2023 Offseason

[conundrumed]

4 minutes ago, travel_dude said:

 

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.

Have both Compher and Copp that match Backlund.

I expect Yzerman's likely to shed those 3 dmen this year or next. We're a veritable meat grinder of placeholders.lol

All 3 play RD, Chiarot both, top D prospects are LD, Wallinder plays both, Sandin-Pellikka will be a while. So it makes sense to grind RD vets out. Retaining on Petry again will be hilarious, 4 teams paying his salary.

It's fun to watch, always doing something.

[The_People1]

1 hour ago, conundrumed said:

Aaaaaand,,,,Detroit adds Petry.rofl

Seider-Walman

Gostisbehere-Maatta

Holl-Chiarot

Petry

Edvinsson, Johansson

Hey, don't ask me to understand, I'm just enjoying the adventure.

Petry(50% retained) for Gustav Lindstrom and the worst of Det-Bos 2025 4th rd pick. Lindstrom is a 6-7 at his very best.

Petry is now at $2.344 for 2 years.

Stay tuned for the Red Wings Annual Red Tag Sale. We've got it all folks, it's a warehouse sale, 2 for 1, smoked damaged furniture you can drive it away today. Everything the budget-savvy needs, scoop up the essentials, all work guaranteed. Snag up your favourites we've got your feel good deals they come in all colours and sizes and one size fits all. It's our biggest sale ever the mother of all discount savings watch for our free brochure.

The large print giveth and the small print taketh away.

 

Kent Hughes doing a marvelous job at weaponizing the cap during a rebuild where there is no desire to win, yet.  Hoarding picks.  If the Habs are willing to rebuild and go through the growing pains, then so too should the Flames.

[conundrumed]

4 minutes ago, The_People1 said:

 

Kent Hughes doing a marvelous job at weaponizing the cap during a rebuild where there is no desire to win, yet.  Hoarding picks.  If the Habs are willing to rebuild and go through the growing pains, then so too should the Flames.

His struggle is real. What an awful roster.

[sak22]

1 hour ago, The_People1 said:

 

Kent Hughes doing a marvelous job at weaponizing the cap during a rebuild where there is no desire to win, yet.  Hoarding picks.  If the Habs are willing to rebuild and go through the growing pains, then so too should the Flames.

Montreal wasn't willing to rebuild, they were told they need to.  They were competitive every odd year whenever they had their generational goalie and all-star defenseman healthy, take away those two pieces and it was an awful team for years and it caught up to them once they couldn't play anymore.  Most teams don't plan these, they happen because the team is just bad.  Edmonton didn't really hire Pat Quinn and sign Nikolai Khabibulin to start a quest for 4/6 #1 picks, Colorado didn't trade their 2012 1st for Varlamov to help land in the 2013 lottery, Toronto wasn't planning on Matthews when they gave Dion and Phil the Thrill 8 year deals, and Montreal didn't make the decision to trade a 1st for Dvorak in hopes that he'd be a C for their #1 overall pick winger.  The Flames like everyone else will rebuild when they find themselves in or around last place of the league, which hasn't happened yet.  Not really easy to plan on being dead last, that 2014 Flames was bad enough on paper to be the worst in the league, that team saw a reason to play both McGrattan and Westgarth on a nightly basis, that alone should be viewed as throwing in the white towel, instead they had career years offensively.

[The_People1]

2 hours ago, conundrumed said:

His struggle is real. What an awful roster.

 

Ya I feel the old Habs would've traded for Huberdeau by now.  But they are smarter than that.  They are being patient and targeting picks, prospects, and younger players who have room to grow.  It's going to take 3 more years for MTL to make the playoffs again.

[The_People1]

1 hour ago, sak22 said:

Montreal wasn't willing to rebuild, they were told they need to.  They were competitive every odd year whenever they had their generational goalie and all-star defenseman healthy, take away those two pieces and it was an awful team for years and it caught up to them once they couldn't play anymore.  Most teams don't plan these, they happen because the team is just bad.  Edmonton didn't really hire Pat Quinn and sign Nikolai Khabibulin to start a quest for 4/6 #1 picks, Colorado didn't trade their 2012 1st for Varlamov to help land in the 2013 lottery, Toronto wasn't planning on Matthews when they gave Dion and Phil the Thrill 8 year deals, and Montreal didn't make the decision to trade a 1st for Dvorak in hopes that he'd be a C for their #1 overall pick winger.  The Flames like everyone else will rebuild when they find themselves in or around last place of the league, which hasn't happened yet.  Not really easy to plan on being dead last, that 2014 Flames was bad enough on paper to be the worst in the league, that team saw a reason to play both McGrattan and Westgarth on a nightly basis, that alone should be viewed as throwing in the white towel, instead they had career years offensively.

 

Not sure what you are getting at but it's pretty clear the Flames "should" rebuild at this point.  It's not my unique opinion as many people in the NHL share the same thoughts.  Of course the Flames will wait until they are in the basement of the league before they begin.  Of course they will.  Don't disagree there.

[flames-fan-in-jets-land]

1 hour ago, The_People1 said:

 

Ya I feel the old Habs would've traded for Huberdeau by now.  But they are smarter than that.  They are being patient and targeting picks, prospects, and younger players who have room to grow.  It's going to take 3 more years for MTL to make the playoffs again.

Dont worry, I know alot of old school Habs fans (my old man is one) and the shine of Caufeild and Suzuki wont be enough withstand the tarnish of the Anderson and Gallagher contracts more than this season.

[travel_dude]

1 hour ago, The_People1 said:

 

Not sure what you are getting at but it's pretty clear the Flames "should" rebuild at this point.  It's not my unique opinion as many people in the NHL share the same thoughts.  Of course the Flames will wait until they are in the basement of the league before they begin.  Of course they will.  Don't disagree 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.

[robrob74]

5 hours ago, The_People1 said:

 

Kent Hughes doing a marvelous job at weaponizing the cap during a rebuild where there is no desire to win, yet.  Hoarding picks.  If the Habs are willing to rebuild and go through the growing pains, then so too should the Flames.

something I thought the Flames should have done in their "rebuild," 

buuuuut...

[conundrumed]

13 hours ago, travel_dude said:

 

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 have to laugh at a lot of the social media "hot takes". Yzerman has lost his luster, he only won in TBay because he was gifted Stamkos and Hedman etc etc.People saying, "have no idea what he's doing", "totally confused" yada yada.

It's telling when it's only Detroit's fanbase not whining about it. The one's that follow them the most.

"This is the best D we've had since Lidstrom left".

Randos: "What? That D isn't in the top half of the league"!

Response: "I didn't say that it was".lol

Then the randos carry on, "They think they have a great D now because they added Holl, Ghost and Petry".

Typical social media trolls.

7 dmen, 1 #1RD. The other 6 are generally 3-6 depth on every team. We're not even sure which one is going to be the 7th. This is hardly a solution, just another method of weaponizing for draft picks. 4 of these guys will be for sale eventually. Same as 1/4 of the forwards.

Having said all of that, now the Wings will probably acquire Backlund and run a line of Copp-Backlund-Compher for all I know.lol

Fun to watch this giant puzzle. How the lines/pairings shake down is anyone's guess. That's all a part of the fun:

contract term in parenthesis

Fabbri(2)-Larkin(8)-Raymond(1RFA)

Rasmussen(1RFA)-Copp(4)-Debrincat(4)

Berggren(1RFA)-Compher(5)-Perron(1)

Kostin(2)-Veleno(current RFA)-Sprong(1)

Fischer(1)

Walman(3)-Seider(1RFA)

Chiarot(3)-Holl(3)

Maatta(2)-Gostisbehere(1)/Petry(2)

Gost/Petry

Husso(2)

Reimer(1)

Lyon(2) when Reimer gets injured

In other words, I have no idea, but Gru is a solid coach, he'll figure it out.

 

 

[jjgallow]

19 hours ago, The_People1 said:

 

Kent Hughes doing a marvelous job at weaponizing the cap during a rebuild where there is no desire to win, yet.  Hoarding picks.  If the Habs are willing to rebuild and go through the growing pains, then so too should the Flames.

 

Yup.

 

I think there is a lot of unneeded hostility towards this approach that is, well inevitable.

 

Also, there can and should be a separation.

 

The coach should still be there to win.   The players, should still be there to win.

 

And the organisation can give players a chance that otherwise weren't going to get one.

 

The only real difference is, players who prove everyone wrong likely get traded at the trade deadline to cup contenders.   Except the ones we think will be helping us with the cup in a few years. 

 

Not so bad.

[travel_dude]

5 minutes ago, jjgallow said:

 

Yup.

 

I think there is a lot of unneeded hostility towards this approach that is, well inevitable.

 

Also, there can and should be a separation.

 

The coach should still be there to win.   The players, should still be there to win.

 

And the organisation can give players a chance that otherwise weren't going to get one.

 

The only real difference is, players who prove everyone wrong likely get traded at the trade deadline to cup contenders.   Except the ones we think will be helping us with the cup in a few years. 

 

Not so bad.

 

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.

[conundrumed]

1 hour ago, travel_dude said:

 

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.

I'd choose MTL as a player and stay single the whole time.lol Actually no, just thinking about it makes me tired.

I might be implying that french women are a little bit attractive.🤠

[travel_dude]

8 minutes ago, conundrumed said:

I'd choose MTL as a player and stay single the whole time.lol Actually no, just thinking about it makes me tired.

I might be implying that french women are a little bit attractive.🤠

 

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.

[Heartbreaker]

2 hours ago, conundrumed said:

I'd choose MTL as a player and stay single the whole time.lol Actually no, just thinking about it makes me tired.

I might be implying that french women are a little bit attractive.🤠

 

Does Isabelle Adjani count? I mean, I get that it's no longer the 70s, and that she's like, french French... but I haven't been able to get her out of my head since I saw The Tenant on the Showcase Revue.

 

Love.

[conundrumed]

11 minutes ago, Heartbreaker said:

 

Does Isabelle Adjani count? I mean, I get that it's no longer the 70s, and that she's like, french French... but I haven't been able to get her out of my head since I saw The Tenant on the Showcase Revue.

 

Love.

If she's sitting on you with this look, you'll be wishing you couldn't count!

[travel_dude]

11 minutes ago, conundrumed said:

If she's sitting on you with this look, you'll be wishing you couldn't count!

 

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

[Heartbreaker]

40 minutes ago, conundrumed said:

If she's sitting on you with this look, you'll be wishing you couldn't count!

 

You know what, Man... die doing what you love.

 

Love.

[jjgallow]

2 hours ago, Heartbreaker said:

 

Does Isabelle Adjani count? I mean, I get that it's no longer the 70s, and that she's like, french French... but I haven't been able to get her out of my head since I saw The Tenant on the Showcase Revue.

 

Love.

 

So refined.   Elizee is enough to do that for me.

[conundrumed]

<1 month from camp starts. Is everyone as excited as I am?

I miss Flames camp being right there but I know a few people here will be there with bells on and I envy you. But I'll be able to attend a bit of the Wings camp. I wish the Young Stars tourney(Wings, CBJ, Leafs, Stars) was closer. Yes, Dallas.lol So it's clear, Jim Nill still keeps a heavy presence in Detroit. His Dallas success is largely because of it. I see Dallas scouts regularly when I'm at an event. Traverse City is in Michigan but a 4 hr drive easy. So that sucks. Lansing was only 2 and MSU campus so really fun.

We've got lots of question marks, but that's all part of the fun. Can we contend for a Cup? Of course we can. Do we need a few adds maybe? Sure we do, just like every team.

If my enjoyment of the sport has to rely on extremely favourable results, I'd spend a lot more time focusing on guitar, woodworking, reading, writing, cooking and my other hobbies. My gf would be over the moon.lol

She's just ecstatic that I'm not an all-sport nut. My friends golf hardcore. I did when I was young but I'm occasional now. Their rig costs blow my mind. I can still beat them any given day in jean shorts and workboots.lol The "decorum" in golf is a massive turn off for me. Everyone acts like they're on the PGA. I had a very large man ask me if I was a pig farmer at an after-tourney party. I was confused. The host said, "because of your shirt". Which was actually quite a nice, comfortable dress shirt, just not a golf shirt because they're ugly af.lol It was best ball. I won the closest to the pin hole. We came in 2nd. His team was 1st and everyone knew they completely lied.

How does this relate? Stop taking hockey and your team so seriously. Go watch midget hockey. They are kids vs your likely age. Now look around. You'll see fans having fun. You'll also see groups of generally older men taking it waaaay too personally and acting like the epitome of hockey expertise. They're miserable and do nothing but spit venom. Why? Because it makes them feel empowered vs insignificant. Alternative reality.

Don't be that guy. Enjoy it for what it is. A game. No one has all of the answers, some are just so counterintuitive that it defies why they even bother watching.

Let's email a volunteer Atom coach relentlessly about why a specific 10yo is getting much icetime, why isn't my kid out there more? Etc..etc...etc. With much stronger language. Then we see "toxicity in hockey culture" and blame the players, in complete denial of where it comes from.

Camp is coming, have fun enjoying the game because you love it. Anything can happen. That's why it's fun.

[robrob74]

https://nhltradetalk.com/toffoli-takes-shot-at-darryl-sutters-mind-games-with-flames/

 

interesting read about a Toffoli interview.  Sounds like he was a Sutter guy as far as getting a lot of playing time, and the trick is to tune him out, yet still play Sutter's way to maintain playing time...

[travel_dude]

9 hours ago, robrob74 said:

https://nhltradetalk.com/toffoli-takes-shot-at-darryl-sutters-mind-games-with-flames/

 

interesting read about a Toffoli interview.  Sounds like he was a Sutter guy as far as getting a lot of playing time, and the trick is to tune him out, yet still play Sutter's way to maintain playing time...

 

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.

[robrob74]

1 minute ago, travel_dude said:

 

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.

 

it sounded like Huska is a guy that will continue to tell a player to do something the way he expects you to and tell you why and how at the same time do the player knows why it's going to help his game and the team.

[travel_dude]

1 hour ago, robrob74 said:

 

it sounded like Huska is a guy that will continue to tell a player to do something the way he expects you to and tell you why and how at the same time do the player knows why it's going to help his game and the team.

 

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.

[The_People1]

11 hours ago, robrob74 said:

https://nhltradetalk.com/toffoli-takes-shot-at-darryl-sutters-mind-games-with-flames/

 

interesting read about a Toffoli interview.  Sounds like he was a Sutter guy as far as getting a lot of playing time, and the trick is to tune him out, yet still play Sutter's way to maintain playing time...

 

I don't have a problem with Sutter per se.  He pushes buttons.  It's just, kids these days aren't made with the same buttons they used to be.  Different generation needs different motivational tactics.  If Sutter isn't able to adapt to the times then he should retire.