Calgary Flames 20/21 Roster and Lines

[Horsman1]

On 1/15/2021 at 1:14 PM, The_People1 said:

 

When Bennett worked himself to the front of the net wide freaking open with the puck only to once again for the hundredth time, sail the puck 2 feet over the net, I think that's all there is to say about Bennett.  Keep him in the bottom 6 where he belongs.

 

We need to find one more top 6 RW.  Dube has looked good but we need another.

bennett reminds me of Kevin Lavalee

 

[JTech780]

Friedman mentioned on the weekend that Vancouver was looking to put some players on the Manitoba Moose in the AHL to avoid, the 2 week quarantine. I wonder if Calgary would look to do something similar. There are 4 AHL teams in Canada, the problem is that all 4 of those teams are ran by Canadian teams in our division. If I was those teams, I wouldn't be super eager to help us out. It will be interesting to see how Calgary deals with call ups.

[Horsman1]

19 minutes ago, JTech780 said:

Friedman mentioned on the weekend that Vancouver was looking to put some players on the Manitoba Moose in the AHL to avoid, the 2 week quarantine. I wonder if Calgary would look to do something similar. There are 4 AHL teams in Canada, the problem is that all 4 of those teams are ran by Canadian teams in our division. If I was those teams, I wouldn't be super eager to help us out. It will be interesting to see how Calgary deals with call ups.

any nhl team can lend any player that qualifies to any ahl team.. Thing is trying to place them on a team already run or owned by another nhl team.. We used to shear our ahl team with another team once upon a time

 

[travel_dude]

2 hours ago, JTech780 said:

Friedman mentioned on the weekend that Vancouver was looking to put some players on the Manitoba Moose in the AHL to avoid, the 2 week quarantine. I wonder if Calgary would look to do something similar. There are 4 AHL teams in Canada, the problem is that all 4 of those teams are ran by Canadian teams in our division. If I was those teams, I wouldn't be super eager to help us out. It will be interesting to see how Calgary deals with call ups.

 

I think that the AHL players for the Flames is basically going to be off limits during the season.

It's too bad, because it won't give them any opportunity to get NHL games in.

The only good thing is they will actually get playing time in the AHL as opposed to just practice with the taxi and big club.

I hope the AHL actually has a season.

[JTech780]

 

[cross16]

No practice today so we won't get an update until tomorrow but boy will it suck if Dube has to miss anytime. Small sample size for sure, but given how he carried his great playoffs over to this season I really think we were witnessing a breakout season for him. to get it halted by injury would be really unfortunate.  We shall see. 

 

On the plus side, last night was a good example of the depth moves Treliving made. Instead of having to elevate Reider to fil in for injury you have Leivo and Simon and neither looked out of place and both had a role in scoring plays. Flames well positioned if there is a longer term injury. 

[Thebrewcrew]

 

[robrob74]

6 minutes ago, Thebrewcrew said:

 

cross posted in the game day! And I said it there but will say it again! God I hate these sticks to the arms or hands. In no way shape or form should there be anything like sticks on that part of the body. To me it is just as bad as a high stick. 
 

so what if you have guys that play that way, it doesn’t make it right. Monahan needed surgery for it, Johnny gets it every game and who knows what it does to shooting for the game or few?

[travel_dude]

1 hour ago, Thebrewcrew said:

 

 

So, now we get updates from someone not on the Flames staff suggesting what it might be?

He went out for a 30 second shift in the 2nd, so I doubt he would be doing that with a fracture.

Then again, I'm inclined to wait for the actual announcement from the Flames.

[robrob74]

40 minutes ago, travel_dude said:

 

So, now we get updates from someone not on the Flames staff suggesting what it might be?

He went out for a 30 second shift in the 2nd, so I doubt he would be doing that with a fracture.

Then again, I'm inclined to wait for the actual announcement from the Flames.

 

regardless, I still don’t think those hacks belong in the game. 
 

monahan, three surgeries in one off season, at least one of those due to slashing. Could ruin a guys’ career. Luckily he still had a good shot.

[cross16]

I have heard some rumors out there that they don't believe it's a fracture. It's one of those "i know a guy who knows a guy" rumors so we shall see. 

 

I agree they need to crack down on it but that situation is a tough one for me. Your trying to take a goal off the board and play tight defense and it's a play that happens a dozen times a game and this one just missed. Not sure on that one. 

 

but the stuff trying to slow players down ya for sure you need to call that stuff. 

[flames-fan-in-jets-land]

51 minutes ago, cross16 said:

I have heard some rumors out there that they don't believe it's a fracture. It's one of those "i know a guy who knows a guy" rumors so we shall see. 

 

I agree they need to crack down on it but that situation is a tough one for me. Your trying to take a goal off the board and play tight defense and it's a play that happens a dozen times a game and this one just missed. Not sure on that one. 

 

but the stuff trying to slow players down ya for sure you need to call that stuff. 

Sadly this is the by product of faster players and the clamp down of the clutch and grab that Mario campaigned against back in the day. Not entirely sure how you can catch every infraction or remedy the issue itself but maybe harsher penalties correlated to lost time may be an option.

[robrob74]

3 hours ago, flames-fan-in-jets-land said:

Sadly this is the by product of faster players and the clamp down of the clutch and grab that Mario campaigned against back in the day. Not entirely sure how you can catch every infraction or remedy the issue itself but maybe harsher penalties correlated to lost time may be an option.

 

For me, any stick that isn't on the shins is a slash. Any stick that touches anything above the thigh is either a slash or a hook. That will open up more ice too and keep the game fast. There just isn't enough protection in some areas of the the arm that is vulnerable. Sure it sounds like a weak penalty, but if it's called every time then the players will stop doing it. 

[cross16]

Good news on Dube and interesting it appears it was not a wrist. Apparently groin is the issue. 

 

 

 

[travel_dude]

#Flames lines and pairings at practice:

Mangiapane-Lindholm-Tkachuk

Gaudreau-Monahan-Simon

Bennett-Backlund-Leivo

Lucic-Ryan-Nordstrom/Rinaldo

 

Giordano-Andersson

Hanifin-Tanev

Valimaki-Nesterov

Kylington-Mackey

 

Okay, so I am fine with moving Mangiapane up, siince I think he has been great with Tkachuk in the past.

Leaving Simon on the Monahan line is fine.

Leivo with Backlund, also fine.

Not impressed with the 4th line.

We aren't playing a goon team, so no need for 4 minutes of Rinaldo in a game.

I suspect Ritchie would be a better fit than Nordstrom as well.

[robrob74]

1 hour ago, travel_dude said:

#Flames lines and pairings at practice:

Mangiapane-Lindholm-Tkachuk

Gaudreau-Monahan-Simon

Bennett-Backlund-Leivo

Lucic-Ryan-Nordstrom/Rinaldo

 

Giordano-Andersson

Hanifin-Tanev

Valimaki-Nesterov

Kylington-Mackey

 

Okay, so I am fine with moving Mangiapane up, siince I think he has been great with Tkachuk in the past.

Leaving Simon on the Monahan line is fine.

Leivo with Backlund, also fine.

Not impressed with the 4th line.

We aren't playing a goon team, so no need for 4 minutes of Rinaldo in a game.

I suspect Ritchie would be a better fit than Nordstrom as well.

 

Well, I think that's the depth. Who goes in instead? Dube is injured at the moment, so it creates a tiny hole on that 4th. 

Lucic helped with a goal the other game, but I see him still getting rewarded even though he's played horribly. He gave the Canucks all of the momentum in the first by taking that stupid penalty, yet he was still given that extra ice time after some bad play too. 

Ward has respect for some of his players. Maybe it's why they like him? I wouldn't be rewarding Lucic for his play so far this year. I will admit he looked ok off and on, but when he is off he looks horrible.

 

Edited in:

TO add to the Mangiapane moving up, I was thinking that he plays better with Tkachuk. He hasn't looked good with Backlund yet this year, aside from a shift or two, and that's with a few other wingers other than Bennett. I guess that's also learning to play well with others. 

[pikey7883]

5 hours ago, robrob74 said:

Edited in:

TO add to the Mangiapane moving up, I was thinking that he plays better with Tkachuk. He hasn't looked good with Backlund yet this year, aside from a shift or two, and that's with a few other wingers other than Bennett. I guess that's also learning to play well with others. 

I think that this could be a fantastic experiment.

If mang can prove (which I think he can) with tkachuk and Lindy. It allows Dube and Bennett to be back together with Backlund (much better than lucic). 
which pushes Leivo down with Ryan and lucic on the fourth.

starting to round out a very good 4 lines

 

[robrob74]

3 hours ago, pikey7883 said:

I think that this could be a fantastic experiment.

If mang can prove (which I think he can) with tkachuk and Lindy. It allows Dube and Bennett to be back together with Backlund (much better than lucic). 
which pushes Leivo down with Ryan and lucic on the fourth.

starting to round out a very good 4 lines

 

 

I actually think that’s how it should have been drawn up after all. I’d have kept Dube with Bennett the whole time. He’s looked really good with Lindholm and Tkachuk but I think Mange plays better with Tkachuk than he does with Backlund. 
 

Mange hasn’t played bad, he just doesn’t look as effective as he had in the past. 

[travel_dude]

9 hours ago, robrob74 said:

 

Well, I think that's the depth. Who goes in instead? Dube is injured at the moment, so it creates a tiny hole on that 4th. 

Lucic helped with a goal the other game, but I see him still getting rewarded even though he's played horribly. He gave the Canucks all of the momentum in the first by taking that stupid penalty, yet he was still given that extra ice time after some bad play too. 

Ward has respect for some of his players. Maybe it's why they like him? I wouldn't be rewarding Lucic for his play so far this year. I will admit he looked ok off and on, but when he is off he looks horrible.

 

Edited in:

TO add to the Mangiapane moving up, I was thinking that he plays better with Tkachuk. He hasn't looked good with Backlund yet this year, aside from a shift or two, and that's with a few other wingers other than Bennett. I guess that's also learning to play well with others. 

 

Got no issues with Looch.

He's not fast but he adds something to the team.

Nordstrom has decent PK presence, but I didn't think we had an issue without him.

Rinaldo does nothing for me against a skilled team.

Ritchie may not be a scorer, but he doesn;t make his line worse.

 

Games against top teams in the division are important.

Can't waste them with lesser players.

It's possible Dube will play, but if I had a choice, I would put in Ritchie first or Nordy second.

[travel_dude]

2 minutes ago, robrob74 said:

 

I actually think that’s how it should have been drawn up after all. I’d have kept Dube with Bennett the whole time. He’s looked really good with Lindholm and Tkachuk but I think Mange plays better with Tkachuk than he does with Backlund. 
 

Mange hasn’t played bad, he just doesn’t look as effective as he had in the past. 

 

It's one of those things.

Mangiapane is effective on LW while Bennett is not effective on RW.

Mangiapane-Backlund-Bennett is a waste.

Just my opinion, but you are sacrificing Mangiapane to have Bennett play more minutes.

It's possible that Dube on RW would help Bennett.

[Thebrewcrew]

Markstrom has been really solid through 4 games, but Tuesday might be a good spot to get Rittich in. If not, then I imagine he's getting a start in MTL.

 

Would be nice if Dube is healthy Thursday. I thought that the Lucic-Ryan-Nordstrom line struggled this afternoon. 

[robrob74]

Today the team played ok considering the long break. That bottom 6 played poorly though. The top 6 were good and creating momentum. Particularly, the 4th line killed momentum whenever we gained it, by not getting in the zone enough or by taking a bad penalty in an area of the ice one should not. Then he was awarded PP time for his effort.

[travel_dude]

9 hours ago, robrob74 said:

Today the team played ok considering the long break. That bottom 6 played poorly though. The top 6 were good and creating momentum. Particularly, the 4th line killed momentum whenever we gained it, by not getting in the zone enough or by taking a bad penalty in an area of the ice one should not. Then he was awarded PP time for his effort.

 

I thought Backlund played well enough, just not able to generate enough.

They had a couple of good shifts, but they ended up with nothing.

Top 6 were on for a total of 2 5v5 goals.

 

[robrob74]

2 hours ago, travel_dude said:

 

I thought Backlund played well enough, just not able to generate enough.

They had a couple of good shifts, but they ended up with nothing.

Top 6 were on for a total of 2 5v5 goals.

 

yup, it is how I saw it too. They had some good, but I just felt Leivo and Lucic killed the play whenever the puck touched their sticks. 
 

I don’t think it was that Backlund played bad, it’s that he doesn’t have the line mates to compliment what he does. 
 

This is how I would do his line:

 

Bennett, Backlund, Dube (when Dube returns). I think Dube will balance that line and give Bennett someone to play off of when driving the zone.

 

Gaudreau, Monahan, Simon 

I liked what I saw from them. I think they skate well together.

 

I would keep this together:

Mangiapane, Lindholm, Tkachuk

 

Lucic, Ryan, Leivo/ Nordstrom 

maybe Lucic needs half a season to get going? I am not impressed with Leivo. He just seems to get into everyone’s way. He looks tentative with the puck. Is he thinking too much?

[ABC923]

We might need to buyout Lucic after this season if he can't up his game.  He's slower every year, and I feel like we spend more time trying to construct line-ups that minimize his negative impact rather than constructing the best line-up possible.  I'm not sure he would be in my line-up at all tbh.

 

A buyout next season would give us almost 2 million in cap relief, followed by just under 500k the following year.