Quote:
Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan
He's had two transition periods this year so far.
The first was joining the team and playing on the 4th line, showing that he could play a solid 2-way role. He passed that audition.
Then he was given a spot at wing in the top 6, and he started scoring in bunches. Can he play offense? Check.
The team moves Lindholm out, and because of necessity, they ask him to move back to center, but this time in a top 6 role. He definitely saw his offense suffer as he adjusted back to center against top competiton, but held his own defensively.
Now, we see that he can add a lot of offense while having solid defensive numbers.
In his last 7 games, he has 9 points and is a +9.
Yegor Sharangovich is currently our #1 center. That is a sentence I would not have possibly thought at the beginning of the year.
This is why you never say with certainty what the future holds for a team. I saw someone say today on this forum that the Flames don't have a shot at a competitive team until 2030. WTF???!!! This league is full of so many variables that a team's fortune can change on a dime (see: Flames post playoff loss to Edmonton...dun dun dun). It's also why I love this G.M.'s M.O.: Find players that are buried on good teams. If you give a guy an opportunity to flourish that he's not getting somewhere else, not only might he pop, but he'll also be eternally loyal to a franchise that gave him that shot and believed in him. That guy will go through the wall for his team, and won't act like a mercenary (like so many recent players we traded away).
That's how you build a good team and a good culture. Keep on this path. This is the way.
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The Flames are using an interesting strategy by acquiring players who have been pushed down the lineup.
On most teams your top six guys are going to be used more and then you're going to have some players who are under the radar but are not really getting an opportunity because of low ice time. Kind of like Sam Bennett.
What's more interesting is that they're not looking for players who traditionally are considered to have high-end skill but looking a little deeper.
It's a similar strategy that Florida used to pick up players who might not be happy on their current teams but are "obvious" skilled players, but the ones the Flames are targeting , are not so obvious. This is a good strategy because you're getting players who've had to mature by playing within the system but not getting opportunities to play higher up in the lineup.
Dallas was raving about how much Calgary knew about their player. A player that more likely would have been under the radar for other teams.