[News Roundup] October 4, 2016

[MissTeeks]

Flames expect significant push in final camp days
https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/flam...ys/c-282378822

The jobs are there.
The bottom push, to this point, hasn't been.
Not to the satisfaction of Calgary Flames coach Glen Gulutzan.
"I'd like to see more," Gulutzan said. "I'd like to see more bottom push. It's tough with the bottom when you talk about your bottom-six guys. They all go hard. They all work real hard. Sometimes it's hard for them, just by virtue of where they are to separate. But all in all, the bottom guys, the bottom-six guys have played well.
"I'd just like to see somebody grab one of those spots, as a PTO guy."

The pair of exhibition skates will go a long, long way to determining who fills Calgary's vacated positions on that day.
"You really want someone to rise above everybody else and take that job," assistant general manager Craig Conroy said. "I don't know if I've seen quite that. I've seen some good games, but has anybody risen and just said, 'That's my spot … I'm going to take it' … I don't think I've seen that yet.
"But we have two games. There's going to be more of the NHL guys. It's crunch time. These guys are pros. They are going to grab it. They're going to show us down the stretch. We need them to take that decision out of our hands and they make the decision for us.
"Gully and the coaching staff has made it very aware. We have two games left. If you're here to make the team it's time to make the team. There's not going to be a tomorrow. There's not going to be a next day. We have to cut down the roster and make some decisions. You guys make the decisions for us.
"These are veteran guys and even the young kids…when you get to this level you know what it's all about. I expect these to be our most competitive, hardest working games for sure."

"I think there's some separation now, between some guys," Gulutzan said. "That's a good thing. You don't want the waters all muddied when you're looking at these things. You want guys to separate themselves out.
"I think I've seen some separation."
Conroy too.
"I've noticed a few guys," he said. "I'm not going to name names, but I have noticed guys. I've noticed them in spurts. Has there been someone that, yeah, just completely blown you away? Not that I've seen yet.
"But there's two games left."

Monahan inching closer to pre-season debut

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/mona...ut/c-282377520

Sean Monahan got the yellow off his back.
Monahan shrugged off the yellow non-contact jersey worn in his first skate with teammates on Sunday, and battled alongside the group in a white sweater Tuesday.
The 21-year-old is close.
"I feel good," Monahan said. "It felt good to get in the first real skate with the team and it felt good out there. We're just taking it day-by-day and we're just going to go from there. To get back in there felt good. Just to get back on the ice with the guys feels good. That's what you work for all summer.
"I'm happy to be out there and feel the way I feel today.
"I feel ready to go. I feel good. I've been skating hard with (assistant coach Martin Gelinas). We've been doing a lot of work and I've been doing a lot of work in the gym.
"I feel strong and I feel confident right now."

"He's graduated to that battling and regular practice. No different-coloured jersey," Gulutzan said. "We'll see how he is after. We'll see how it is tomorrow morning and we'll make our read from there. If everything goes well maybe he can go Thursday. I said this before. If not, if there's anything, we'll just keep going without the game and just keep practicing him until we play."

It's not dire, Monahan suggested, to skate in either.
"I wouldn't say it's critical," Monahan said. "It would be nice just to get the timing and stuff like that back. At the end of the day you get out there one shift and you're back in it. It would be nice, but at the end of the day it's not the end of the world.
"There's no timeline right now. We're taking it day-by-day. The goal is to get into a game before the season starts. If it's Wednesday or if it's Thursday doesn't matter to me. We'll talk to the training staff and go from there. "

Jerrard tasked with reviving penalty kill

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/jerr...ll/c-282363166

Meticulous. Organized. Structured.
"Paul,'' explains Glen Gulutzan, "is a real details-oriented guy. If you look at the way he lives his life, you'd understand.
"I mean, I could list off his breakfast, lunch and dinner because I know what he's going to order.
"It's regimented, right?"
Okay, then: Quick-quiz time. Playing waiter for a day, what would Paul Jerrard order on a typical, say, Tuesday in a run-of-the-mill, oh, October?
"Well, for breakfast,'' replies the man now entrusted with the keys to the Calgary Flames' kingdom, "he'd have oatmeal with no sugar in it. But he'd probably put in walnuts and some honey. For lunch, if he went to Subway, a lean turkey sub. With lettuce. No mayo. No toppings whatsover.
"And then at night, for dinner, he'd have brown rice with a chicken breast and a salad with balsamic vinegar on the side.
"Every day."

No coincidence that four of the five best regular-season teams ranked in the top five while playing at least a man down: Washington, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Anaheim.
"We know the importance of special teams, they have to do the job,'' says veteran pivot Matt Stajan. "They weren't good enough last year. Bottom line.
"We need to improve them.
"If we don't …
"We're getting in sync here, and there are certain things we are doing differently (on the penalty kill). It's an adjustment for some of us but that's why we have this time, to get ourselves ready.
"We need to take pride in it right away because we can't afford to fall behind early and find ourselves playing catch-up again.
"The key is being together, whether we're forcing passes or pursuing the puck.
"We're working on our routes. We have different routes going up ice. And then, obviously, your goaltending has to make saves. That's a big part of any penalty kill. No secret there.
"But it's on all of us."

After coming aboard here, Jerrard did watch some tape of the Flames' struggling PK from a season ago, mainly for curiosity's sake.
"Last year,'' he says, "was last year. With me, it's about this year and what we're trying to do now.
"We're just introducing a different kind of a system on the penalty-kill forecheck and a few things we want to accomplish in-zone, and need to get the guys all on board.
"We have different trigger points so when there's an opportunity to pressure, we can all go and pressure. Pressure up ice, be organized at our blueline and then pressure in zone with certain triggers."

Lengthy history between Engelland and Gulutzan

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/leng...an/c-282334388

Glen Gulutzan, over a decade removed from coaching Deryk Engelland, didn't hesitate to fire off the most notable difference from the Calgary Flames defenceman now, and the one he remembered from the Las Vegas Wranglers some 13 seasons ago.
"He's a lot slimmer," Gulutzan deadpanned.
Engelland, for the record, couldn't pinpoint one in Gulutzan.
"Honestly, I don't really think he's changed a whole lot," Engelland said. "He's still the same guy personally, and the hair is still flowing like it was back then. Not much has changed. He's still the same person.
"Same hair.
"I don't think he's changed much, which is a good thing. He's changed philosophies and different styles of coaching here and there.
"I've slimmed down and he's changed styles. That would be the biggest difference."

"He was a great guy … honestly, he had a lot of potential when he was in Vegas," Gulutzan said. "He was tough. Not many kids can go to the East Coast league and all of a sudden open the eyes of all the other heavyweights that are in the league. He came in and was a tough kid. He played lots of minutes for me. He was very coachable. He was young.
"He was figuring out how to be a pro, and looking at him today … I know when we lost out to him (in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs) and I shook his hand here when I was in Vancouver … I said how happy I was for him and how proud I was for him.
"He spent two years with me in Las Vegas. He's become a fantastic pro."

His hiring reunited the pair of Wrangers.
"It started with Calgary, too, in the East Coast," Engelland said. "It's kind of funny how it works out. I heard he was a candidate early and was kind of pulling for him. I had a couple good years with him in the East Coast. He's a great coach. Great guy. I thought he'd be a great fit here.
"So far, so good."
The more things change the more they stay the same.
"It's ironic," Gulutzan said. "I just got a text the other day from Mike McKenna, who was an old goalie of mine … played some games in the NHL. He said Adam Pardy scored on him in a shootout in Florida's camp. He said to me, 'How ironic.' I had all those guys in Las Vegas. I told him, 'I just finished yelling at Engy today on the ice.' It has come full circle."

Flames winger anxious to put miserable season in rearview mirror

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/hock...earview-mirror

Except maybe for the fact that he seems to enjoy sliding in front of screaming slapshots, Lance Bouma is no fool.
The Calgary Flames left-winger knows that some folks figure his breakout campaign — a 16-snipe season during the winter of 2014-15 — was more fluke than anything.
“That fuels you, for sure. Anyone who thinks I’m never going to have a year like I had two years ago, I want to prove those people wrong,” Bouma said. “That’s exciting for me is having a chance to go out there and prove myself. I’ve done it before, so I’m going to do it again.”

There were even whispers that he could be on the move on trade-deadline day.
“The biggest thing for me is I wasn’t healthy last year,” Bouma said. “I wasn’t healthy from the start of the year — I got hurt in the third game — so you’re behind the eight-ball before the season even starts. By the time I came back, it was mid-season for everyone else.
“At the same time, I need to be moving my feet all the time and I don’t think I did that as much last year. I need to be physical, be aggressive and be strong on the forecheck, and that’s where I’m going to create a lot of my chances.
“I just want to play like I did two years ago — be a responsible player and a player that can chip in also.”

“He was actually one of the guys, when I used to watch Calgary, that I was like, ‘Man, I like this player. He’s hard-nosed. He’s in-your-face. He’s always finishing checks,’ ” said Glen Gulutzan, the new head coach at the Saddledome. “And I think he has to start there, and then his game will evolve. He can’t go back and say, ‘OK, I’ve gotta get 16.’ He has just has to say, ‘OK, I’ve gotta go back and reset myself.’
“I think the other side of that is I’ve been working with him and talking to him about penalty-kill, because that’s an area where he’s gotta get dialled in. A good place to start when you’re trying to get back on the horse from an injured year is start there, because you don’t need a bounce, you don’t need one to go off the goalie’s back and go in. You just do your job and get off, and that’s a good way to build your game.”

[djsFlames]

Having 16 goal Bouma back would be huge for the forward depth.

[JerryUnderscore]

So is that what Jerrard had for breakfast, lunch and dinner today?

[Coach]

How is Brouwer looking in practice/games? Pretty much as advertised? A Canadian Frolik basically?

[FunkMasterFlame]

Originally Posted by MattyC

A Canadian Frolik basically?

Actually, yes.

[FBI]

Way tougher than Frolik.

[NomadAJ]

C


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