Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
Without players getting called up you have to assume the Flames either think they all suck, or they're not ready.
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Or that you can only have 23 men on the roster, and you can't exceed the cap. The Flames have room to add just one player to the roster, and he has to be making no more than $1,578,000. If they want to add any more, they have to put players on waivers and send them down – and they will have lost the ability to bank cap for later in the year. That's pretty drastic surgery for a three-game losing streak.
Sutter was quite frank that the Flames sent Zary down for contractual reasons. Every team does this. It's not because the Calgary Flames' management is uniquely stupid.
Every team goes through situations like this, and they usually handle them in the same way. But because this is the team that's in town and you follow them closely, you can see their warts and criticize them. Don't imagine that nobody else in the NHL has the same warts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonded
Toss Phillips in for a game instead of Lucic.
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Apart from the cap issues I mentioned above, Lucic is one of the few players who have actually been playing the system Sutter wants them to play – which is the same system that produced last year's 111-point regular season. The players who really deserve to be out of the lineup are the alleged stars of the team, and there just aren't enough bodies on the roster to scratch them. The most you can do is reduce their ice time and reward the players who are trying to do the right things.
Which, for those who are wondering, is exactly why you get the fourth line taking offensive-zone faceoffs while trailing by a goal late in the game. Their skill is limited, but they're at least using what they have in the right way. The top lines can have those opportunities when they show they will use them to help the team and not hurt it.
In a league with a salary cap, a maximum of three healthy scratches, and guaranteed contracts, this is about the only way to send a message that the stars can't ignore.