travel_dude

I would probably have played C if I stuck it out in junior hockey, but they wanted me to play defense and I had zero interest in it. But, I am all about offense, so I would be embarrassed by Backlund types who play a 200 foot game. I want to be in the face of the goalie and snag rebounds or deflect pucks. My hand-eye (or as Hrudey used to call it eye-hand) coordination is really good, so baseball hitting and rebound scoring in hockey were my strong suits. Hitting left would be weird only because the power from the leading hand would be stronger, so I don't think I could belt it. Anyway, back to reality. Like to see the Flames do something over the next few weeks. Like sign Lindholm if that's the direction. Or trade Hanifin or Backlund if they get any offers worth looking at. Even trading Vladar should be considered. Buffalo has two goalies with terrible track records. They should look at a goalie that has had a decent season and one meh season. Comrie isn't exactly starter material.

I fall into the category of RH, RHS, RH golf, RH hitter in baseball, RH dominant in basketball. My brother and friends played hockey a bit longer than me and they were RH with a LHS. They always talked about your strong high on the stick, but it felt alien to me. Like trying to hit left in golf. As a goalie, I was better with the glove on my right hand but it left the stick side weaker. And playing the glove on left hand gave me great control with the stick. And yet I could only ever think about catching baseballs on my left hand. Go figure.

I don't really care about the players in question, just making the point that some teams rally behind the "victim". I am fully aware how poor a player he was (could have had Severson). I never got the justification for drafting him in the 2nd. After all, we were scouting the WHL so closely and passed on Severson. Interesting factoid. Seiloff played one NHL game for CGY and one for OTT and he scored in each of them. I think in our case it was a pointless game 82 that had Backstrom playing in nets for the win.

It depends on the team and the player delivering the hit. Think back to Seiloff in camp for OTT. Laid a huge hit and was driven off the team.

LOLZ.

Ya got me. When Vladar was pulled, there was no question from Sutter; had to make those saves. Even a game where he replaced Marky, Sutter still questioned every goal. Markstrom pulled to get the team goain. It doesn't matter. Only one goalie had a decent W-L record. 14-6-5 Compared to 23=21-12

I'm not sure the coaching tactics used on the goalies was good either. When Vladar had a good game, he publicly said, well that's what he's paid to do, come in when needed. Give him the hook more often than he would the starter. Let him sit when he was on a roll.

Sutter's X's and O's were one approach to hockey and were not always the right one for given situations. Are you going to neuter your top line to play power vs power? Or trot out 4th lines just because that's how you roll lines? Play 4th line after the PP, since you know they aren't going to have anyone breaking out of the box to potentially go on offense? Zone defense works, but isn't the only thing that can. And what happens when it doesn't work. I'm not here to criticize the coaching from last year or suggest it will be that much better this year. It was pretty toxic, regardless of your age. And if a vet has to turn around and pump back up a player torn down by a coach, then you are not using two players properly.

The what is not so much the problem, as X's and O's are more or less just strategy. Mind games and negative motivation is old school. Like a manager that berates you in front of co-workers. So 80's.

I read his comments at FN. The ones that stood out for me was in game comments drove the team batty. It's 0-0 in the 1st, with the Flames outshooting the other team 15-3, Sutter says "you guys are going to Winsport tomorrow, I guess". Or it's 0-0 and he starts telling Vladar to get ready to go in. Toffoli said perhaps the same thing happened in LA, but he doesn't really remember. Suffice to say, good riddance. I don't think Huska will be just another buddy coach, but I am not giving him props until he starts coaching the team. We will see what he is all about.

Overpriced is bad. Older vets is not an issue if you don't just gift them a spot.

As long as she is only demanding that you mildly satisfy her, then all is good.

Oui, oui !! Naw I was just saying as a player, you have to be on the good side of the press. The fans love the stars, and the fans follow the stories. Much like you would follow la femme.

Montreal is only out of cap H E double hockeysticks because Price is unable to play anymore. I would imagine they give him an incentive to not come back. I understand that he is 100% following protocol, but I think they moved on from him while he was still thinking about his future. A convenient ace to hold. I support Price's decision making. It can be a toxic world to live in. MTL is as fevered as other parts of Canada, and they chew up and spit out humans there.

It's a belief that with so many players on the end of contracts and so many looking to get out, that we are hearing the R word from supposed experts. It's an option, yes. It's not the only way forward. But, the GM can't be dillusional. It has to be a real world view of the state of the team. There are things working against a real view though. The owners are entering into a long term build of an arena, so the finances have to work. Make money. Spend responsibly. We came out of a cycle of spending every last cent. That GM is gone and is doing that with the Leafs. But the Leafs can just throw money at it. We either have to cut some costs and still try to compete or gut the team. That last idea doesn't line up with the market. We could sell every good piece and end up with little. No money made and fans lose interest. I think we are looking at recovering cap by making measured moves. Nothing panicked, just reasonable ones. Sell Backlund and Hanifin and Vladar. Trade any older pending UFA's that have value. Keep a solid core. Unfortunately, that means keeping the newest players. And we may have to hold off trading some of the UFA's.

So that makes Chiarot, Holl and Petry. Only $10.4 million spent there. I actually like Petry's game a few years back. Not so much now. At least it takes the narrative away on a DET trade for Hanifin. Unless you would like a nice 34 year old Backlund to play with Perron.

I'm not sure when the problem came up. He took almost the exact same number of shots on net as his career year.

I wasn't meaning to suggest he takes a spot for the year. I think I said something like 9 games. Gilbert played 24 last year. DeSimone 4, Stone 43, Mackey 10. We are chock full of players that never get called up and when we have the open roster spots, they are not ready. They can't impress enough at TC because they have little experience at the NHL player level. We have exactly 2 D spots signed past this season. Last year we were hampered by a coach that refused to play certain players and were forced to waive some players we maybe shouldn't have, but not waive those we should have. Waiving Gilbert this year is all but a necessity. It allows us to manage the D according to need. With no Hanifin, Gilbert (and Poirier) would be 7th D.

Ruzicka was better at winning faceoffs than Lewis at C. I don't know what happened to Mangiapane, but for the money he has regressed. Dube is at least earning his money and can play 2 other positions. I just think that they both get pushed around too much. Heart and soul players that are a bit small. Mangiapane has more value in a trade, but Dube is better cost controlled.

Who is rushing him? He's an offensive D that played pretty well without the puck and is not a shrimp. 6'1" 196 vs Valikai 6'2" 205, and that is after growing into his frame a bit and age 24. When we get scoring from the D, we tend to win more games. If we trade Hanifin, we have to replace that somewhat. Kylington, Ras, Zaddy, and Weegar bring that too, but we have to prepare for the exit of Tanev. Gilbert is okay. Bigger guy, not much offense. Having Zaddy on a 3rd pair means you either skate Zaddy or you use his size on defense. Pairing Poirier with him for 9 gmes isn't going to kill you.

Trading Hanifin is about getting the best for a valuable asset. We aren't going to pay him $7M next year. Not really making room as much as saving money on a competent D corp. Poirier is a bit young but Valimaki made his debut at a younger age. Poirier is also more accomplished offesnively than Valimaki was. And he was a +30 last season, which is no doubt a team stat. But he's not as much a liability. I could see 9 games from him for a look-see. Not if we carry 8D ahead of him.

Other than the tradeoff of Toffoli for Govich, how are we dramatically different this year. No Lucic/Lewis/Ritchie? We actually have 6D now that are top 4 capable. I would argue that we weren't a contender last year and this year is about the same. Trade Hanifin and Backlund for a top 6 winger and bottom 6 C and we are closer to being one. It still keeps the competition there to win jobs. Gilbert is an 8th D right now. We trade Hanifin and he will be waived if Poirier or Kuz is better. Doesn't mean he never plays for us, just that the competition is there. I'm okay with a PTO if we make those trades. Versteeg type PTO's. Tartar types.

So many perspectives in here. Me likey. Anyway, I am a little fed up with doing nothing. I'm not saying that Connie should have done everything by now, but we are not doing anything. Lindholm may be a lynchpin, but his deal is next summer not today's greatest need. We can make decisions on him a bit later (before October, but October not a deal breaker if he is signing). If we know his intent, then we can sell him to the highest bidder. I'm not sure what to do with Hanifin at this point. We are risking it by trading him before the season starts, but we can't just hold onto him and hope to get a trade done sometime before TDL. I think we have 6 other D that will prevent us from dropping like a stone in the standings. What doesn't prevent that is failing to address the scoring and failing to capitalize on expiring contracts. Are we hoping that all the kids will bring career seasons? We saw that losing Gaudreau and Tkachuk decreased our scoring by a lot. The adds didn't quite work out because the finishers weren't there. So what is there to do? Hanifin should bring back scoring in trade. Doesn't have to be Nylander. Backlund has been a trooper for preventing goals, but he is aging out. If we were to extend him for a couple years at a reasonable cap hit, then the cap savings helps us get better by allowing rising stars to be brought in. But you aren't getting a couple years of Backlund for that much less. Tanev is a good thing to hang onto and possibly lose for nothing, since he is a defensive D that can be replaced by something similar. Or he takes a bit of a cut as an older re-sign. Zadorov seems like he would stay, so I doubt he gets more than he makes today. Dube and Kylington are due for breakout seasons, which is good and bad for us, as both will need new deals. We have Vladar for 2 more years, but Wolf is lined up for this year. Gotta do a few things, so the longer we go the more likely we see a repeat line setup.

It's possible that is what he is doing. The cap sitting at over $83M with 12F, 8D and 2G, with only 2 players waiver exempt. Not a good base to begin with. We could sign a few guys right now, but won't exactly be in a position of strength when we need to trim the roster and cap. Hanifin and Backlund would be considered cap dumps, even though we want something for them. So, I lean to COnnie waiting to get those two guys dealt before he adds any pieces. What pieces would he add when he doesn't know the final trades we would have. The thing that bothers me is the longer this drags out, the more likely the hard decisions aren't made. And other teams' rosters become set. Then we are forced to carry the same guys and chances of trade dwindle to nothing, as the TDL is when we Cami a player because they are too valuable to give away for a 2nd. We see them walk and the cycle repeats. The added cap next summer is consolation, but makes us a summer UFA buyer. Again.