Camp Battles

[Goriders]

Looking at who is signed now I’d say the big battles would be:

- who plays top line RW between Toffoli and Mangiapane. I’m guessing Toffoli. Mangiapani to play LW with Kadri.
- who gets the 3rd line winger spot between pelletier and milano. I’m guessing Milano. Pelletier starts in the minors.
- who gets the 13/14 forward spot between Ruzicka, Ritchie, Eakin, Milano, Zary, Schwindt. I’m guessing Ritchie and Eakin. Ruzicka, Zary, Schwindt start in minors.
- who the 7th Dman will be out of Valimaki, Mackey and Stone. I’m guessing Stone. Valimaki and Mackey start in minors.

With the Flames farm team in Cgy now it’ll be a perfect oppurtunity for final cuts to get some decent playing time with the big club. There will for sure be injuries along the way and we have good depth now at all positions in my mind.

Excited to see what comes out of camp.

[flambers]

Guessing the biggest battle will be the depth defense

Stone, Poolman, Mackey, Gilbert, Meloche, Valimaki, Desimone.....

Should be battling out for 7th and 8th dman.

[Enoch Root]

who wins the PTO battle? I'm going with Milano.

[Enoch Root]

1st line RW: Toffoli
2nd line RW: either Dube or Milano, I'll take Dube
3rd line LW: the loser from above
4th line C: probably Rooney
13th and 14th forwards: Ritchie and Ruzicka
7th D: Stone

[savardandjokinen]

Huberdeau-Lindholm-MANGIAPANE/TOFFOLI
DUBE/COLEMAN/MILANO-Kadri-TOFFOLI/MANGIAPANE
MILANO/PELLETIER/DUBE-Backlund-COLEMAN/DUBE
Lucic-Rooney-Lewis
EAKIN/RITCHIE/RUZICKA, (RITCHIE/EAKIN/RUZICKA)

Hanifin-Andersson
Weegar-TANEV/ZADOROV (if tanev, it would be the top pair)
Kylington-ZADOROV/TANEV
STONE/MACKEY/VALIMAKI/MELOCHE, (MACKEY/STONE/VALIMAKI/MELOCHE)

Markstrom
Vladar

Either 14F7D or 13F8D, all caps are battles

[PepsiFree]

Lindholm-Huberdeau-???
Kadri-Mangiapane-???
Backlund-Coleman-???
Lucic-???-???

Question marks are all up for grabs imo. I see the above pairings as pretty close to a lock.

Defence I think is set outside the 7th, so nothing interesting there outside of who Weegar has the most chemistry with, but I doubt that's figured out entirely until well into the season.

[Icon]

Originally Posted by Goriders

Looking at who is signed now I’d say the big battles would be...

- who plays top line RW between Toffoli and Mangiapane.
My guess is Toffoli, hopefully he has a bounce back year
- who gets the 3rd line winger spot between Pelletier and Milano.
especially after looking into him a bit more, I'm getting more on board with the Milano idea, but I actually think he's on L2 with Kadri & Mangi, and L3 is Dube-Backlund-Coleman. Pelletier starts in the A
- who gets the 13/14 forward spot between Ruzicka, Ritchie, Eakin, Milano, Zary, Schwindt.
Ritchie. Eakin isn't signed by the Flames. Ruzicka, Zary, Schwindt start in minors.
- who the 7th Dman will be out of Valimaki, Mackey and Stone.
Stone. Valimaki gets claimed on waivers, Mackey clears & starts in the A.

[gvitaly]

I'm actually starting to lean towards Huberdeau being a better fit with Kadri than Lindholm. I base it on watching Huberdeau's highlights and one of them was transition speed. One risky move is to put Dube on that line... it would be extremely fun to watch. If that doesn't work then Toffoli is my 2nd choice.

I also think that Mangiapane has chemistry with anyone except Toffoli, I thought he played really well with Dube last year. However that line seems to need more of a natural playmaker, that's why I'd like to see Milano there. That leads me to my unconventional wishful thinking lines:

Huberdeau - Kadri - Dube/Toffoli
Mangiapane - Lindholm - Milano/Dube
Coleman - Backlund - Toffoli/Milano
Lucic - Ruzicka - Lewis (I thought it was a great line for us)
Rooney, Ritchie

As for defense I know Hanifin has chemistry with Andersson and Tanev, Tanev has chemistry with Hanifin and Kylington, Andersson seems to only have chemistry with Hanifin... and Zadorov doesn't have chemistry with either Andersson or Tanev. I would first try the following:
Weegar - Andersson
Hanifin - Tanev
Kylington - Zadorov

Against less top heavy teams I could see Kylington playing with Tanev while one of Weegar/Hanifin plays with Zadorov. As for the 7th D I think it should be either Stone or Mackey. I haven't seen Meloche enough to figure out how good he is. That said I think that we might have someone force his way onto the team like Kylington did last year, that would require management to look into making space via trade.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by Goriders

Looking at who is signed now I’d say the big battles would be:

- who plays top line RW between Toffoli and Mangiapane. I’m guessing Toffoli. Mangiapani to play LE with Kadri.
- who gets the 3rd line winger spot between pelletier and milano. I’m guessing Milano. Pelletier starts in the minors.
- who gets the 13/14 forward spot between Ruzicka, Ritchie, Eakin, Milano, Zary, Schwindt. I’m guessing Ritchie and Eakin. Ruzicka, Zary, Schwindt start in minors.
- who the 7th Dman will be out of Valimaki, Mackey and Stone. I’m guessing Stone. Valimaki and Mackey start in minors.

With the Flames farm team in Cgy now it’ll be a perfect oppurtunity for final cuts to get some decent playing time with the big club. There will for sure be injuries along the way and we have good depth now at all positions in my mind.

Excited to see what comes out of camp.

Agreed on all your guesses!

[prizefighterinferno]

Wouldn’t be shocked to eventually see:

Huberdeau-Lindholm-Toffoli
Milano-Kadri-Mangiapane
Dube-Backlund-Coleman
Lucic-Rooney-Lewis
Ritchie/Ruzicka

Think Ruzicka would ideally be a guy in there somewhere but no idea where to put him if he’s not top 9 considering Darryl’s comments re:4th line usage….and he’s waiver eligible and very doubtful he slips through, so just another level of uncertainty there.

Could see the D as left-right pairs which would mean…
Hanifin-Andy
Kylington-Tanev
Zad-Weegar

…But with Weegar moving up to Kylington’s spot situationally (late in periods/games) and the ice time distribution mainly differentiated by special teams usage. Disgusting EV D options this year. Should have a stud or two out at almost all times in that formation.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Lindholm-Huberdeau-???
Kadri-Mangiapane-???
Backlund-Coleman-???
Lucic-???-???

Question marks are all up for grabs imo. I see the above pairings as pretty close to a lock.

Defence I think is set outside the 7th, so nothing interesting there outside of who Weegar has the most chemistry with, but I doubt that's figured out entirely until well into the season.

This is how I see the forwards as well. I doubt Mangiapane plays on the top line and would love to see him pair up with Kadri.

I also see Weegar and Tanev being our top pairing and Kylington sliding down with Zadorov

I hope Pelletier earns a spot and would love to see him with Mangiapane and Kadri. Dube with Backlund and Toffoli on the top line.

[SeanCharles]

Valimaki is going to surprise everyone in camp when he looks like his old self again.

[Burning Beard]

Originally Posted by SeanCharles

Valimaki is going to surprise everyone in camp when he looks like his old self again.

If he does he may just take Kylingtons spot.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by SeanCharles

Valimaki is going to surprise everyone in camp when he looks like his old self again.

I wouldn't be shocked other than where is he going to play?

I doubt he displaces Kylington so back to the Hanifin trade idea I guess?

[SeanCharles]

I hope Kylington's role is expanded this year actually.

I want him to be a staple on the PP. He was there for stretches last year but they ended up taking him off and giving the lions share to Hanifin and Andersson with Stone sprinkled in here and there.

Kylington, Weegar and Andersson should be the 3 that get those mins IMO - assuming we have 1 D on PP1 and 2 D on PP2.

[D as in David]

I think a line of Kadri - Mangiapane - Dube would be hell on opposing teams. Dube has under-estimated snarl in his game and would go well with Kadri's nastiness. And Mangiapane is a tough battler.

[HighLifeMan]

If this team exposes Ruzicka and Valimaki at the expense of Ritchie, Stone, Lewis, and Rooney that's a terrible mismanagement of assets. I guess we shall se.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by HighLifeMan

If this team exposes Ruzicka and Valimaki at the expense of Ritchie, Stone, Lewis, and Rooney that's a terrible mismanagement of assets. I guess we shall se.

Based on capfriendly we have around $600k space and a 23 man roster and both on the roster.

I see Gilbert and Meloche getting exposed and possibly Valimaki or Mackey depending on camp. Valimaki does make $1.55 mil so if he has a bad camp I bet he makes it through

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by HighLifeMan

If this team exposes Ruzicka and Valimaki at the expense of Ritchie, Stone, Lewis, and Rooney that's a terrible mismanagement of assets. I guess we shall se.

I agree . but if they are waived then they didn't impress and if they are picked up by a team they have to be played on the NHL roster so it makes it less likely that there is a taker.

[Parallex]

Battles are 1 winger spot on each line of the top 9, a depth forward, and the spare d-man.

My guess as to how that shakes out would be...
1L: Mangiapane
2L: Dube (So that line is Dube-Kadri-Toffoli)
3L: Milano
Spare Foward: Ruzicka (not waiver exempt anymore)
Spare D: Stone