Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
My hesitation is the consistent impact him and Backlund have on their line-mates including young players.
I would rather move Pospisil as I think other teams over-value guys like him. Take advantage of that.
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I 100% agree on Backlund and Coleman. What they bring on and off the ice is irreplaceable within the organization. If the Flames want to tank, get rid of those two, and I bet this team implodes hard. They make everyone's job easier by taking the tough assignments without complaint, and they help to hold everyone accountable.
I do differ with your opinion on Pospisil. I actually think he is a large part of the culture here. Weegar was talking about him and how he really hated Pospisil in their first practice together. Pospisil practices like he plays - hard. Once Weegar understood this, he loved Pospisil. I think you need this in a team - guys that practice hard and keep that hard-working culture going. I remember the Oilers under.. "chop wood, carry water" guy (drawing a blank right now) - they didn't practice hard and at game pace. The Flames under Hartley did. One team dramatically overachieved, and the other bombed out. I particularly loved an interview with RNH after an Oilers' loss in which he stated: "You can't come back in this league if you are down by two goals."... meanwhile the Flames had a 3 goal comeback to win it in OT that same night. Pospisil was also really good for Honzek in their off-season training, and I think his work ethic is infectious. I also believe that he will be a bit of a playoff monster as players of his ilk often are (unproven until then). While true that sometimes do in fact overvalue players like these, I also think that they are sometimes undervalued as well when they aren't putting the puck in the net. He continually shows a lot of vision and poise with the puck, which is not something you often see with gritty types.
I really believe that Pospisil and Klapka would have been really good playoff performers on this team had they made it.
That's the funny thing about the Flames - full of strong performers full of character, but just missing that top-end talent. Something has to give this off-season. Room will have to be made. I have a difficult time pointing at any of the forwards and saying that he has to go. Literally nobody I really want to see leave, or even that I think should be the one or two to leave. Conroy really has his hands full this off-season.