[Chingas]

I am a Flames fan through thick and thin, but I am also not blind. We have some very fundamental system/ lack of system issues.
Our zone exit strategy is stretch pass, or Gaudreau skating the puck out. Too easy to defend against, too predictable.

Our zone entry strategy is either Monahan or gaudreau enter the zone and pass it off. Other than that it is dump and lazy chase with no results. Also if we are not going to support the first man in on a forecheck we should just send no one in and play the trap. We have had some guys do some great forechecking, and win the puck only to be all by them selves with no one to pass to. What a waste of hard work and energy. I hate the trap, but it may be the short term answer for our team. We can attack with quick response more effectively from the center zone than we can from a stretch pass that hits its mark at about a 10% success rate so far. Further more, our D do not seem to look for the winger gaining speed when they are between the blue lines, too often we see Bennett ramped up only to see Russell or Wideman circle back and try again. They only have eyes for Johnny and too many times waste a fresh line by resetting and killing 20 seconds when that should be the most opportune time for a rush.

Our Power play strategy with only one man up high is not working and allows the defensive team to clear up the boards too easily. I understand that some of our strength is our d-men's ability to sneak up and join the play down low but it is not providing results. Please go back to an old fasioned two men high structure and get shots on the net, keep pounding away until it works. Find some success and then experiment again. Too many ineffective power plays that result in tilting the ice the wrong way.

We are not making the other teams pay for their space, ever! I want someone in the room to go slap everyone else in the face and wake them up, piss them off. The effort in the last two games has been there but we are too short on passion. I want them to hate every last guy on the other team. When they are standing too close to the goalie after a whistle abuse them. We need to get some respect and by ourselves some of our own space. Teams need to hate playing us. Wash some faces, take zero disrespect from the other team. Ovi should have been attacked after his BS the other night and we just laid over. It is not acceptable.

I want Hamilton to start doing everything hard. Hit hard, shoot hard, pass hard. I don't care if he gets caught out of position by doing this but he needs to realise that he is a big big body and start to use it. Start being crisp, deliberate and Strong. I will forgive any mishap that comes from a result of him being strong. Once he can gain that confidence he can start making adjustments for what is hurting him after that, and I think that he will be a better player as a result of it.

This team needs to develop some systems and play them. A lot of the struggles are a direct result of that. We are not skilled enough to play river hockey all night every night. Hartley needs to take a game in the pressbox himself and watch from above. It is so blatently obvious that I can't believe that he is missing it himself. Gio did mention that we played better in the middle zone during the Red wing game, so there is something being mentioned in practice.The guy is a great coach and I have to believe that he isn't blind to it all, but I do wonder why we have not seen any real system developed after all his time here.

Sorry for the long rambling post, but I have so many thoughts that I can't get them all in order.

This team is not fighting for each other. Gio has played two solid games so far TWO, and now is given a free pass from everyone, but he needs to get his team on board. Hartley needs to give us a fresh look. This team is not trying to do things different and in return are not getting different results. (The definition of insanity).

I don't expect that the rebuild is magically over after two seasons so my expectations are tempered. Additionally this mess will not fix itself. We are not going to get a new second line in the next couple of weeks and I doubt that would help anything anyway. The responisbility is soley on Gio and Bob to get this team on track. It is their job and they better start doing it.