[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

Byron is barely a regular NHL player because he's small and not skilled. I know many on CP have Byron crushes, but he was not missed in the playoffs and is easily replaceble, and should be replaced by a bigger energy player of the Flames are to improve.

This team's measurably (and observably) best possession winger is "easily replacable" by a bigger player who does everything just as well. That's the problem with this emphasis on size. It makes people like Burke, and apparently yourself, oblivious to a player's actual on-ice contribution.

having a tough time understanding what problems you see with those guys. Colborne and Bollig were both fantastic in the playoffs in their role,

Bollig hit some big shots in the playoffs. Credit to him for that, though more of that credit goes to the skilled guys setting him up. But every other shift he was a liability or generally useless while taking a spot away from younger players like Shore, Granlund, and Jooris. Part of the blame goes to Hartley though, because scratching Jooris for games 4 and 5 may well have cost the team the series. It becomes a problem when a guy playing 10+ minutes is scratched in favor of a less skilled, worse possession guy playing under 7 minutes, all for some artificial emphasis on size.

Colborne, he had some good stretches (Game 1 vs Vancouver, Game 3 vs Anaheim) and yet he remains consistently one of the worst possession forwards on the entire team, a player unable to build chemistry with anyone. Why do you think we hit an 8 game losing streak just as he returned to the lineup, or why the 2nd unit power play had two entire goals this whole season?

People love to ignore his constant turnovers, his inability to win board battles despite being huge, and his general inability to cycle the puck efficiently. He can be invisible for two straight months, then have one pretty assist on the rush and it's back to "Joe Colborne is 6'5 and has the midas touch". When he was on Monahan's line, Monahan's scoring dried up. When he was on Gaudreau's line, Gaudreau got thrown in the pressbox. When he was on Backlund's line, Backlund had his worst stretch of the season. When he was on Jooris/Raymond's line, the team's depth scoring was non-existant. The one constant was that Colborne's line couldn't really get anything going, until the playoffs when Backlund and Bennett's overwhelming greatness carried him. I get that Colborne has upside and might just figure it out. But the elephant in the room is that he's still one of the worst possession players on the entire team.

and Engelland ability to step up to a top 4 role was huge.

Right. Because he totally wasn't an anchor on TJ Brodie and gave up a regular scoring-chance-fest all playoffs every time he was on the ice.

What about those guys do think Burke is overlooking as far as weaknesses go?

Their inability to play hockey very well. If they were 6'0 tall they'd each be AHL long shots. There's a reason the Hawks didn't need guys like that in the Cup final, even in their bottom pairing or their bottom 6. That were perfectly happy with guys like Kruger, Shaw, Teravainen, Timonen instead.

Look, I'm actually someone who wants the Flames to get bigger - specifically on the middle defense pairing - but unlike Burke I'm not oblivious to players' shortcomings if they're 6'2 or taller.