Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
Speed is the biggest lack on the Flames, and it's a little odd. It's glaring, but almost every big acquisition was a guy who, despite other positives, lacks speed: Huberdeau, Toffoli, Lucic, etc. Lindholm and Kadri are only average. And for some reason their drafting was the same: Monahan, Tkachuk are slower guys. Bennett, Mangiapane, Backlund, Ruzicka are middling. Even Gaudreau was quick as opposed to fast.
Their best skaters up front right now are middle six: Dube, Coleman, Duehr.
If you watch the POs right now the pace is very fast. Flames are not at that level as a team.
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Fully agree. I’m sure Treliving and Company bought into the Brian Burke school of looking at your competition (primarily Edmonton and Colorado) and thought the shut down style would be best to compete with them. But it really doesn’t work. Even from a good product to watch, I’d argue isn’t great, and that even flows down to attracting talent to the team. Certainly winning helps a lot of things but having a fun team to watch really builds excitement. That’s lost on these guys making those decisions. Frankly if it’s a team who tries and out score you, I’d love to tune in to see the skill at play — even if losing. Old school hockey guys will disagree but the game has gone through a change the past 20 years and it’s puzzling the Flames keep wanting this old school mentality.