Quote:
Originally Posted by SeanCharles
Captain Obvious alert: It sucks around here when things aren’t going well haha
I know he has struggled but I don’t think trading Johnny is the answer. Tkachuk is leading the team and has 5 more points than #13.
With a couple good games Johnny could be our leading scorer.
Everyone’s memories are so short in some ways.
The team was firing on all cylinders last year and Johnny had nearly 100pts.
This year the team is struggling and Johnny is on pace for 60pts.
The team needed to add to the group in the offseason, instead lengthy RFA holdouts and a player not waiving their no-trade clause really tied Treliving hands.
We need more 5v5 scoring in the form of a top 6 forwards balance things out.
How can it only be on Johnny when the whole teams scoring rates are down and the offence from the backend has dried up all together this year?
Something bigger is wrong when you are the 2nd worst even strength scoring team, behind only the basement dweller Wings, after being one of the best last season.
We have depth but outside of Ryan our bottom 6 has produced next to nothing.
When that is the case the pressure is on the top 6 and given that Mangiapane is just getting used to the role the onus goes to 5 guys.
Backlund is not best suited to be in an offensive role and has struggled mightily.
That leaves 4 forwards carrying the brunt of the top 6 scoring load. Given this and the lack of defensive scoring it’s no wonder we are struggling to score.
Trading Johnny doesn’t help this problem IMO.
We need someone to slot in:
Tkachuk-Lindholm-Mangiapane
Gaudreau-Monahan-________
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Guess why our 5 on production is terrible? Partially because Gaudreau has been god awful 5 on 5. That's why its on him more than the others. I mean you talk points and points but there's more to hockey than just points. Gaudreau has been flat out bad for a lot of this year. I don't know how anyone who's been watching closely could say otherwise. Sure he's racked up some points but his points this year frankly flatter his play. It's been easy to shut down Gaudreau this year. He's given up possession far too easily. People are pointing a lot of the blame for this year's scoring on Gaudreau because he's clearly been the biggest problem this year.
Trading him for another elite forward who is better 5 on 5 and can't be shut down as easily 5 on 5 could easily make us a better team. It's quite easy to imagine.
People say he won't have value. It's BS. With open ice Gaudreau is still magic. He can't create the open ice for himself like he used to. But GM's can think optimistically. They can think that Gaudreau will fit better on their team because they have bigger and more physical skilled players to create room for Gaudreau. They can value (or perhaps overvalue) his puck skill because perhaps that's their biggest need. Some GM's value pure skill more than others. Just like some GM's value competitiveness more than others, or size/strength, etc. Some GM's put more value in numbers and these GM's would probably would still badly want Gaudreau.
I know some will argue we can't trade him because of his puck skill but I've long questioned whether the really soft, skilled players are who you win with in the playoffs. You've got to have a certain amount of grit and heart to fight through NHL playoff checking and get anywhere near the net. I am often accused of being optimistic about all things Flames and this year has me very pessimistic about Gaudreau ever having the tenacity, courage, heart, grit, etc to fight through tighter more physical playoff checking.
But you're never going to convince everyone to jump on the trade Gaudreau bandwagon. Some (not saying you are) will overlook his warts because of his magic and I understand that perspective. It's going to be a very important second half and playoffs for Johnny.