Training Camp Predictions & Discussion

[sureLoss]

Pat Steinberg ‏@Fan960Steinberg 1m Here are projected #Flames lines: Glencross-Stajan-Stempniak; Baertschi-Backlund-Street; Jones-Monahan-Knight; Bouma-Galiardi-Jackman


Pat Steinberg ‏@Fan960Steinberg 30s
Projected #Flames D: Brodie-Giordano; Wideman-Russell; Butler-O'Brien. Sieloff and Smith look to be the extra pairing. Berra starts.

[Goodlad]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Pat Steinberg ‏@Fan960Steinberg 1m Here are projected #Flames lines: Glencross-Stajan-Stempniak; Baertschi-Backlund-Street; Jones-Monahan-Knight; Bouma-Galiardi-Jackman


Pat Steinberg ‏@Fan960Steinberg 30s
Projected #Flames D: Brodie-Giordano; Wideman-Russell; Butler-O'Brien. Sieloff and Smith look to be the extra pairing. Berra starts.

I expect the Butler/O'Brien pairing to be a fan favorite

[Henry Fool]

Is Granlund hurt? I must have have missed some news about him. He wasn't cut but he doesn't get to play either. Even in the couple of games he did dress for he wasn't given much to work with.

[CaptainCrunch]

I'm glad to see that Ferland had a good bounce back to this point. His toughness and hockey brains have me a bit excited about him again.

I doubt he's going to be more then a good third to second line guy at best, and nothing more then a pocket enforcer ala Prust, but he's big and he's tough. He won't be able to absorb punches at this level to land a solid shot though.

[Prufrock]

Does anyone know when the next round of cuts will be? After the Phoenix game?

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Pat Steinberg ‏@Fan960Steinberg 1m Here are projected #Flames lines: Glencross-Stajan-Stempniak; Baertschi-Backlund-Street; Jones-Monahan-Knight; Bouma-Galiardi-Jackman


Pat Steinberg ‏@Fan960Steinberg 30s
Projected #Flames D: Brodie-Giordano; Wideman-Russell; Butler-O'Brien. Sieloff and Smith look to be the extra pairing. Berra starts.

Looking at the D pairings, it looks like the Flames are giving Russell every chance to win the #4 job. I've watched a lot of Russell in the past and defensivley i don't think he can handle it. Having him and Wideman, both good at offence side of game but below average on defense side, could mean a lot of pucks in the back of the net this year.

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by Prufrock

Does anyone know when the next round of cuts will be? After the Phoenix game?

My guess is Thursday. Granted they should be sending Granlund and other players that did not play last night and are not playing tomorrow back now.

[stemit14]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Pat Steinberg ‏@Fan960Steinberg 1m Here are projected #Flames lines: Glencross-Stajan-Stempniak; Baertschi-Backlund-Street; Jones-Monahan-Knight; Bouma-Galiardi-Jackman


Pat Steinberg ‏@Fan960Steinberg 30s
Projected #Flames D: Brodie-Giordano; Wideman-Russell; Butler-O'Brien. Sieloff and Smith look to be the extra pairing. Berra starts.

This looks pretty close to the opening night lineup minus cammalleri and hudler.

[MissTeeks]

Hudler back on the ice today:

Randy Sportak‏@SUNRandySportak1m
#Flames Jiri Hudler who's been in only 1 practice since pre-season opener on ice for team's second session today. Wed game group 1st session

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Originally Posted by Prufrock

Does anyone know when the next round of cuts will be? After the Phoenix game?

I asked Ward after Sunday's Heat game when he can expect more cuts to come down and he said he "guesses" that it'll be later in the week (Friday or Saturday). He said he could see some players trickle down though.

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by Henry Fool

Is Granlund hurt? I must have have missed some news about him. He wasn't cut but he doesn't get to play either. Even in the couple of games he did dress for he wasn't given much to work with.

Wes Gilbertson ‏@SUNGilbertson 17s Injured #Flames forwards Markus Granlund and Jiri Hudler are skating this morning at Saddledome. Michael Cammalleri is not.

[sureLoss]

Randy Sportak ‏@SUNRandySportak 18s #Flames Michael Ferland not on the ice for either session. Not sure yet if assigned to minors or injured.

[thymebalm]

Ok. Time for a bold prediction from watching the pre-season and training camp.

We will not be as bad as everyone thinks.

I know that everyone thinks that there is no way that the team will be competitive and is a shoe-in for a top-5 pick. But I find that laughable.

I know we've been told all summer that without Iggy, Kipper and Bouw we are screwed, but I have to lovingly disagree.

1) Kipper was BAD in his last season. I'm talking BAD.
http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2013/0...e-2013-season/

Any other goalie would have given us more wins than Kiprusoff last season. His save percentage at even strength was .873 last year. That's worse than replacement level NHL goaltending.

Let me be clear. Any other goalie is going to give us more wins. Even if Karri posts a .906 (which is probably a bottom end translation of his ~.920sv in the KHL.) it will be miles (and wins) ahead of Kiprusoff's year.

2) Jarome Iginla didn't drive the play North anymore.

Since 2010 Jarome slipped into being a passenger and not the driver despite playing 18~mins a night. By 2013 he was being regularly outchanced by his opposition.

Despite not having the same knack for the net as Iggy; Stemps, Mickis and Glencross are three players who come to mind who are much better than he at possessing the puck and driving play north. They will all have bigger roles this season (granted they may face tougher competition although even Iginla started to be buried in his final year to help him get favorable icetime)

Iginla was on the decline and the people he is being replaced by are either "apex" or "pre-apex". It will be nice to not have to watch Jarome as he "skates in to the offensive zone, holds up, curls to the boards, loses the puck" which he did to the point of laughter on some occasions.

Jarome Iginla will always be my favorite athlete but he was declining and I don't think losing him is going to be an issue as people are currently perceiving it.

3) JayBou will be replaced by committee.

You can't really complain about what Jay-BOU gave to the Flames while he was here. His contract ruined him expectations wise, but he is as steady a defender as you will find across the league. I do think, however, with the emergence of Brodie on the blueline and the offensive capabilities of Wideman, Bouw's icetime will be effectively spread out and though we may not have a player playing 27 every night, we will have his role effectively replaced.

---

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by thymebalm

Ok. Time for a bold prediction from watching the pre-season and training camp.

We will not be as bad as everyone thinks.

I know that everyone thinks that there is no way that the team will be competitive and is a shoe-in for a top-5 pick. But I find that laughable.

I know we've been told all summer that without Iggy, Kipper and Bouw we are screwed, but I have to lovingly disagree.

1) Kipper was BAD in his last season. I'm talking BAD.
http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2013/0...e-2013-season/

Any other goalie would have given us more wins than Kiprusoff last season. His save percentage at even strength was .873 last year. That's worse than replacement level NHL goaltending.

Let me be clear. Any other goalie is going to give us more wins. Even if Karri posts a .906 (which is probably a bottom end translation of his ~.920sv in the KHL.) it will be miles (and wins) ahead of Kiprusoff's year.

2) Jarome Iginla didn't drive the play North anymore.

Since 2010 Jarome slipped into being a passenger and not the driver despite playing 18~mins a night. By 2013 he was being regularly outchanced by his opposition.

Despite not having the same knack for the net as Iggy; Stemps, Mickis and Glencross are three players who come to mind who are much better than he at possessing the puck and driving play north. They will all have bigger roles this season (granted they may face tougher competition although even Iginla started to be buried in his final year to help him get favorable icetime)

Iginla was on the decline and the people he is being replaced by are either "apex" or "pre-apex". It will be nice to not have to watch Jarome as he "skates in to the offensive zone, holds up, curls to the boards, loses the puck" which he did to the point of laughter on some occasions.

Jarome Iginla will always be my favorite athlete but he was declining and I don't think losing him is going to be an issue as people are currently perceiving it.

3) JayBou will be replaced by committee.

You can't really complain about what Jay-BOU gave to the Flames while he was here. His contract ruined him expectations wise, but he is as steady a defender as you will find across the league. I do think, however, with the emergence of Brodie on the blueline and the offensive capabilities of Wideman, Bouw's icetime will be effectively spread out and those we may not have a player playing 27 every night, we will have his role effectively replaced.

---

I agree with the first 2 arguements in your post but not the 3rd.

Losing JBO is a huge loss. Every remaining D man that Calgary now has, has to play above their capablities. Gio is not a top line d-man let alone the #1. Brodie is going to be good but is still young and should not be thrown on the first pairing. Wideman is below average on the defensive side. Putting him on top pairing is a mistake. The rest are pretty much crap. Butler, Russel, SOB or Smith are nowhere near top 4 D men and one of them has to play in the top 4. SOB is crap on D but can clear the net, thats about it.

I think the team will play more like a team this year, which is good, but its not going to get them a bunch more wins to get them out of bottom 5.

[lanny9]

Originally Posted by thymebalm

Ok. Time for a bold prediction from watching the pre-season and training camp.

We will not be as bad as everyone thinks.

I know that everyone thinks that there is no way that the team will be competitive and is a shoe-in for a top-5 pick. But I find that laughable.

I know we've been told all summer that without Iggy, Kipper and Bouw we are screwed, but I have to lovingly disagree.

1) Kipper was BAD in his last season. I'm talking BAD.
http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2013/0...e-2013-season/

Any other goalie would have given us more wins than Kiprusoff last season. His save percentage at even strength was .873 last year. That's worse than replacement level NHL goaltending.

Let me be clear. Any other goalie is going to give us more wins. Even if Karri posts a .906 (which is probably a bottom end translation of his ~.920sv in the KHL.) it will be miles (and wins) ahead of Kiprusoff's year.

2) Jarome Iginla didn't drive the play North anymore.

Since 2010 Jarome slipped into being a passenger and not the driver despite playing 18~mins a night. By 2013 he was being regularly outchanced by his opposition.

Despite not having the same knack for the net as Iggy; Stemps, Mickis and Glencross are three players who come to mind who are much better than he at possessing the puck and driving play north. They will all have bigger roles this season (granted they may face tougher competition although even Iginla started to be buried in his final year to help him get favorable icetime)

Iginla was on the decline and the people he is being replaced by are either "apex" or "pre-apex". It will be nice to not have to watch Jarome as he "skates in to the offensive zone, holds up, curls to the boards, loses the puck" which he did to the point of laughter on some occasions.

Jarome Iginla will always be my favorite athlete but he was declining and I don't think losing him is going to be an issue as people are currently perceiving it.

3) JayBou will be replaced by committee.

You can't really complain about what Jay-BOU gave to the Flames while he was here. His contract ruined him expectations wise, but he is as steady a defender as you will find across the league. I do think, however, with the emergence of Brodie on the blueline and the offensive capabilities of Wideman, Bouw's icetime will be effectively spread out and those we may not have a player playing 27 every night, we will have his role effectively replaced.

---

Yes Kipper was bad last year, but so was the team, we sucked and I expect us to suck for a few more years. Unless we really, (and I mean really!) have a team that buys into the systems(one thing Iginla never did, ever) then I am afraid a top 3 pick is all but guaranteed. We do not have the defence in place to keep up to the rigors of the league and unfortunately I do not see our D being able to follow a system as we sit right now. We have three legit NHL Dmen and the rest are meh....many of which a liabilities in our end imo.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by thymebalm

Ok. Time for a bold prediction from watching the pre-season and training camp.

We will not be as bad as everyone thinks.

I know that everyone thinks that there is no way that the team will be competitive and is a shoe-in for a top-5 pick. But I find that laughable.

I know we've been told all summer that without Iggy, Kipper and Bouw we are screwed, but I have to lovingly disagree.

1) Kipper was BAD in his last season. I'm talking BAD.
http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2013/0...e-2013-season/

Any other goalie would have given us more wins than Kiprusoff last season. His save percentage at even strength was .873 last year. That's worse than replacement level NHL goaltending.

Let me be clear. Any other goalie is going to give us more wins. Even if Karri posts a .906 (which is probably a bottom end translation of his ~.920sv in the KHL.) it will be miles (and wins) ahead of Kiprusoff's year.

2) Jarome Iginla didn't drive the play North anymore.

Since 2010 Jarome slipped into being a passenger and not the driver despite playing 18~mins a night. By 2013 he was being regularly outchanced by his opposition.

Despite not having the same knack for the net as Iggy; Stemps, Mickis and Glencross are three players who come to mind who are much better than he at possessing the puck and driving play north. They will all have bigger roles this season (granted they may face tougher competition although even Iginla started to be buried in his final year to help him get favorable icetime)

Iginla was on the decline and the people he is being replaced by are either "apex" or "pre-apex". It will be nice to not have to watch Jarome as he "skates in to the offensive zone, holds up, curls to the boards, loses the puck" which he did to the point of laughter on some occasions.

Jarome Iginla will always be my favorite athlete but he was declining and I don't think losing him is going to be an issue as people are currently perceiving it.

3) JayBou will be replaced by committee.

You can't really complain about what Jay-BOU gave to the Flames while he was here. His contract ruined him expectations wise, but he is as steady a defender as you will find across the league. I do think, however, with the emergence of Brodie on the blueline and the offensive capabilities of Wideman, Bouw's icetime will be effectively spread out and those we may not have a player playing 27 every night, we will have his role effectively replaced.

---

Great post. You would be crucified for saying that last year... but very true.

Though I disagree with Kiprusoff somewhat. While he wasn't steller, he was more steady then most of the goalies the past decade for the Flames. Though Joey MacDonald, while not a game breaker, was surprisingly consistant and stable for us last year and if all else fails, can hold the fort till someone comes along.

[Hatter]

Bouwmeester will be the biggest loss of the three. If there would have been a way to play him 60 minutes a game last year, we likely would have been better off.

For us to be competitive, Wideman will have to be better in his own end, Brodie will have to take another step forward, and Gio will have to look at last season's body of work and promise to never play like that again.

The addition of Russell will ideally push Butler and O'Brien down the depth chart, allowing the two of them to platoon into the 5-6 spots with Smith.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by thymebalm

We will not be as bad as everyone thinks.

...

1) Kipper was BAD in his last season. I'm talking BAD.
2) Jarome Iginla didn't drive the play North anymore.
3) JayBou will be replaced by committee.

I guess I agree on Iginla but not really about Kipper or Bouwmeester.

The worst thing Kipper did was have a slow start and get injured. He needed to be in game shape sooner and not have a bad month to start the shortened season the way he starts a lot of other seasons.

Then again, the same can be said for Backlund. The team was so much better with him in the lineup and when he was out it was very noticable.

Bouwmeester was solid for us, especially this season. However, with everything else going on it just didn't seem to matter. Taking Bouwmeester out of the lineup means that we are going to be leaning more heavily on guys that are either not ready (Brodie) or are already pushing the peter principle (Giordano).

Without those guys, and Tanguay, I really cannot see the Flames scoring enough goals to cover the loss of 2 of our top scorers AND keep the puck out of the net without our #1D and franchise goalie. If we had only lost the scoring I think we could have adjusted but we lost key people in every area of the game.

[Azhouse]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

Brodie is going to be good but is still young and should not be thrown on the first pairing.

I do not agree. Put him up there and see what he does. This team has nothing to lose.

[Saqe]

It´s not that the roster looks awful when everyone is healthy but what happens when the injuries start kicking in? There is zero depth to replace first or second line guys.