Standing at the Crossroads - The Flames Fell to Their Knees

[Caged Great]

I wrote an article over at fireside chat

Borrowing some symbolism from the great Robert Johnson, the Flames have finally arrived at the crossroads.


With their starting goaltender sidelined with a long term injury, their star forward only scoring twice in his last twenty six games, along with their number two defenseman making more mental mistakes than most rookies, and the rest of the team being wildly inconsistent, it is not difficult to imagine why the Flames are having some serious difficulties. Only twice this season the Flames have been able to hold the opposition to two goals or less. In those games, the opposition has started their backup goalies more so than not and yet they have still only managed five wins. Four of those came against teams that are not currently in a playoff spot, and the other win was against the team currently in eighth. It would be more reassuring if we were heading into an easy stretch of games, but of the next 18 games only 6 games are against teams that they have either defeated this year or have had an easier time with in the past (Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, and Colorado).


That's not to say it's all doom and gloom. We have seen some decent stats put up by several of our players. Alex Tanguay has 12 points in 15 games, Mike Cammalleri has 11 in 12. Even Jarome, who has started off slowly, has 10 in 15 games, which has been matched exactly by Lee Stempniak. The much maligned Jay Boumeester is surprisingly on pace for 15 goals in a normal season, after seeing his offense vanish under Brent Sutter. Therein lies the rub. We do have solid players, attractive players. If I were a contending team, I would be looking at the Flames because there are several players that you could conceivably fold into your own team and see them contributing towards the goal of winning the cup.


Herein lies the crossroads.

The link to the full article is here

http://www.firesidechat.ca/2013/02/2...o-their-knees/

[Huntingwhale]

Just curious, who is this #2 defenseman you think makes more mistakes then a rookie? You must be refeering to Giordano, since Wideman has be nothing but great all year.

[Dr. Doom]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Just curious, who is this #2 defenseman you think makes more mistakes then a rookie? You must be refeering to Giordano, since Wideman has be nothing but great all year.

Giordano has been horrible. Not sure what happened there but he sucks now.

[Sakari]

Originally Posted by Dr. Doom

Giordano has been horrible. Not sure what happened there but he sucks now.

He definitely doesn't have the assists.

[Caged Great]

Definitely Giordano.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Just curious, who is this #2 defenseman you think makes more mistakes then a rookie? You must be refeering to Giordano, since Wideman has be nothing but great all year.

If Giordano would have been signed here as a UFA do you think people would continually make excuses/ignore crap play like they do for Wideman?

Just trying to figure out why new guys get a pass and only thing I can come up with is the shiny, new toy is much easier to look at with rose colored glasses than the then returning guys.

[H2SO4(aq)]

So frustrating watching Giordano play this way. There was a time when we probably could have had Neal and Niskanen out of Dallas for him as he was a better player than Goligoski. For whatever reason, since that season he has just been rotting away.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by moon

Just trying to figure out why new guys get a pass and only thing I can come up with is the shiny, new toy is much easier to look at with rose colored glasses than the then returning guys.

One is producing offensively and the other isn't.

Wideman's far from perfect in his own end, although I would argue much better than Giordano has been, but as long as the offensive defenseman is putting up points he'll get a pass. He's in the top 10 in scoring for defensemen in the league and is third on the Flames. The lustre will come off once his scoring dries up but until then we'll turn a blind eye to his defensive gaffes if he's QBing a decent PP.

What is Giordano now? He's not good defensively, he's definitely not good offensively, he's not hitting and he's not playing sound positionally. If Giordano had triple the points or was playing a decent shutdown role we wouldn't be so harsh on him. Until he plays like he did a year ago, he deserves the criticism.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

One is producing offensively and the other isn't.

Wideman's far from perfect in his own end, although I would argue much better than Giordano has been, but as long as the offensive defenseman is putting up points he'll get a pass. He's in the top 10 in scoring for defensemen in the league and is third on the Flames. The lustre will come off once his scoring dries up but until then we'll turn a blind eye to his defensive gaffes if he's QBing a decent PP.

What is Giordano now? He's not good defensively, he's definitely not good offensively, he's not hitting and he's not playing sound positionally. If Giordano had triple the points or was playing a decent shutdown role we wouldn't be so harsh on him. Until he plays like he did a year ago, he deserves the criticism.

I think Giordano definitely deserves criticism not saying that. Just seems like Wideman gets a pass for his garbage play because he puts up some points but playing like crap overall.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by moon

I think Giordano definitely deserves criticism not saying that. Just seems like Wideman gets a pass for his garbage play because he puts up some points but playing like crap overall.

He's 2 points away from team lead. Yes, he's made mistakes but he's an offensive defenseman and has been one of the consistent offensive threats. He's getting less criticism because he's serving a purpose, and sure probably abit because he's the shiny new toy.

Would we love to see him playing amazingly defensively? Duh, but if he's not at the very least he's an offensive defenseman who's good offensively. This is a team full of centers who aren't centers, scoring wingers who can't score, defensive defenseman who aren't good defensively, fourth line gritty forwards who aren't gritty and goalies who don't stop pucks. Wideman's one of the few players who's at least good at what he's suppose to be good at.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by moon

I think Giordano definitely deserves criticism not saying that. Just seems like Wideman gets a pass for his garbage play because he puts up some points but playing like crap overall.

It's much more difficult for the average fan to judge defensive performances.

[Rocky Raccoon]

That is only your opinion Moon, I think Wideman is doing exactly what he is paid to do and Giordano is not. I also think you only see what supports your opinions and nothing else.

Also, what is with this act of being a thorn in everyone's side and being abrasive?

[Caged Great]

Wideman is a standard average 3rd/4th defenseman in his own end. Alright, albeit unspectacular. He usually makes the safe standard play and only occasionally makes a bad decision, or is out of position. He's not more prone to mistakes than any typical 2nd pairing guy, because if they were better defensively they'd be shutdown 1st pairing guys instead. An average 2nd pairing guy gets paid around 2.5-3 million. He gets an additional 2.75 million per year because he can put up 50 points instead of 15 or so, which is fair.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Rocky Raccoon

That is only your opinion Moon, I think Wideman is doing exactly what he is paid to do and Giordano is not. I also think you only see what supports your opinions and nothing else.

Of course it is only my opinion. 95% of all posts on this board is and 100% of the posts in this thread are only posters opinions.

I see what is out there to and think that Wideman is getting paid way too much for what is he doing but he is doing what is expected of him decent offense on PP and horrible play everywhere else.

Giordano is obviously having a very poor year. I don't think that means only he can be criticized though.

Also, what is with this act of being a thorn in everyone's side and being abrasive?

Not sure what your point is here but almost certain it has nothing to do with the thread and at best can be handled in PM if you have a problem with me.

[Stay Golden]

I applaud you CG on your thread title.

Gio has been lask luster going back to the last 2months of last season but i still have faith he will back to the style he was 1 year ago and prior.
If he is still playing like a blockhead 10-12 games from now, JMO Feaster should shop him around and see what offers are available at the deadline.

Wideman i didn't have any issues when he was signed and still have no problem with his cap hit. His strength never has been his defensive coverage but he is definatly living up to his billing as an offensive and great out let passer.
When the puck is on his stick he makes the decision quickly and usually its stick to stick.
Brodie has been the right partner for him.

[doctajones428]

Originally Posted by moon

I think Giordano definitely deserves criticism not saying that. Just seems like Wideman gets a pass for his garbage play because he puts up some points but playing like crap overall.

Because Wideman, an offensive defenseman, is earning his pay by bringing what he's paid to bring, offense.

Giordano, a two way defenseman and shot blocking specialist is not earning his pay by not bringing any aspect of what he's being paid to bring.

[Brick]

Giordano is over-rated. He doesn't play like a top 4 defenceman. He played over his head for a bit until he signed his last contract and that's pretty much been the end of that. I hope that the Flames trade him while he still has some value around the league.

[minnow]

I like Old Dutch.

[djsFlames]

Outside of 15 games this season (he was fine through the entirety of last season imo) Giordano has been an exceptional d-man. He's stepped up for the team in the past when it has struggled, and scored some big goals, not to mention made outstanding plays defensively on a regular basis. Enough that outsiders around the league have really noticed the guy. This guy was being discussed as being the future inheritor of the C for the team last year.. that doesn't come without merit.

You don't just throw in the towel on a player who's been that for you through the majority of his career because of a poor start through 15 games. The fact that some people seem to be pretty content with Jbo these days, some even suggesting that we keep him now, after 3 poor seasons prior to this just shows you how much it's all about "what have you done for me lately?", Seems people have really short term memories. Maybe it's the nature of the shortened season, but it's not likely anyone is expecting us to really make a run for the playoffs at this point, (if we do-great), but how about we stop panicking and jumping the gun, and let him play his full (half) season then we'll see where we're at.

I'm still a Gio fan. He's underperformed but I have seen enough of his tremendous play and ability myself over several years to know without question what this guy is capable of, so I have no worries that he'll get back to that, which was a norm for him before. If anything this is an anomaly for him, not like he had a one and done season.

[BACKCHECK!!!]

Mark Giordano is not the kind of player you toss on the firewood pile because he's had a rough start after not playing for like 8 months.

Gio isn't as good as he looked a year and a half ago, but he's not as bad as he looks now.

Although Wideman has been excellent so far, id still take Gio over Wideman if I had to choose.