[News] Flames put Byron and Raymond on waivers. UPD: Byron claimed by Habs

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Who may I ask is on the roster in the bottom six that would be weaker or less tough than Byron? Pretty lateral IMO. The Flames got bigger and didn't lose any thougjness. I'd say they lost a bit of heart with Byron gone but that's about it. And speed. That was the one thing mighty mouse had in spades over any man on the Flames roster.

Bollig, Stajan, David Jones, Joe Colborne.

[David Struch]

This is worse than 2001 when the Montreal Canadiens claimed Benoît Gratton.

[Poe969]

Originally Posted by CsInMyBlood

Showing some hockey ignorance here.

What's the difference between a missed breakaway and no breakaway? Is this for real?

How about the fact that when you're on a breakaway you are driving the puck to the net in the oppositions zone?

That means the opposition is not in a position to score on you.

How many of those breakaways were due to Byron stripping the puck of the oppositions stick? He was so good at takeaways. He is a smart player.

I have a feeling the Flames were hoping Byron passed through waivers which would have given them some good flexibility for the next month.

Montreal scouts have obviously done their job and scooped him up.

I hope he finally puts it all together and rips it up in the East. He will be missed, especially if the Flames run into injuries up front.

Best of luck Paul, thanks for the never give up, relentless workhorse, tough to play against style of hockey you brought to the Flames.

Quite a bit of actual ignorance on your part here....

He was good at the defensive side of the game, I never disputed that. He brought energy and speed to the game, I didn't dispute that either. But here's the thing you might be missing because you're caught up in the love for Byron; all those things he did were not good enough to win us games, or at least enough games. Sure he's a smart player, he's just small. In the western conference when you play against big teams constantly, being a small player who's fast and good at takeaways just isn't enough. Some around here are making it sound like he won the selke or something. He was good but he wasn't great. The proof is that management was willing to lose him for nothing. You can say that they hoped he passed through waivers and that's probably true, but you could also say that they really didn't care if he was claimed or not because there is enough depth on this team to make up for his loss. We don't know for sure so don't make it sound like it's fact. And the "Montreal scouts have obviously done their job..." maybe that's because the guy they had slotted to play on the fourth line just got into a car accident and is going through life issues a couple days before the season started and they were desperate but you're probably right...the habs were one of the last teams able to put in a claim and they got him so over 20 teams passed on him because they weren't doing their job, that has to be it! Byron was a good player, not great, not even good enough to keep on a team with a lot of depth and young guys coming up through the system but he was good. Sure, the team may go through a bunch of injuries and wish they had him but if you look at this team, there are a lot of guys who play in the top 9 that could move down to the last line and not look out of place. Byron was an asset on the PK but the team just signed Frolik who's good on the PK and other aspects of the game. Byron will probably do well in Montreal because it's the east, the game is different and the team is built different than Calgary. I wish him the best but I guess since I'm not in tears over the departure of a small fourth line player, I'm less of a fan or something...

And if you're going to jump on people for not being sad that Byron is gone, you'd better start a thread about how bad management is for losing this guy for nothing. This management team that has turned this team around and made this team respectable again, who's made a bunch of great moves and isn't afraid to admit when they've made a bad move. I'm sure that pretty soon they're going to publicly say that this team is not as good as it was because Byron is not on the team.

Give your head a shake.

I'm not sure if it's because some around here have some kind of relationship with Byron but you'd think this team just traded away Monahan or something. The guy was a fourth line player who was replaced. He was an NHL player who had some skill but that skill was replaced by better players and the team is better off yet some around here are even saying they're not as excited for the season because fourth line player Paul Byron who had 19 points last year is not on the team. It doesn't matter if the team picked up potential franchise defenseman Douggie Hamilton, they lost fringe NHL'er Paul Byron, why bother even watching right?

Fans often get mad at players who are selfish and care more about their stats or their careers then about the team and use the phrase "it's about the team on the front, not the name on the back" yet when one of their favourite players is traded it's the end of the world!

I trust management, I think they made a smart move. As much as I like watching certain players, if it means making this team better than I'm all for it...by the sounds of it, some around here would rather have their favourite players on the team instead of winning.

[Hockeyguy15]

Glad the season starts tonight.

[SHOGUN]

Sucks that Byron got claimed. At the end of the interview, you could tell Byron was tearing up a bit... just shows you how tight the team is.

[Badgers Nose]

I've seen very little to argue with from this management team. A few chubby contracts is about all.

Losing Byron is disappointing, but if he doesn't fit their plans anymore I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I am more sad that no one picked up Raymond.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

I've seen very little to argue with from this management team. A few chubby contracts is about all.

Losing Byron is disappointing, but if he doesn't fit their plans anymore I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I am more sad that no one picked up Raymond.

All the "errors" I think it's just timing. Raymond and Engelland are a year too long. Byron I guess would sting less if it were next season.

[Bandwagon In Flames]

Originally Posted by Poe969

Quite a bit of actual ignorance on your part here....

Actually his post was spot on. Your post however heavily resembles that of Ricardow doing his typical spiel... Typically if someone needs to write a wall of text in response, they've already lost the argument. You talk about 50 different things that aren't factual or relevant to what CIsInMyBlood was talking about.

Byron was a great advanced stat player for a reason. Him getting all those breakaways from his own zone is a huge contributor. Speed is value in this league, even without the scoring touch. If you can't understand this, I don't know how else I can spoon feed it to you.

[Poe969]

I didn't say he isn't good or valuable. Not once did I say that he isn't good at what he does because he is. And I'm not saying "what's the difference between a missed breakaway and no break away" or whatever that argument is. Byron was good enough for this team last year. He isn't now. That's a good thing because it means we now have better players.

If you think that only speed and advanced stats are important, you're likely an oiler fan. I can pick apart other people's posts as well!

The thing I'm arguing here is that Byron wasn't as important to the team as some are making him out to be. Sure, this team was successful because of hard work and speed and effort but skill comes into play here too.

If management was willing to lose him for nothing, was he that valuable to the team? You can say that they probably wished he wasn't claimed but if they really didn't want to lose him, he wouldn't have been waived in the first place.

I'm guessing a lot of you guys have a Byron jersey or something and have some misplaced anger because your favourite player is gone.

[Bandwagon In Flames]

Originally Posted by Poe969

I didn't say he isn't good or valuable. Not once did I say that he isn't good at what he does because he is. And I'm not saying "what's the difference between a missed breakaway and no break away" or whatever that argument is. Byron was good enough for this team last year. He isn't now. That's a good thing because it means we now have better players.

If you think that only speed and advanced stats are important, you're likely an oiler fan. I can pick apart other people's posts as well!

The thing I'm arguing here is that Byron wasn't as important to the team as some are making him out to be. Sure, this team was successful because of hard work and speed and effort but skill comes into play here too.

If management was willing to lose him for nothing, was he that valuable to the team? You can say that they probably wished he wasn't claimed but if they really didn't want to lose him, he wouldn't have been waived in the first place.

I'm guessing a lot of you guys have a Byron jersey or something and have some misplaced anger because your favourite player is gone.

Alright keep putting words in my mouth and drawing conclusions where there is none.

I honestly have no clue what you're trying to argue anymore so I'm going to leave it. I'll chalk it up to you not actually reading the post that you called ignorant. Seems to be a case of having the mentality that you need to fight back because someone called you out.

[Poe969]

I got grouped into the whole "a missed breakaway is worthless". I don't agree with it, I agree that the team is better without Byron because a better player passed him on the depth chart. I called out the guy for grouping into that and saying I was being hockey ignorant. Byron was good at what he did but Frolik will be better on the PK and get more overall points.

The loss of Byron sucks but if anything, it means the team is getting better.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by oldschoolcalgary

actually an interesting idea... must be some reason they couldn't do this?

No, they could have. They waived them now because they wanted to keep them (an odd statement on the face of it but it's true). Think about it... it's cutdown day teams are trying to get down to their roster limit so if you put a guy on waivers he's less likely to be claimed. They were basically making a bet that Raymond and Byron would be more likely to pass through waivers now then in the next month when Smid/Colborne/Brodie are cleared to play.

[flamesrule_kipper34]

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Bandwagon In Flames

Alright keep putting words in my mouth and drawing conclusions where there is none.

I honestly have no clue what you're trying to argue anymore so I'm going to leave it. I'll chalk it up to you not actually reading the post that you called ignorant. Seems to be a case of having the mentality that you need to fight back because someone called you out.

You basically just described your own actions in this thread earlier to a T.

Poe's point is pretty simple.
It might be ignorant to state that the breakaways didn't matter just because he didn't score, but it's equally ignorant to overstate the significance of losing an extra forward who was passed on the depth chart. Yeah, dude took a wall of text to say it, but it doesn't make his point less valid.

Breakaways are great but you can't get them from the press box.

[Poe969]

I do want to say that I don't think breakaways are useless and I don't think I've even said that. Stop putting words in my mouth.... I agreed with his overall sentiment not the breakaway portion of it. When he got a short handed breakaway it was awesome because it gave our guys a rest and it meant the other team wasn't scoring. I like guys who get breakaways.

Breakaways do matter.

[Toonage]

Renaud Lavoie tweeting that Byron won't be playing tonight vs. Toronto

[Bandwagon In Flames]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

You basically just described your own actions in this thread earlier to a T.

Poe's point is pretty simple.
It might be ignorant to state that the breakaways didn't matter just because he didn't score, but it's equally ignorant to overstate the significance of losing an extra forward who was passed on the depth chart. Yeah, dude took a wall of text to say it, but it doesn't make his point less valid.

Breakaways are great but you can't get them from the press box.

Did you read Poe's original post or did you just see a chance to jump on a post made by me?

He implied that the Flames didn't win the Stanley cup because Byron missed on his breakaways. He must of just worded it poorly because I don't know how anyone could possibly think this way.

[Poe969]

how the hell did I imply that?

Wow. this thread is done.

[Bandwagon In Flames]

Originally Posted by Poe969

how the hell did I imply that?

Wow. this thread is done.

Please tell me what you're attempting to say here:

Sure, he got lots of breakaways but he didn't score and although he did contribute to the team's success last season, it didn't end the way the team wanted it to.

This could be re-written to:

Sure, he got lots of breakaways but he didn't score and although he did contribute to the team's success last season, the team didn't win the Stanley Cup.

But I agree, you should probably jump ship and abandon this thread.

[Hack&Lube]

What does SPULLLLL mean???