Are McGratton, Bollig, and Engelland doing their jobs?

[CliffFletcher]

Last night showed that the notion young guys on the roster are going to be protected by the likes of McGratton, Bollig, and Engelland is bunk. Maybe it's the game changing. Maybe those guys just aren't doing their job. I don't know. But Gaudreau got a real rough ride last night - and not the just the slash from Phaneuf. Teams are going to be keying on Gaudreau as part of their game plan. If the league is moving away from guys fighting to protect smaller players, then okay. But then what's the point of those guys taking up three roster spots on the Flames?

I like this management team. But I do have my doubts about Burke's approach to toughness. It seems like he's basing his opinions on what the game was like 10 years ago and what worked for him in Anaheim, instead of what the game is like today and in the next 10 years.

In my opinion, team toughness in 2014 means your guys on the ice a lot are tough. Having a couple marginal NHLers whose butts are stapled to the bench every night does nothing for team toughness. It doesn't stop other teams from taking liberties with your skilled players, and choreographed fights are being phased out of the game.

[Weitz]

You need skilled tough guys in todays NHL.

No one is scared anymore of a guy like McGrattan on the bench because as most will just skate around him and not engage.

[nik-]

Bollig hasn't been stellar, but I'd prefer him on the ice over McGrattan.

Engelland is pretty terrifying for the Flames imo, especially with Smid.

[northcrunk]

I agree that they have not done their jobs this year. McGratton needs to get off the 'code' bs and start just smashing people or else he is out of the league. Same with Bollig. I don't even think Mcgratton has a single fight this year.

[_Q_]

In short, no.

Although Bollig can at least play without being a liability on the ice. The other two, sure they're nice guys, fitness freaks or set a good example for the young players, but they don't have NHL talent plain and simple.

I would rather guys like Colborne, Monahan, Jooris, etc learn how to defend themselves and their team mates than to have any of those three in the lineup.

[dino7c]

what are they supposed to do take penalties? Team is awful on the PK

[Bandwagon In Flames]

You need to have tough guys doing something other then fighting when on the ice. Nobody will initiate a fight with McGrattan or Bollig unless these guys have been running down their teammates. I've seen McGrattan change the tone of the game as a guy who can go headhunting and layout a devastating hit, then be able to back it up against anybody dumb enough to initiate.

McGrattan seems to have fallen off his game of late and is content with just being a leader in the locker room.

Can't speak to how effective Engelland or Bollig were in the past. They both seemed decent to start the year but have fallen off.

[mikephoen]

I agree that McGrattan and players like him have been phased out of the game. It seems noticeable even over last year how many less staged fights there are throughout the league.

Bollig and Engelland were both supposed to be players who took regular shifts and brought toughness. Bollig averaged over 10 minutes a game for the 'hawks last year, so I'm sure the thinking was he could be a good 12-14 minute 3rd liner here or at least an effective 10 minute 4th liner. Unfortunately he just hasn't worked out at all. I was a supporter of the deal at the time, but now it looks pretty bad.

The Engelland deal looked bad at the time, and now 28 games in, it looks even worse.

I also like this management team... but they keep calling up Feaster acquisitions who look great while their own look quite poor. This season is going far better than anticipated, but this miss evaluation of talent by our management team is definitely concerning.

[taxbuster]

/name rant

Can we PLEASE spell the poor guy's name correctly? McGrattan

I get typos, but to me it's a sign of disrespect or laziness not to spell people's names correctly. Especially Flames players.

/rant off

[Finger Cookin]

McCrouton

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Weitz

You need skilled tough guys in todays NHL.

Every team would love to have tough skilled players getting Gordie Howe hat tricks every night. Those players are tough to find and expensive to acquire, and unfortunately often have short shelf-lives (there usually comes a point where they break down physically and lose skill, or start avoiding physicality to play a more skilled game).

The question should be; in lieu of currently having the option of physical skilled players, is it beneficial to have those 3 aforementioned players as options. I don't think Treliving or Feaster ever thought that the current set-up was a perfect recipe, but just that it beats the alternative right now. Let's be honest, this is a relatively small, young and soft team. Until we can sign, draft or develop these elusive skilled physical players, we need to add muscle somewhere.

Glencross is probably the toughest "skill" forward we have (and I use the term "skill" loosely). Byron might qualify, but his size is limiting. Colborne is big and skilled, but mostly players like a kitten. Monahan will get there I think, but he is still developing his physical game. Jones and Backlund are not reliable due to their fragility. Ferland is the great white hype I guess.

I honestly think that right now, we are really limited in our options. It would be nice to get the big 3 playing a little more nasty. I am hoping for at least a line brawl the next time we play Vancouver (which coincidentally marked the turnaround for this team last season).

[Resolute 14]

Kind of hard to blame McGrattan and Bollig for failing to protect Gaudreau when they weren't even in the lineup. If anything, one could twist your argument to suggest that Gaudreau was abused because we lacked toughness in the line up.

Engelland's job is to play defence, not be a goon. I won't say he does that well either, but we all knew he was a bottom pairing guy from the start.

[DSIM420]

Hard to do your job from the press box!

[CaptainCrunch]

take the reins off of Ferland, tell him to jerk out and show a mean streak.

The kid has a legitimate knockout punch.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Maybe I am in the minority, but I'd like to try out Wolf or BVB back up here. They'd sure throw some checks around. I say this because I've liked all of the call ups performances thus far into the season.

[Tyler]

The only influence McGratton has on the game right now is if he throws popcorn onto the ice from the press box

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by Tyler

The only influence McGratton has on the game right now is if he throws popcorn onto the ice from the press box

I hate to agree, but your right. As much as I love a tough guy in the lineup to protect the younger players. McGratton isn't doing any protecting from the press box. Might be time to cut him loose.

[northcrunk]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

Maybe I am in the minority, but I'd like to try out Wolf or BVB back up here. They'd sure throw some checks around. I say this because I've liked all of the call ups performances thus far into the season.

I would like to see that too. Replace McG and Bollig with Wolf and BVB

[Tyler]

Exactly, and while he will no doubt refute the claim that he doesn't add anything (if you were getting paid nearly a million dollars to practice would you?) and instead contributes off the ice.. then get the guy into a player development role. No one wants to fight him and he is too rusty already this season and too far behind to be an effective 4th liner

[cracher]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

take the reins off of Ferland, tell him to jerk out and show a mean streak.

The kid has a legitimate knockout punch.

Is it too soon to be eating punches after a concussion?

If you look at the nevada state athletic commission website after a UFC fight, it seems like they impose months and months of no-contact suspensions even though the fighters were never wobbled. I'm not fimiliar with any of the concussion guidelines, but I would rather see Ferland keep his gloves on a bit longer. I have a feeling 2 guys skating at each other with a fully-leveraged elbow to the head may carry more energy than a hector lombard bomb. Kid is too young to risk it by fighting too soon.