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Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan
I can't really dispute anything you said, but it is what it is. I don't however think there are a lot of teams that talk about their specific identity with the media, or what type of team they are trying to build. It just becomes self-evident over time. The quote was just a way of looking into their heads as they decide on what players to go after and why. That's as close as you're going to get I think.
I will say however that those players they're drafting will percolate to the team in a few years.
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You do have to think that if that is the philosophy for draft picks, it should be similar for the existing roster.
That is what must be very difficult for management, the mixed signals.
Tanguay can be silky smooth with passing and creative, but somehow on the defensive end seems to be having difficulty this year. And this is odd, because he has generally been decent in that regard.
Bouwmeester has really stepped up offensively, and being as he was always able to jump up and get back, has done more of that and been rewarded. But in his own zone, he seems to have a lot of trouble processing all of the simultaneous activity between watching the puck carrier, and seeing how the opposition is moving in to and out of scoring areas.
Glencross is showing that he can be a 30 goal scorer. Drives the net at times, and defensively seems aloof at times.
Comeau has had energy but some horrendous d-zone coverage in sevveral instances resulting in goals when it appeared he was playing post faceoff as the C.
Hartley said after the Stars game, paraphrasing, that the Stars didn't earn their 4 goals, they were given to them by the Flames. I can see Hartley's frustration. And Feaster's.
If these guys all are alert and intelligent defensively, these things don't become an issue.
This is what made guys like Lidstrom and Gretzky stand above the rest, their ability to read the ice and anticipate.