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Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan
That's 3 weeks away. The Flames are pretty much out of it now (imo) they will be a forgone conclusion by the 29th at the rate it's going.
I understand the argument that Nakladal hasn't 'earned' anything yet, but at some point you need to know what you're working with if you any inclination of bringing him back next season (if he'd even want to re-sign with the Flames again). If they do, throw the guy a bone and give him a shot. You could always dress 7 d-men and scratch a forward like Colborne who is wasted space this season. Give Nakladal a few minutes here and there and see what you have.
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What's the rush? He's very likely to get some time in before the end of the season due to injury/suspensions/trades.
Scratching veteran defensemen for minor leaguers is a tanking move that no respectable coach is going to do unless his manager tells him its okay. Not sure you guys are really looking at this from Hartley's perspective. Hartley is a professional and he's going to dress the best lineup he can in order to win NHL games. That's his job, win NHL games. He's going to try to do his job. In what world does scratching Russell, Smid or Engelland for a minor league defenseman give us a better chance to win? Hartley can't do that type of move until he's told to, or until he's forced to put Nakladal in the lineup due to other circumstances (injury, trade, etc.)
I understand you guys are impatient and want to see minor leaguers to see what we've got (me too) but Hartley as a professional non-tanking coach is not going to scratch an NHL veteran in order to play a minor leaguer unless the veteran is playing bad or banged up. That's just not realistic to expect him to do that. He's a professional coach, he's going to dress his best players. Nakladal has done nothing yet to show he's a better NHL defenseman than Russell, Smid or Engelland. Until he does we don't need to bemoan it when he doesn't play.