travel_dude

I think he approached the summer much like he had when he was active on the roster; spent a ton of time skating and doing weight and fitness training. I have no concern about his physical fitness. He has said that he has overcome the things that took him out of play. Of course we shall see, but I don't think the team has a huge concern about him right now.

Monahan had 2 hip surgeries in different years. The last one was before joining Montreal and having a resurgence. Poolparty's NHL career may be over, but that probably comes from being ruined in EDM during his dev years. He never really clicked in CAR. As a PTO, he is young and big body RHS RW. Duehr is probably that level as a 4th liner, so may not be room, but we are depending on 1 RHS RW for the top 9. STL is in the market now, so maybe they have offers. If nothing in the offing, then we have to wait till season starts before injuries start to make D more attractive. I would also consider Bear as an option, initially LTIR if he isn't healthy. Spares are always good to have.

BTW, I wasn't singling you out, just commenting on his weird usage and situation. It's sort of like Valimaki. Kept at times under the thumb. Released and make a few bad reads. Put under the thumb. The LTIR situation feels to me like he has to prove it all over again. He should for sure, but he also was providing top 4 play in bottom pairing minutes (at times). Eventually he may be redundant, but for now we don't have anyone who can skate that well. He's a Brodie level player with slightly less Brodie instinct.

Unfortunately, what is reported is sometimes a long distance from fact. If Kylington is actually saying this, there is a good basis for it. He was limited by coaching to 8 games in one season, played almost a full season and missed entirely a full season. Another new coach will determine his fate this season. From the other side, do you want to even think about signing him without knowing if he is a 3/4 or a 5/6 or a 7D? If they could get him signed for $2M they would probably do it. Low risk. The player doesn't want to be stuck at that rate. He had a career season under a defensive system. Got little PP time after the coach saw a mistake or two. Under Huska, he might get better minutes.

I can't repeat here what I yell at the TV. A lot of seems to refer to Crypto..... Blockchain this, blockchain that.

Like comparing Loubo with .......

I'm not trashing them, but it seems like we have old hockey minds that don't think in terms of multimedia. Twitter (X) used like they owe money to SN and let SN decide how to report it. No real fresh ideas in marketing. same stuff over and over again. Surprised they don't have the Score-o net during intermissions. Peter Puck the new mascot? Not sure how they expect to promote the team if they don't spend money on marketing. Excitement of the new prospects and new draft cchoices? Ho hum, see some players play.

This is 100%. He has the shot and should be using it first and grinding last. I'm not saying that agressive forecheck isn't the way to go. Not at all. You get the puck free, get to a spot and fire it. Not firing it from a Gaudreau angle like the series winner. That works once in 10 at best, more likely one in 50. You are way more likely to score off his head. Our PP really frustrated me. It seemed like we would encroach on the net. Keep the puck down low. Then, oops, back to the point. Loss of territory that you just gained. If you have an active screen and a player that can hit the net or fake the pass down low, well fine I guess. Works as much as trying to hit a 6x6 inch target through 5 guys in the way. Pavelski has a knack for the deft touch, but we mostly get in the way or it goes wide. 9 out of 10 it goes nowhere near the target.

I'm not implying anything by mentioning Comtois, just that some have jobs and some players from that year don't. For Dube, there seems to be a push to get a deal signed, so at the moment I have no concerns about him. I say it that way because I have zero insight into the topic. The GM would be more on top of this than fans and media click-baiters. Formenton seems to have some stink around him that started awhile ago. Whether he is one of them or not, the team doesn't want to touch him. Anyway, I don't really want to speculate. Just pointing out that there are 7 players at the NHL level right now from your list.

7 NHL contracts on that big list, or at least ones that had deals. Formenton doesn't. Not on this list but Comtois also doesn't.

I think we have to have an open mind. Huberdeau was relugated to LW and it didn't work, but we stayed with it forever. There's a good chance that Kadri with new line mates could explode. Or Huberdeau with Lindy and Govich could be money. Or Pelletier or Coronato become top players. Gotta try them out

I think he sees everything that happens on the ice. But I think he generally just says lots of positive stuff about players because that's what he sees. He would also be quick to point out the areas needing work.

I have watched Loubo doing non-NHL games and he seems to have good insights about players. He's going to be looking at reserve list players, so not really non-Flames. Keep track on how they look. It's a good thing.

That would likely be the last possible thing to happen with a young player that hasn't hit his stride. Or he is a cancer on the team, in which case he would be gonzo. So, here's an interesting thing. There was some suggestion that there are 5 players from TC 2018 that will be named in relation to the events that went down. There are very few players from that team that haven't signed new deals. I can think of 2 players that are in limbo with their drafting team. I won't say their names because it's not fair to say they are the ones. But, there is a decent chance that a number of players end up being released. Maybe more players for Carolina to sign?

No doubt that Ruzicka needs to show that he is a NHL player and do it every day. As with Pelletier, coaching needs to do a better job of handling the players when they have an off game. Every player goes through it. Deal with it. Don't just screatch them for a bunch of games and think that somehow not playing will correct the problems. Slacking off is a problem, but mistakes are not fixed by getting benched for 2 weeks or more. Anyway, I am hopeful that he gets serious about the game and sees it as his chance to be a top prospect/player.

Come on man, be cheerful for one. I don't think I have seen you positivr even in the years we were winning a divisiion. I could be wrong but you seem like you could find a way to turn a jester into a depressed guy with a hat.

I will admit that I wasn't watching super closely to what his attitude was after he got dropped to the 4th line. But, I will say that I would see a perhaps lazy shift where he gave up on a play and skated to the bench. Those stood out because it started a cycle of getting less minutes and sitting for longer periods between shifts. I get the shoe dropping when you take a shift off, but this went on for games afterwards without any change in the minutes. In most cases he got dropped to the popcorn bench. What I am getting at is that a bad game is that. You should be able to start with a clean slate for the next practice. I saw the player being sent to the blackboard. "I must play the way the coach wants me to play, whatever it is that he wants because he won't say." I say this because what I saw from him playing with Lucic was not a confident player and when he didn't hit everyone on the ice, he sat.

SO, did you follow him when he went to Sudbury? I'm asking because his stats that last year went from okay to 24g in 30 games after the trade. His playoffs had 10 points in 8 games. So, I wonder if the coaching may have been both a bot of the cause and the result of his poor play.

I don't know about important player part yet, because he is yet to claim a spot in the top 9 and stick. I think his shot is underrated but he just doesn't get them off much. He wasn't that bad on the dot, but he has to improve. As a winger, I felt he could only play with offensively minded players. If we were building a line of talented kids, it might be the right thing for him. Play him 10 minutes and it's a waste.

My 2 cents worth. I like Backlund as a Flame. He's done his part for the team and we have gotten no farther ahead. He averages 17+ minutes per game. We don't have a similar player right now that can shut down the other team. What we have is a player that given 17 minutes was close to a p/gp. I don't think Ruzicka is anywhere near the level of Backlund for defense, but offense=ive numbers are there. It comes down to what we can afford; a lower scoring threat that prevents goals or a higher scoring threat that needs work. Tiugh call.

I think it's just the wrong idea to push players to be something they are not because you defined a role for them. A role different than what brought them to the NHL in the first place. Lindholm gives the occasional snark, but I would put him in the category of what you should strive for; a 2 way C. Not everyone can do it, but stop trying to turn everyone into a Kassian. We have enough guys that will do that level for us.

The 4th line was okay for some games, but you can't just roll them as a line. You have to plan how to use them. If you can't figure out that when you put them out for a minute that the other team will counter with their top 6, then you shouldn't be coaching. They almost never were able to play to a draw, which was a big problem. We saw other teams shut down our top 6 with a 4th line. That is a problem. The big and tough don't match energy. Maybe works in playoff games when you just want to spend a shift pounding the D into the boards. That works as long as you are in the offensive end. I think the problem with depth is that you are scouting players in a different cinference. Rooney was decent on NY, but they play different style. Doesn't work for us. Not the way we wanted to play. Send out Ruzicka to be physical, which was not his game. He needs to learn it, but you don't sit him because he let a guy off the hook in a check situation.

Levi may be ready but I don't think he's had the same level of competition as Wolf has to date. BUFF could do something about it instead of the BT type options. I don't know if they can run Levi as a true backup, since he would need to be in front of rookies. At least that's what I expect BUFF to trot out as much as possible.

Is Buffalo going to stay forever as a team almost built and hope that they can outscore their problems? Maybe not a bad idea for them, but really they have an awesome base of players. A solid G would put them in playoffs for sure. PTO's are good to fill up the requirements to have vets in the lineup. I don't think you often see PTO's used to find a goalie though. As far as trades, no it's not exactly a great time to trade. Too many teams are trying out their prospects and seeing if they have a strong enough team to start the season. More PTO's for F and D will be extended. But, with that there are only so many teams with cap available to sign the PTO's. Tatar is caught in the spot of being too good to sign for $1M, but being in there with the $1M players that score 20-30 points per year that are unsigned. Most teams have their top 6.

I think only LHS LW can be names captain, so we be all set.