Flames Defense

[travel_dude]

I think they need to look at things this summer to see how to improve them.  I didn't expect Sutter to have much time to do anything in the season, but I do hope he looks at it closely.  When you say N/S, I assume you are referring to the knack of always trying to move the puck along the boards.  Like the stretch pass, I think it can be effective, as long as it's not the only thing used.

[cross16]

1 hour ago, travel_dude said:

I think they need to look at things this summer to see how to improve them.  I didn't expect Sutter to have much time to do anything in the season, but I do hope he looks at it closely.  When you say N/S, I assume you are referring to the knack of always trying to move the puck along the boards.  Like the stretch pass, I think it can be effective, as long as it's not the only thing used.

 

Not particularly and this is a change Sutter has made. Under Ward it seemed the Flames used the boards exclusively, but Sutter seems to want the breakout up the middle. 

 

What I mean is having the d join the rush would allow for more option if the middle is clogged. May not necessary mean a stretch pass it could just be a simple hitch, drop back or cross ice pass to an open area. Just a little more emphasis on gaining the zone with possession as opposed to getting to dump it in ASAP. 

 

Also would start by being more aggressive at their own blueline. 

[travel_dude]

1 hour ago, cross16 said:

 

Not particularly and this is a change Sutter has made. Under Ward it seemed the Flames used the boards exclusively, but Sutter seems to want the breakout up the middle. 

 

What I mean is having the d join the rush would allow for more option if the middle is clogged. May not necessary mean a stretch pass it could just be a simple hitch, drop back or cross ice pass to an open area. Just a little more emphasis on gaining the zone with possession as opposed to getting to dump it in ASAP. 

 

Also would start by being more aggressive at their own blueline. 

 

I would tend to agree that I saw some more attack in the middle, but I still see far too much just going up the boards.

When I notice that the most is when we are pensive moving out of the zone.

Reminds me of the references that (IIRC) Versteeg talked about; waiting behind the net with the puck and moving it out slowly.

Slow execution.

 

There are times when it absolutely work, like when the forwards are on the verge of hitting the O-zone and they want to attack the zone to recover it.

We've seen players like Gaudreau and Mangiapane beat out the D to the puck.

 

Anyway, I am interested to se what a real off-season does.  Especially considering the potential changes to this team.

[flames-fan-in-jets-land]

I'm guessing with Hanifin out were gonna see Stone penciled in for the rest of the year.  And most likely Nesterov moving up as opposed to Kylington. Between the 3 of them I think theyre mostly interchangeable without affecting the team too much. Hopefully Valimaki moves up with Ras.

[pikey7883]

I would like to see Jusso up with Ras, keep Gio and Tanev together, and try Shill with Stone. 

[cross16]

Sucks for Hanifin and I fee for him. I don't thikn he's been playing as great as some but he was having a good season and showing a bit of growth to his game and it always sucks to see a player get hurt. 

 

Be interesting to see how Sutter runs this. He doesn't seem to have a lot of faith in Valimaki, Kylington or Nesterov so my guess is that he might dress 7 dmen some nights and ride Gio, Tanev, Andersson and Stone pretty hard. That likely could be impacted quite a bit by the result of tonight's game and whether they fall out or not. 

[travel_dude]

1 hour ago, flames-fan-in-jets-land said:

I'm guessing with Hanifin out were gonna see Stone penciled in for the rest of the year.  And most likely Nesterov moving up as opposed to Kylington. Between the 3 of them I think theyre mostly interchangeable without affecting the team too much. Hopefully Valimaki moves up with Ras.

 

It's the only thing that makes any sense.

While Stone has been steady, he should not be pairing with Ras for the 2nd most minutes for pairs.

I think Sutter actually needs to go 11-7 again.

We can get by on 11 forwards, but relying on Nesterov to make up for Hanifin is just crazy.

[The_People1]

I think we should trade Hanifin this offseason so now we get to see our D without him first.  Test run for next season.

[LouCifer]

1 hour ago, pikey7883 said:

I would like to see Jusso up with Ras, keep Gio and Tanev together, and try Shill with Stone. 

Will Nesto be on our roster next season? Likely not. So with Hanifin’s injury, I want to see Kyller up here steady. If not to see what we have, then to showcase him to someone else. 
 

interesting take Peeps. Hanifin to Buffalo in an Eichel (disc in the neck surgery) trade?
🤜🏻🐴

[MP5029]

I too would love to see them give Kylington a longer look on a regular basis...and also hopefully this forces them to put Valimaki with Anderson...been screaming for this all year maybe it’s getting fixed on them...hopefully!

 

I get the sense Anderson and Valimaki could become a secondary top pair like Hanifin and Tanev did...I hope this most unfortunate situation makes that a reality and hope Hanifin gets healed up without nagging issues for next year...maybe see an improvement in the as by simply having:

 

Hanifin/Tanev 

Valimaki/Anderson

Gio/Kylington (mostly cause Gio prob not getting traded but too old and slow for top line duty so, may as well try and get Kylington up to speed next year with having Gio as his lime mate teacher)

 

this could be a blessing in disguise, provided Cgy makes use of the pairings the proper way...well there goes that whole opportunity to get a solid D for a few year to come cause we all know Cgy messes it up!

 

prob gonna have stone and nester as our top pair 😞

 

[travel_dude]

Well, Hanifin needs surgery, so we are done for.

This isn't the same where we lost Gio and managed to still make the playoffs.

We had some runway then to make it happen.

 

Who knows though.  It could be the same as losing Bennett to trade.

With the D, there is no "next man up" depth here.

Valimaki and Stone could take his overall minutes, but after that we are really shaky.

[robrob74]

Giordano, Tanev

Valamaki, Andersson

Nesterov, Stone

Kylington

 

I don't think Sutter cares about next year at the moment, so I don't see him playing anyone just to get them minutes. So I don't know if he views Kylington as someone to play over Nesterov, or vice versa.  But he has always seemed to go with vets and I just see him going that route. 

 

He might even play Nesterov with Andersson over Valamaki. 

 

Hanifin is a hit for sure. But I think the team is in a position where their backs are to the wall, so all they can do now is play. They'll probably still win a bunch and just miss, or actually make it, if Van and MTL's schedule kills them. 

[travel_dude]

11 minutes ago, robrob74 said:

Giordano, Tanev

Valamaki, Andersson

Nesterov, Stone

Kylington

 

I don't think Sutter cares about next year at the moment, so I don't see him playing anyone just to get them minutes. So I don't know if he views Kylington as someone to play over Nesterov, or vice versa.  But he has always seemed to go with vets and I just see him going that route. 

 

He might even play Nesterov with Andersson over Valamaki. 

 

Hanifin is a hit for sure. But I think the team is in a position where their backs are to the wall, so all they can do now is play. They'll probably still win a bunch and just miss, or actually make it, if Van and MTL's schedule kills them. 

 

I tend to agree with the way you perceive Sutter.

Somehow, I doubt he goes 7D tonight, though that makes the most sense.

Playing Buddy for 6 minutes really does nothing for us.

 

Props to the D corps for stepping up on a B2B game and playing extended minutes.

[The_People1]

 

 

 

[The_People1]

5 minutes ago, The_People1 said:

 

 

 

 

I thought Hanifin injured his knee or got a concussion.

[robrob74]

12 minutes ago, The_People1 said:

 

I thought Hanifin injured his knee or got a concussion.

 

They showed a replay from a previous game where he sustained an upper body injury. I remember them saying that maybe it could be his shoulder after showing that previous game's replay. Maybe falling after the hit made it worse? I forget which game they said it happened in and I think it just got more aggravated and now needs surgery?

[LouCifer]

Exactly Rob. They gave him a shot to numb the pain in game 1 vs MTL, he came back, and then he injured it more in game 2 vs MTL. 

[travel_dude]

1 hour ago, robrob74 said:

 

They showed a replay from a previous game where he sustained an upper body injury. I remember them saying that maybe it could be his shoulder after showing that previous game's replay. Maybe falling after the hit made it worse? I forget which game they said it happened in and I think it just got more aggravated and now needs surgery?

 

Figured it was rotator or labrum.

You don't have much ability to raise your arm, which is how he seemed to be holding his arm. 

[cross16]

Hope now we can see Valimaki and Tanev as a pairing now. No sense having Gio there and might as well let Valimaki build some confidence going into the off season. 

[travel_dude]

6 minutes ago, cross16 said:

Hope now we can see Valimaki and Tanev as a pairing now. No sense having Gio there and might as well let Valimaki build some confidence going into the off season. 

 

As much as you and I have thrown in the towel, you know Sutter will find some fault in Valimaki.

 

[The_People1]

1 hour ago, cross16 said:

Hope now we can see Valimaki and Tanev as a pairing now. No sense having Gio there and might as well let Valimaki build some confidence going into the off season. 

 

I wish they would give Valimaki some PP time with the top unit.  He's got decent vision and I think scoring some points will go a long way giving him some confidence.

[jjgallow]

You would think he'd fit in better here given the left handed shot and all

[The_People1]

41 minutes ago, jjgallow said:

You would think he'd fit in better here given the left handed shot and all

 

Of course not.  Two RHS D on the second unit PP FTW

[jjgallow]

 

Bump.   Last post April 26.    Literally if I don't occasionally bump this, it would be archived by now.

 

For consideration, what...does that say about us lol.

 

Every time the discussion of an impending or already here rebuild comes up, a desperate rebuttle is put together which almost always involves posting line combos of our forwards lol.  Or even worse, they bring up Eichel.

 

what.

 

c'mon. lol.

 

What I'm not looking forward to is when we all realize we're rebuilding  (likely when management announces it like it was their plan), everyone's going to be like "yeah it's cause we didn't have like a #1 center"...

 

No.  lol.

 

Our defence was Not good enough with Giordano and Brodie here in their primes.   But it was at least respectable   Now they are gone.   We've got nothing reasonable to replace them, have nothing reasonable in the pipeline to replace them.

 

We're in a rebuild now, or we're about to be.     If there's One thing in this world that can prove me wrong, it would be Valimaki having a breakout year and rising to Giordano level.    That is the only thing which could hold our core together right now.

 

Not centers, not even RW, not any of it.    But nobody is even interested in the problem.

[conundrumed]

I do agree JJ. Though as much as I love the Hedman's and Pietrangelo's, D has to be by committee. Sutter should be able to improve our neutral zone play which theoretically should improve our team D.

The Sens dominated us last year by flying through the neutral zone. Then they just kept exploiting it.