Babchuk can look good, but he has to really be sheltered.
However, it seems he is just a guy that needs to get going for a bit. I remember when he first got traded here, and he was atrocious. A few games in, and everyone started liking him.
I wasn't a big fan of that re-sign - not for the money and the partial NTC especially - but he was definitely useful. Just needs a few games to 'warm up', but needs a coach to really manage his minutes. I think he is the type of D that can really impact a game positively.
Brent even used him on the PK a bit (might have just been a couple of games, but he was out there). Good active stick, good at the angles, and would sometimes even use his body to out-muscle some guys on the boards. However, he was slow as molasses, and thus has to be extremely managed.
Aside from a very, very good shot from the point (I still think it is harder and more accurate than Wideman's - but takes a bit longer to get off), he was extremely underrated for how good he was at keeping the puck in the offensive zone, and for his first pass (I thought he had one of the best 1st passes from any D on the Flames consistently).
His speed I think is the only thing that hurts him (and it hurts his game tremendously), and thus he needs to really be sheltered. Other than that, I actually think he is one of the better pure PP Ds out there. Won't be worth anything at all unless he plays, and unless the Flames move out some bodies or injuries start happening, he won't see much in the way of playing time.
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I just hope this doesn't "water down" the market for defensmen. I think the Flames should be shopping some of our D men and I hope this doesn't affect what we could get for some of them
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Fan of the Flames, where being OK has become OK.
Another example of "intellectual honesty" we have been preached about.
How does re-signing an UFA have anything to do with 'intellectual honesty'? Especially one that made the PP WAY better that year? I wasn't a big fan of the signing after seeing his CORSI and QUALCOM numbers, but hardly anything to do with intellectual honesty.
I just hope this doesn't "water down" the market for defensmen. I think the Flames should be shopping some of our D men and I hope this doesn't affect what we could get for some of them
I don't think it will. Deadline day is still a ways away, and injuries happen. Depth players (and especially defencemen) are a high commodity (though not expecting much for any of the Flames' depth). I would be more concerned if the big contending teams were making big trades for higher-end defencemen now.
A healthy scratch for a team worse than us, $3.5 million, and would take up the last of our 50 contracts.
No thanks.
I don't really have an opinion, but I'd just say that it's not a completely fair comparison, since their defense is about average (or at least gets results that are average) in the whole league, while ours suck.
I'd happily try Hamrlik in our third pairing over, say, Sarich or Butler. You know, if money, contracts etc weren't an issue.
And you bring up Sutter when the Flames are currently a .500 hockey club clinging on to respectability. You should really only bring up coaching when the current Flames are at least approaching being on a 90 point pace.
Your assertion that a guy playing 5/6 sheltered minutes and putting up a PPG average over the time period you specified as an offensive dman that would have had him tied for 130th in the league was our best dman over the last 20-25 games is laughable. I am not even sure if you are serious, but I assume since you linked to a thread you started saying last year that he was great that you probably are.
To put it another way, the PPG average of Babchuk (supposedly an offensive dman) during the period you specified as being when he was the best dman the Flames had, was a whole .02 PPG higher than what Butler had over the entire season. That means that Babchuk was producing at a rate that would have provided the Flames an additional 1 or 2 points over 82 games than they would have had from Butler.
Babchuk is an awful, awful dman. With the exception of his first year in Calgary he has never provided anything positive on the ice.
a .500 with our franchise player down for 13 of the 20 games. Where is Brent coaching right now? oh yeah the Oilers didn't even want him.
IF you even watched Flames games last year you might have noticed that Butler was getting over 21 minutes of ice time a game with 2nd unit powerplay time in the first part of the season. There were games were Babchuk didn't hit the ice for the PP. What a terrible coach.
a .500 with our franchise player down for 13 of the 20 games. Where is Brent coaching right now? oh yeah the Oilers didn't even want him.
IF you even watched Flames games last year you might have noticed that Butler was getting over 21 minutes of ice time a game with 2nd unit powerplay time in the first part of the season. There were games were Babchuk didn't hit the ice for the PP. What a terrible coach.
I'll agree that Sutter did not use a lot of players corectly. So whats the excuse if Haretly does not want to use him? He is 8th on our D-depth. Thats pretty bad considering he only has to beat out Sarich, Smith and Butler to rise in the ranks.
I'll agree that Sutter did not use a lot of players corectly. So whats the excuse if Haretly does not want to use him? He is 8th on our D-depth. Thats pretty bad considering he only has to beat out Sarich, Smith and Butler to rise in the ranks.
I'm saying Hartley has butlersoft syndrome also. Like seriously up to 4th in the depth chart now?
Just trade him and we don't have to bitch and moan about CButs anymore.
It's not like he has been playing great and earning his way up. He has been just as bad as when he was a healthy scratch earlier in the year.
Unless the Flames pick him up and use him as a trade bait for like a 7th round pick or something, why the hell do we need another crappy d-man? Flames need a fricking centerman, ya fools!
Bob McKenzie @TSNBobMcKenzie
Hamrlik lost job because 4 left D ahead of him - Alzner, Erskine, Poti, Schultz. Oates insists lefties play left. We'll see if he's claimed.
I'd happily offer Babchuck for Hamrlik straight up. Pull the ol' lefty-righty. I've always liked Roman, except when he was an Oiler.
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Although I don't think he's right for this team, I secretly want the Flames to pick up Hamrlik just so every time he's on the ice, I can say "Stop. It's Hammer Time!"
The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the Company is true. Go Flames Go!
