Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
Gaudreau and Monahan have been really good this year.
Lindholm and Tkachuk have been anointed as the first line, but they haven't been as effective or as consistent. Mangiapane is working hard, but has been ineffective. Someone said they think he is trying to do too much - I agree with that.
None of the new players have found a role to fit into yet, but it is early.
Lucic is costing us games.
Hanifin has quietly stepped up his game. He and Tanev are fantastic together.
However, I am not a huge fan of Gio and Andersson together. I still think Gio-Tanev and Hanifin-Andersson is the way to go. But let's give it time.
Valimaki had a tough game last night but some people need to relax, he'll be fine. I do not think you pull him out of the lineup for one bad game, you tell him to forget it and go play.
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Really agree with a lot of this. It's funny, given the bolded, you'd have expected the Flames to be on easy street but just not getting enough from the rest of the lineup yet.
After five games, the team probably deserves a slightly better record than they have. I expect Backlund and Mangiapane to begin to produce a little as they are good players. Then the so called depth with Lucic, Bennett, Ryan, Leivo, Simon and Nordstrom just needs to start holding their own.
I'm pretty happy with how the D has played.
And Markstrom has been fine.