaz signing I think. Was a good value pickup, moreso than Potter. But both have played this year due to injuries. My biggest problem with Baertschi is the timing of it. It deleted a player from Addy, and gave a possible division opponent an asset for a draft pick. It's not like a 31st overall pick, it will be in the 40's. The opther problem was the disconnect bewteen coaching and management. He should not have been recalled if he wasn't going to be played.

Some are comparing him to Dekeyser, which could be considered a good thing. In 5 games with the baby Flames he has 1 goal and 4 assists. Not a bad start.

JJ, let me answer your question with a quote from a FN article from 2012.... With a December birthday, Cervenka was draft eligible in the summer of 2004. At that point he had one professional season in the Czech "elite" league, playing 15 games and notching 1 assist. His 8 playoff games were hardly spectacular either, but at this point Cervenka was a 17 year old kid who was drastically undersized. In fact, as noted by Robin Brownlee yesterday after the signing, Cervenka was just 127 pounds in his draft season. It's therefore not surprising Cervenka went undrafted, and his next couple seasons in the Czech league were fairly lacking - though his games played and ice time both increased. After a mediocre season which saw Cervenka post a 6-6-12 line in 51 games, the small Czech briefly lit up the playoffs, scoring 3-1-4 in 6 games. He followed that post-season success (which would be common a feature of his play) with a 2007-08 campaign where he scored 19-11-30 in 41 games and 4-4-8 in 14 playoff games. His true break through was in 2008-09. He was the second leading scorer on his team, Slavia Praha HC, managing 59 points in 51 regular season games and another 24 points in 18 post-season games. His last season in the Czech league was his best: 30-43-73 in 50 games. That was also the best season by any scorer in the Czech league that year. In 2010-11 Roman Cervenka signed with Avangard Omsk of the KHL. He played on a line with a semi-well known hockey player named Jaromir Jagr and scored 61 points in 51 games, best on the team. When Jagr left for the Philadelphia Flyers, there was a falloff in his regular season play, but he still led Omsk in scoring and again absolutely lit up the playoffs; with 11-11-22 in 20 games, it didn't seem to matter who Cervenka played with - just that he played

Unless Potter solidifies his game, I don't see him getting an NHL contract next season. No issue with a 2-way contract, and if claimed after TC, then so be it. Diaz has improved, but is still just a 7D in my mind. Smid will get traded, bought out or retire, even though I like his work ethic (sacrifices much like Bouma). That leaves Engelland as a 5/6 guy. Morrison and Wotherspoon could very well make the team next season. Spoon missed TC, so he didn't get the love some of the other guys did. Morrison appears to have the ability to translate to a pro game, and is closer to the typical good years of a defenseman. Schlemko is possibly the odd man out, unless they chose to buy out Engelland.

See link about that very subject... http://flamesnation.ca/2015/4/6/a-brief-look-at-calgary-s-reserve-list Specifically.... The reserve list is important because, as I learned regarding Douglas Murray, players not on an NHL team's reserve list as of the trade deadline cannot play for that team in the post-season. This is also why any UFA college goalie, such as Boston University's Matt O'Connor, couldn't play for the Flames in the playoffs, but both Mason McDonald and Jon Gillies - if signed - could. So, if Gillies is signed out of college this year, he can play in the playoffs.

The point this year was to penalize and fine diving. Whether they thought Ferland had any fault or it, it doesn't matter. Call the diving and get those (Canuck) plays out of the game. The next two choices for nets are going to be huge decisions; Ramo is very good on the road, but Hiller has been good enough recently to get another start. Tough call. I think I would go with Ramo against STL and Hiller against EDM.