Flames biggest weakness - Defensive depth, scoring depth, team speed, or grit

[mcjmcj]

I know its early but.. the Flames appear to have numerous holes in their line-up. What is the Flames biggest defiecieny or need:

• depth scoring- after Gaudreau and Monahan is there anyone to fear frrom the Flames
• depth d- Gio, Brodie, and I guess Hamilton are fine but then everyone else is a 6-7 d-man.
• Speed- Hamilton, Gaudreau, Frolik, and Brodie(MONAHAN AND GIO HAVE OTHER ATTRIBUTES) all can skate but the rest of the team is generally all clones- exact same skillset, no creativity, no team speed.
• Is there any player on he Flames that teams hate( maybe Ferland but he is a borderline NHL player)? The team needs a pest!!

Speed and skill is what wins in the NHL, not size without talent.

It is not reasonable to expect the goalies to cover-up the shortcomings of the team.

[CroFlames]

I wonder if the "whats wrong with the Flames" thread could have covered "Flames biggest weakness"?

No. Better start a new thread.

[N-E-B]

Scoring depth isn't an issue. The issue is our best players aren't playing like it. You're really overthinking it.

[genetic_phreek]

I think the biggest is team speed. Gaudreau is quick but he's not fast. The same could be said with Brodie.

I do think the skill could make up for speed but the team isn't super skilled either.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

Scoring depth isn't an issue. The issue is our best players aren't playing like it. You're really overthinking it.

That's the symptom, not the issue.

The question should be, why aren't the best players playing like it? Are they out of shape, not being coached well, not accepting the coaching, not trying, not being held accountable, etc...

Personally I think the young core is having trouble overcoming adversity and neither the coaches or veteran leadership have been successful at addressing it.

I really believe the team has the ability to do better, but something is stopping them from bringing it all together at this point.

[taco.vidal]

Coaching.

[IgiTang]

Gaudreau needs to stop whining after he gets checked off the puck and he needs to fight through it. The problem is, he may not be able to and depends on the referee to balance it out. However, the NHL referee is not there to to make sure a player doesn't get isolated, picked on, and eventually shut-down. They aren't going to call the borderline stuff on Gaudreau until he earns it by becoming a star again and stealing some of the limelight from the McDavids and Mathews.
Only then will Gaudreau start getting calls.

To get there, he needs to stop whining after he gets abused every time he has the puck.

The book on Gaudreau right now is be hard on him and make him pay the price to hold the puck. He'll either rush the play or dump it off early to avoid the contact.

The Flames need a bonafide top line right winger to take that pressure off Gaudreau.

[GullFoss]

Its obviously either that (a) the system sucks or (b) growing pains in learning the system.

I suppose (a) and (b) aren't mutually exclusive.

[hockey.modern]

So many new threads

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by IgiTang

Gaudreau needs to stop whining after he gets checked off the puck and he needs to fight through it. The problem is, he may not be able to and depends on the referee to balance it out. However, the NHL referee is not there to to make sure a player doesn't get isolated, picked on, and eventually shut-down. They aren't going to call the borderline stuff on Gaudreau until he earns it by becoming a star again and stealing some of the limelight from the McDavids and Mathews.
Only then will Gaudreau start getting calls.

To get there, he needs to stop whining after he gets abused every time he has the puck.

The book on Gaudreau right now is be hard on him and make him pay the price to hold the puck. He'll either rush the play or dump it off early to avoid the contact.

The Flames need a bonafide top line right winger to take that pressure off Gaudreau.

Great post!! Who could not see that coming.

Gaudreau was shut down on the road last year... How hard was it to figure out how to do that in Calgary when he has another Lady Byng candidate at centre and an older smaller no-hitter guy at right wing.


I thought the Flames could see that when they got Brouwer to ride shot gun on the first line.

Do the Flames man up Lucic style and make a statement that any and all dirty shots on Gaudreau will be met with immediate violent confrontation penalty or not. OR does Gaudreau start diving?

If Lucic doesn't score at all and lets McDavid be a 100+ pt player and Eberle a ppg player he is worth the 6M/year.

After Lucic grabbed Engelland after he bumped McDavid , McDavid had 5 non-contact periods and counting against the Flames..... seems so simple.

[dissentowner]

The only weakness the Flames have is a new system to play to and a rough start by their star players. The team build is fine, give it time.