Hardest Teams to Play Against

[FlamesAddiction]

From a truculence point of view (I hate how the word is overused, but I think everyone gets the point behind it). Which teams are the most ferocious currently?

It used to be the Calgary Flames brand going all the way back to the 80s, to be a team that no one ever wanted to play against, and over the years we got away from that. Now it looks like we are getting back to the basics.

So where do the Flames rank against other teams in this respect? And are we balanced enough? While we have a lot of tough players, there seems to be some polarity. The top lines in particular seem to be a little light.

We have some pretty fierce players now (McGrattan, Bollig, Bouma, Wolf, Engelland, Smid, plus guys like Giordano and Glencross who can be pretty tough to play against). Although we still have a handfull of players that are good in other ways, but aren't going to scare the opposition (Hudler, Raymond, Stajan, Russell, Backlund, Wideman, and potentially Baertschi, Gaudreau and/or Granlund). Not that those guys are all pushovers, but no one is going to be intimidated by them either. And of course, there are a few that are right in the middle (Monahan is one that I think is going to develop into a pretty tough player).

I guess with the polarity, I am having trouble seeing where we stand up to other "tough" teams. And will it help development of our young players in the long run?

[SuperMatt18]

LA Kings: Physical, speedy, big, and also have the skill to play a puck possession game.

The thing that separates the Kings IMO is their speed. Boston is probably tougher, but Montreal showed that if you have speed you can out skate them. You can't do that with L.A.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

LA Kings: Physical, speedy, big, and also have the skill to play a puck possession game.

The Kings are definitely the team you want to emulate if you're building this type of team. Size and toughness throughout and the ability to roll 4 lines in a possession style of play.

[djsFlames]

In the east? Boston.

In the west? Anaheim. That team can be brutal. The Blues would come close, too.

I didn't say LA probably just because we've sort of had their number recently, despite them being a hard, grinding and relentless team on most nights.

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

We have some pretty fierce players now (McGrattan, Bollig, Bouma, Wolf, Engelland, Smid, plus guys like Giordano and Glencross who can be pretty tough to play against).

This team could be Slapshot bad this year

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Parros, Carcillo, Konopka, Asham and Bissonnette are still on the market.

There's a chance the Flames could get tougher...

[Heavy Jack]

^^ lol

A bottom six of

McGrattan - Konopka - Bissonette
Bollig - Carcillo - Parros

Sign a forward at D too haha

Engelland - Macintyre

[killer_carlson]

St Louis is pretty rough and tumble as well.

[AvsJerk]

I agree with Anaheim, L.A., and St. Louis...tough teams. Calgary is no slouch in the toughness department either and since the start of their rebuild, the Flames are team that some teams might take lightly...not a good idea as there are a lot of young kids that want to keep their spot on the roster. Hartley coaches a gritty game.

I think San Jose is often tough as well, but they seem to either really be on or they take the night off...can't argue against their regular season record the prior few years though.

Hard to say as an Avs fan though, because I think the past few years many teams weren't too concerned about them.

[getbak]

The Flames are definitely going for the, "if we can't beat you, at least we'll beat you up", strategy this year.

[ricardodw]

It is a function of TOI along with toughness.

Backes, Doughty, Regehr, Mitchell, Greene, Brown, Lucic, mark stuart, Brouwer, Byfuglien, Seabrook, Subban, Phaneuf, Orpik are all tough to play against and initiate physical play AND are taking an average or above average shift.

St.L losing Polak , Morrow and Ott along with Stewart are left with Backes, Sobotka and Jackman as above average ice-time tough players. Lapierre, Reaves and Porter are 4th line maybe some time on the third line players.

The Defense is physical soft and easy to play against.

PS Having McGrattan and Engelland make Backlund, Stajan, Bouma and even Glencross and Gio and Monahan play better. The Flames problem is that of the higher TOI players only Smid and Glencross initiate physical play..... Gio can (and in a playoff series I expect would) but in his current role does not initiate physical play.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

I think the sestito types are probably not looking forward to the flames as they won't be able to pick their spots and it'll be a long day at the office.

I doubt anyone else is too worried. The flames have to get some players who can play and are tough before they'll be hard to play against. Same with 20 other teams though, not just Calgary.