Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Yes, clearing cap is prudent. Last year the Hawks won the cup playing Keith, Hjalmarsson, and Seabrook heavily and while Oduya was a bit of a contributor he wasn't exactly great and their bottom pairing was just being held together with paperclips and gum between Timonen, Cuminsky, Van Riemsdyk, and Rundblad.
I'm just not sure any of Spoon, or Smid, or Engelland fit Hartley's "vision". He said on that radio interview that "we don't believe in defensive defensemen" which kind of revealed that he probably wants a 60 minute onslaught of crazy pinches and unexpected stretch passes. Culkin/Kulak might develop a leg up on Spoon for that reason.
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And I don't blame him. The Flames have the horses up front in the top 9 to be able to attack in wave after wave after wave. That has the potential to really beat down the opposition. Turn over the puck and then it's an odd man rush back the other way. If Monahan, Bennett, Backlund and Stajan can win more than half the draws, that would help correct the Corsi problem very quickly.
I could see Kulak and Culkin leapfrogging Spoon as well and Andersson/Kylington nipping at their heels in a year or two. It's nice to have so much skill and depth at every position.