Is it really stuck in the 80s? The Kings won the Stanley Cup and had Westgarth, against the Devils who had Jansen and Boulton. Conference finalists - Rangers - Prust/Rupp/Bickel, Coyotes - Bisonette.
He's a 4th line plugger who can at least fill some type of roll.
Boulton/Janssen/Westgarth combined for 0 playoff games iirc.
Bissonnette had 3.
Only the Rangers employed Rupp and Bickel regularly, and Rupp is not quite a pure goon.
Will McGrattan be in Calgary in time for tonight's game? If so, man I'd love to watch a line of Aliu-Begin-McGrattan. I know some people don't like Aliu, but he has an attitude. There's actually some emotion. I'm tired of watching emotionless players.
He might be in Calgary but the flames will be in Colorado.
Flames have to drop a player from the roster to get him in. Aliu will more than likely be playing his last game for the flames for a while.
Is it really stuck in the 80s? The Kings won the Stanley Cup and had Westgarth, against the Devils who had Jansen and Boulton. Conference finalists - Rangers - Prust/Rupp/Bickel, Coyotes - Bisonette.
He's a 4th line plugger who can at least fill some type of roll.
As was said, Westgarth played in 0 playoff games (and only 25 regular season games - six of which were after Christmas). Janssen and Boulton played in 0 playoff games. None of those Rangers players are comparable to these guys - they are more similar to Jackman where they can take a regular shift, only better. Bisonette played 3 playoff games.
McGrattan is not a 4th line plugger. Tim Jackman is. Steve Begin is. McGrattan is a fighter - that's it. He plays 3-4 minutes a night and hopes to drop the gloves. The rest of the time he's a liability - even against other team's 4th liners. You can still win hockey games with him in the lineup since he barely plays, but the rest of the line-up better be able to pick up the lost minutes between him and a real 4th liner (who plays 10 minutes/game). Unfortunately, we don't have that kind of depth. We barely have a 4th line as it is right now.
If i recall correctly McGratton was playing a semi regular 4th line shift for the Preds last year during the regular season.
He wasn't just a goon there, played some legit forth line minutes. He's in around the 8 shift a game mark, 4-8 mins per game approx. for a defensively responsible team.
People here complained we had no skill, we added skill in the off-season. People then complained about a lack of toughness on the 2013 team. We then added some toughness and people still moan and whine. Pretty clear some of you just want to bittch.
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I hate having a goon on this team. I would rather have a shootout specialist.
I agree. I want a guy who can fight, but who can also play 3rd or 4th line minutes... or 1st or 2nd for that matter. I want team toughness, not "Oh yeah, don't mess with us or you have to answer to that guy over there, the one sitting on the end of the bench... yeah, the guy not sweating because he hasn't seen the ice yet.".
Man is it hard cheering for an organization stuck in the 80's. Playing McGrattan 3 minutes a night isn't going to change team toughness. It will, however, drag our mediocre fourth line down even further.
Imagine this - we could easily be fielding a 4th line of McGrattan-Begin-Aliu this weekend. There can't be a worse line in the NHL than that.
Really disagree with the article as it relates to the current Flames. The Flames have a huge amount of scoring depth through the first three lines now. They need to be taking away ice time from the fourth line and givign it to the top two lines and to younger players who need the time to develop. Having a couple of tough guys on the fourth line is not going to hurt the Flames.
The Flames now have Iginla, Tanguay, Cammalleri, Stajan, Stempniak, Glencross, Hudler, and Cervenka as legitimate scoring threats. They need to find ice time for Horak, Baertschi, Backlund, etc... The traditional 1-2-3-4 line combo doesn't really apply here. They need to find time for potentially 3 scoring lines. The 4th line should be getting very minimal time. Should be something along the lines of 20+ minutes, 18+ minutes, and 15-17 minutes for the top three lines respectively, and 3-7 minutes for the 4th.
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As was said, Westgarth played in 0 playoff games (and only 25 regular season games - six of which were after Christmas). Janssen and Boulton played in 0 playoff games. None of those Rangers players are comparable to these guys - they are more similar to Jackman where they can take a regular shift, only better. Bisonette played 3 playoff games.
McGrattan is not a 4th line plugger. Tim Jackman is. Steve Begin is. McGrattan is a fighter - that's it. He plays 3-4 minutes a night and hopes to drop the gloves. The rest of the time he's a liability - even against other team's 4th liners. You can still win hockey games with him in the lineup since he barely plays, but the rest of the line-up better be able to pick up the lost minutes between him and a real 4th liner (who plays 10 minutes/game). Unfortunately, we don't have that kind of depth. We barely have a 4th line as it is right now.
I doubt if we make the playoffs anyways so your argument is moot. In the meantime our goalies should be a little more confident of not getting run so if we make the playoffs they are ready and available.
I certainly won't mind if that "staged" fight leads to a momentum change in a Flames W.
I don't really buy much into the concept of fighting giving you momentum (it just seems like a case of confirmation bias to me), but I always found it funny that no one ever mentions that it works both ways. The downside of giving the other team momentum when McGrattan gets his face punched in has to factor in too. It's not always a positive.
It's not weird as all. If they would've claimed him off of waivers, the Flames would be at 50 contracts. Since they traded Piskula for him, they're still at 49.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy
Not really weird at all IMO. If they would have claimed him, the Flames would have 50 contracts.
Now that Feaster traded Piskula for him, we still have 49.
Guess that makes sense then. Shows though that Feaster though has failed to live up to his flexibility billing since he put himself right up to the limit.
Really disagree with the article as it relates to the current Flames. The Flames have a huge amount of scoring depth through the first three lines now. They need to be taking away ice time from the fourth line and givign it to the top two lines and to younger players who need the time to develop. Having a couple of tough guys on the fourth line is not going to hurt the Flames.
The Flames now have Iginla, Tanguay, Cammalleri, Stajan, Stempniak, Glencross, Hudler, and Cervenka as legitimate scoring threats. They need to find ice time for Horak, Baertschi, Backlund, etc... The traditional 1-2-3-4 line combo doesn't really apply here. They need to find time for potentially 3 scoring lines. The 4th line should be getting very minimal time. Should be something along the lines of 20+ minutes, 18+ minutes, and 15-17 minutes for the top three lines respectively, and 3-7 minutes for the 4th.
What team doesn't have scoring "threats" down the line-up like that? We have decent depth, but we're by no means unusual in having players with some offensive skill on the 3rd line.
I doubt if we make the playoffs anyways so your argument is moot. In the meantime our goalies should be a little more confident of not getting run so if we make the playoffs they are ready and available.
Is there any actual evidence that having a goon protects your goaltender? It seems to me that goalies all around the league are getting run quite consistently, with or without a goon. A guy like Raffi Torres gets paid a lot more money to be a poop-disturber than McGrattan gets paid to play sheriff.
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Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeMc
If i recall correctly McGratton was playing a semi regular 4th line shift for the Preds last year during the regular season.
He wasn't just a goon there, played some legit forth line minutes. He's in around the 8 shift a game mark, 4-8 mins per game approx. for a defensively responsible team.
People here complained we had no skill, we added skill in the off-season. People then complained about a lack of toughness on the 2013 team. We then added some toughness and people still moan and whine. Pretty clear some of you just want to bittch.
Agreed.
McGrattan will play 6-8 minutes a night WHEN he is dressed, and that will depend on the opponent. he wont hurt the team as he isnt taking icetime away from "young" guys, he wont hurt the team because wont be taking regular shift, and he will help the team to varying degrees because of the whole nuclear deterrent aspect he can bring.
Nothing changes to any big degree moving forward other than the G's and others can feel a bit more secure that they wont get run over as easily because there will be a reprecussion for doing so.
I thought his first stint in Calgary was a good one. Never really found myself upset with his play, and he was definitely a really good fighter. Hopefully he gets into the lineup a few times
McGrattan will play 6-8 minutes a night WHEN he is dressed, and that will depend on the opponent. he wont hurt the team as he isnt taking icetime away from "young" guys, he wont hurt the team because wont be taking regular shift, and he will help the team to varying degrees because of the whole nuclear deterrent aspect he can bring.
Nothing changes to any big degree moving forward other than the G's and others can feel a bit more secure that they wont get run over as easily because there will be a reprecussion for doing so.
No down side that I can see.
We failed to acquire a 50-goal, 100-point player for the fourth line. Clearly the trade is a disaster.
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