[Ziggy Lidstrom]

Watched the game.

Refs had it out for us early but surprise it’s Calgary. same with the last game. When was Calgary’s last extended 5 on 3? The call on chucky was marginal. Boyd stepped on his stick. And some of the other calls were difficult to justify.

Flames d corps is competing back there and the forwards are playing deep but I think they forget that in hockey a good offence is good defence. This team cannot cycle nor play strong puck possession hockey and cannot exit their zone with control that often. This says all I need about their playoff potential. Sadly another moribund season.

The tying goal was disgusting. How many times do we see a ref lose sight for a millisecond then blow the whistle when the flames are pressing? Enough I’d say. And Hyman was completely camped in the blue paint. He wasn’t hit that hard to end up there but didn’t try to move either.


However the pk looked good because we were aggressive. And our best pk’r was bsd. He made some timely saves when we needed them. Yet the whole unit looks improved and should be able to take pride from their effort in this respect the last two games.

Forwards outside of mangiapane look perimeter based. Benny on the top line is a downgrade from lindholm but I think they can get better. They have small flashes as a line but not enough work as a three Man Unit. It seems as if they don’t have each other figured out. That line doesn’t win board battles. This isn’t international ice. The small ice of the nhl assures board battles will be aplomb. Our players battle on occasion but never consistently. Too many plays taken off and too many details over looked.

I hate to say it but this team is a middling a group as one will see in this league. No cup for us with this core. I think mark stone might have been the ship that sailed.

Who would u want right now? Valimaki and Zary or mark stone? Tough call.

Mark stone precludes us from marky and Tanev.

Mark stone or valimaki, markstrom Tanev and zary I suppose then.

I think stone is the answer because he scores the other four don’t. Our projected ev strength goal out put is anemic. Like an objectively bad number in comparisons to good teams.

This team isn’t good. This team needs to fix whatever is the elephant in the room as a group or they will be chastised as a group of individuals. Either way the solution has to come from that room since no reinforcements are on any horizon.


Monohan has good hands when he gets the puck but he’s not fast, shifty or determined to take the puck to the net. The winning goal doesn’t reflect on him well and his newly decried commitment to defence and physicality. I think the teams needs him but the team is inherently flawed and will never challenge for a cup.

We are wasting prime years of miscast players and it seems our professional development is stagnating. Which players get better once they get to the big ice with us? Eats bread? Chucky looks like he has regressed. Monny same. Benny has regressed. Johnny looks like he has renewed pride in his craft a bit. Hanifin not progressing on offence. Kyllington just stagnates with elite tools. Sadly I think this team hasn’t hired the right personnel to augment the on ice group enough.



This team is mercurial with effort and commitment.

Go back to the lindholm as a rw. His play at center is good but not good enough to offset how bad the first line looks now. What made hudler so successful with our maligned top line? He could play make and stick handle well enough to keep up. Lindholm is our closest to that who possesses any lick of confidence in their offensive game. Benny needs more time up there to get a better sense of spacing so he can improve the line. Perhaps he isn’t a good enough trigger man for those two but he does have 3G in six games with those two. Ferland worked well with them sigh.

This team has been mentally fragile since the Colorado and referee playoffs of 2018 -19. Coaches are the easiest thing to change on a team in a salary cap world. Bring in julien or gallant or boudreau. Ward isn’t boosting any facet of the team to offset the boring tentative hockey we have seen this season from this group.

I say mentally fragile because when they have a lead the seem to allow the pressure to get to them. Look at the goal in game two of that Colorado series where they gave up the tie with a minute to go to jt compher?It’s a recurring type of mentality when this team has a lead. They play to not lose but end up looking passive and tentative. That Vancouver game where boeser scored late to tie. It it weren’t overtime during the regular season we probably lose that game.

This team should be better with the depth they have of quality players in their top six and top nine. This makes me think it’s the coach that could be changed and give this team the biggest boost. Julien would be a hard ass that I think this team needs. Ward isn’t a hard ass it seems. Plus Claude has a ring.