Halfway point - Grade the players

[FBI]

Yes I know we all want to give everybody F's but that's not great for discussion..

Here are mine sorted by top of the class..

Monahan: A-, pretty much everything we could have hoped for.. Injury slowed him down but seems to be picking things back up again.. On pace for 25 goals and solid IQ.

Hudler: A-, sometimes tries too much out there and gives it away a la Tanguay, but mostly been pretty awesome this year

Gio: A-, gets olympic consideration and establishing himself as solid top 2 D

Russell: A-, total surprise, bummer about the injury

Byron: B+, nice surprise since the call up

Ramo: B-, bad start, getting better and slightly more consistent than Berra

Backlund: B-, terrible start, but really picking it up now

Brodie: B-, decent play this year

Smid: B-, seems to be a pretty good warrior so far

Bouma: C+, been pretty much as advertised

Colborne: C+, not too bad, seems to be adapting his game

Baertschi: C+, didn't think he was that bad at all, still don't understand the hate, and he's on pace for 0.5 ppg career in the NHL, give him a dang chance.

Berra: C+, bad start but getting better and I see a little bit of potential there, doing great at shootouts and breakaways

Cammalleri: C, great start, fallen off big time, hope he gets it going enough to get something decent for him

Wideman: C, hasn't done much at all this year

Hartley: C-, getting some effort but play has dropped off big time, has he lost the team?

Stajan: D, had one solid stretch, but is now sucking again and relegated to 4th line (plus I just don't like Stajan)

Butler: D, plays not bad when given 10 mins a game, any more becomes a disaster

O'Brien: D, at least he has the most spinoramas on the team

Glencross: D, unfortunate injuries, but even when he's been playing he has been super inconsistent and I don't see the passion

Mcgrattan: D-, only seems to fight the staged fights which seems pointless to me, timing on fights hasn't been good either

Stempniak: F, one solid streak but now what, the worst 25 game stretch of his career? This guy is infuriating

D Jones: F, I don't see anything that useful with this guy.. He's big but doesn't do anything with his size.. He scored one goal in the first game and that's it

Galiardi: F, as discussed in other threads, he's Comeau with less effort

Breen: F

[Stanley]

I agree with most of it, give or take, except I would give McGrattan a C ,he's had several shifts where he would bust his arse, forecheck, made some plays and created scoring chnaces, I know it's few and far in between but he plays his role..which is more than just fighting...

[Stanley]

And Hartley...well, hard to give him anything more than a C at this point but given the roster he has to work with I feel kinda bad for him...Things started out so well, you could see the guys make tic tac toe passes and being aggressive on the forecheck, sure with some mental lapses on defence but it seemed that Hartley was implementing a fast, effective and entertaining system for the guys to play...but the wheels have certainly fallen off...

[ForeverFlameFan]

I think your grading is pretty accurate.. Yes, the acquisitions of Galiardi and Jones were of high hopes at the beginning of the season, hoping Jones would be that 27 goal scorer and Galiardi as just a good asset to the team. They certainly have been disappointing thus far. Now they are just a waste of a roster space.. Bring up Granlund, Reinhart, or even Street..

Honestly, the players that I thought wouldn't have such a great impact, have been our top players. Russell and Byron are the first two that come to mind, we didn't expect a lot out of them, but they are playing very well. Backlund wasn't very great at the beginning, but he's really turned around for the better.

I still want Baertschi back, I think it's unfair with what happened to him. He needs more playing time, and we have kind of sucked a lot more without him in the lineup. What more damage can happen with him in the lineup? We expected a lot out of this guy and I don't think he deserves to be in the AHL right now.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Stanley

I agree with most of it, give or take, except I would give McGrattan a C ,he's had several shifts where he would bust his arse, forecheck, made some plays and created scoring chnaces, I know it's few and far in between but he plays his role..which is more than just fighting...

Agreed.. And I'd rather have McGrattan in than Westgarth.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

I'll keep it simple.

The A's: Hudler, Giordano, Monahan

The B's: Russell, Byron, McGrattan, Cammalleri, Backlund, Smid, Hartley

The C's: Ramo, Brodie, Butler, Wideman, B. Jones, Stajan, Colborne, Bouma, Glencross (when healthy)

The D's: Berra, Baertschi, D. Jones, Stempniak

The F's: Galiardi, SOB, Smith, Breen

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by FBI

Yes I know we all want to give everybody F's but that's not great for discussion..

This might be true, but every poster so far has given out more As and Bs than Ds and Fs. Kind of hard for me to wrap my head around this concept when the Flames are the 3rd worst team in the NHL right now.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

This might be true, but every poster so far has given out more As and Bs than Ds and Fs. Kind of hard for me to wrap my head around this concept when the Flames are the 3rd worst team in the NHL right now.

I think it is because on paper they are a bad team. So people are grading on expectations - how is that player doing relative to what they are capable of. So individually they might be getting OK greats but the team overall is a D or an F because it just isn't good.

The alternate approach would be to grade players on the basis of their relative position. For instance if we are grading the goaltenders relative to their peer group - they get Fs. And that would probably be the case across the board.

[FakenHaken]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

This might be true, but every poster so far has given out more As and Bs than Ds and Fs. Kind of hard for me to wrap my head around this concept when the Flames are the 3rd worst team in the NHL right now.

I hear you and thought the same thing, just rationalized as marking on the Bell Curve though. Expectations for the majority are exactly where the Flames are if not worse. So if they are right where we thought or better than you see better marks or at least that's how I'm reading it.

[JobHopper]

Monahan: B+

Hudler: A

Gio: B+

Russell: C

Byron: C

Ramo: B

Backlund: C+

Brodie: B

Smid: C+

Bouma: B

Colborne: B

Baertschi: D

Berra: B

Cammalleri: B

Wideman: C

Hartley: B

Stajan: C

Butler: C

O'Brien: D

Glencross: B

Mcgrattan: B

Stempniak: B

D Jones: D

Galiardi: D

Breen: D

[c.t.ner]

I pretty much agree with everything FBI said, but I'd give Berra and Ramo a B-. Yeah, they haven't been lights out and made brutal mistakes earlier in the year, but overall I think they've been strong. They're both learning and growing, the let some stinkers in at the beginning of the year, but they've both got promise.

I personally don't feel that it's critical to find a full time replacement or bring Ortio yet with these two. I'd let them continue to battle it out for the rest of the year and spend sometime trying to ship some of the dead weight like The Joneses, Galiardi, Butler and Stempniak.

[Mister Yamoto]

Who is team MVP?

I'd say Giordano for sure. With Monahan, Hudler and Berra in the conversation.

[Lanny'sDaMan]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

I'll keep it simple.

The A's: Hudler, Giordano, Monahan

The B's: Russell, Byron, McGrattan, Cammalleri, Backlund, Smid, Hartley

The C's: Ramo, Brodie, Butler, Wideman, B. Jones, Stajan, Colborne, Bouma, Glencross (when healthy)

The D's: Berra, Baertschi, D. Jones, Stempniak

The F's: Galiardi, SOB, Smith, Breen

I agree mostly with this though I would have Scoreface as a D-. Even when he's been healthy he's been totally checked out. And I think Hartly deserves to be much lower as well. Perhaps an F+.

[Soliak]

Am I the only one who thinks Butler has been pretty good this season? He has surpassed expectations IMO.

Only A's I would give is Monny, Hudler, Russ and Gio.

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by Soliak

Am I the only one who thinks Butler has been pretty good this season? He has surpassed expectations IMO.

Yes, no one likes anything Butler has ever done.

[djsFlames]

A - Monahan, Hudler, Giordano, Byron, Russell
B - Ramo, Smid, Colborne, Backlund

Average to poor = everyone else.

[Meers]

No individual As are warranted on a team that has performed this poorly. It's the NHL equivalent of Remedial English.

B+ for Monahan, Hudler and Gio.

I'd knock everyone else down a half-grade grade too.

[doctajones428]

Glencross: Triple F Minus

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Meers

No individual As are warranted on a team that has performed this poorly. It's the NHL equivalent of Remedial English.

B+ for Monahan, Hudler and Gio.

I'd knock everyone else down a half-grade grade too.

Outside of the past 7-8 games they've actually exceeded expectations on the season in most's minds. So, given the circumstances and the roster at hand, I don't really agree.

But there are several who fall under that D-F range, regardless.

Galliardi, Stempniak, Jones, Breen, Stajan and lately Cammalleri (-20 on the season) have underperformed.

Glencross has been sidelined so often that it's hard to grade him. He was still on a .60 PPG pace, which is about right for him. Kind of never got a chance to get back in the groove after the first injury. A little unfair to throw him under the bus.

[ComixZone]

The A's:

The B's: Hudler, Giordano, Monahan,

The C's: Russell, Byron, Backlund, Cammalleri, Ramo, Brodie, Butler, Wideman, B. Jones, Stajan, Colborne, Bouma,

The D's: Glencross (when healthy), Smid, McGrattan, Berra, Baertschi, Stempniak, Hartley

The F's: Galiardi, SOB, Smith, Breen, D. Jones,