Quote:
Originally Posted by Sandman
Really irks me that absolutely nothing has been done to address our size/toughness, especially after losing Lucic. We need another couple of guys who can hit, fight, and intimidate, or we'll get steamrolled every game. Austin Watson is a guy who can skate, kill penalties, and stick up for teammates- and he's available as a UFA. There's also Nick Ritchie, Max Comtois, and Cal Foote.
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While I agree the Flames need some size the Athletic seems to think we made the wise moves in dumping Lucic and Lewis.
https://theathletic.com/4701104/2023...mproved-teams/
On their list of most improved teams over the summer they have the Flames shockingly in the top seven teams and really focused on the departures of Lucic and Lewis as driving factors.
"I’m shocked the Flames ended up this high, especially after losing the Tyler Toffoli t
rade. But addition by subtraction goes a long way and the Flames added a lot by not re-signing either Trevor Lewis or Milan Lucic. Part of Calgary’s problem last year was how disastrous its fourth line was with Lucic and Lewis being primary culprits of that.
They’re gone now and as a result, the Flames are 16 goals better from those two losses alone."
I agree with them. Yes, we need some serious size injected in the lineup, but size with skill. To me that means more Ruzicka and Duehr and then look at the possibilities of Klapka and Pospisil getting some games here and there. Flames have been terrible in giving the young guys shots while sticking with obvious veteran anchors. I hope this changes. I would much prefer to see a young guy get beat on a goal hoping they will learn from the failure rather than watching a washed up veteran not GAF and learn n nothing.