Quote:
Originally Posted by sa226
...Is it wrong to kind of hope for a non serious injury to Smid or Engelland? That third pairing has a ton of trouble. I'd like to see a call up with a little more mobility and puck skills to help out.
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I say yes, it is wrong. Smid and Engelland are bottom-pairing guys, who are playing like bottom-pairing defensemen. I would suggest that easily more than half the teams in the NHL are plagued by precisely the same problem. Besides, Engelland din't play in this game, and I thought that Smid acquitted himself okay on a few occasions by making some solid plays—it's just kind of what happens with bottom-pairing defensemen. And in the present market, there is just no real way to upgrade. I suppose the Flames could call up Wotherspoon or Culkin, but I'm not convinced this is what is best for them at the moment.
I think that in light of the low probability that the team could upgrade their defense, it probably makes the best sense to attempt to improve by making changes up front. McGrattan is simply done. He can't play the game at this level any more, and it is becoming increasingly more and more obvious. Bollig is probably also not good enough to stick with this team, but I would argue that he is a marginally better fill-in option than McGrattan. Ferland needs to stay in the NHL, and while Granlund is still okay despite having fallen off a bit, he should probably go back down. I was not an advocate of this at the beginning of the season, but it might be time to get Arnold and/or Poirier into the lineup.