Wideman

[Goriders]

Hats off to him. He was on my most likely to be shipped out list with David Jones. Both of which are big $$ guys.

He's had an impact from the start of this season. And is essentially doing what they brought him in to do. He's obviously not a shutdown defenseman. But he's supplying offense and hasn't been as horrible as usual in our own end (only -1 rating).

I honestly thought he was our best defenseman at the start of last year. Or at least right up there. But he fell off the map after all of his injuries. Hopefully he has turned a corner. Him stepping up would help elevate our defensive corp big time.

I'm leaving Jones on the list though.

[GioforPM]

He needs a smart D game seeing has how he appears to have lost a step. His offense, esp. his shot was never the issue.

[Anduril]

I wouldn't be so quick to give applause. He's been hovering between horrible and not-terrible since the beginning of the season. I was more impressed with where he was last season at this time.

[GioforPM]

His problem is that becuase he is slow, he can't press for his shot as often as, say Brodie. He will lose a footrace with almost every fwd on a blocked shot. Three games ago he lost a footrace with a 15 foot head start.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Anduril

I wouldn't be so quick to give applause. He's been hovering between horrible and not-terrible since the beginning of the season. I was more impressed with where he was last season at this time.

I was also much more impressed with him last season. Last season before he got injured he looked like a #1 defender. Even beating out Gio in offence and minutes played until he got hurt. He came back and played below and I attributed that to his injury.

This season he's looked like a wreck in his own end. Something that fans of other teams said would happen, yet I never really saw that in his first 2 years here. I thought he was pretty good defensively. But this season I can see what they are saying. His outlet pass is nowhere near as good as last year. Often time he throws the puck around the boards to get it out, which results in a turnover. He's makes risky passes. Lucky for him his offence kind of makes up for it so far. If he's not producing his 4pts in the last 4 games, this thread doesn't exist. I hope he can regain some of his form from previous seasons because he can be a beast of a player when he plays to his potential.

I'd also like to see him return to being a true PPQB. I don't know if it's because he's lost a step or coach doesn't use him in that role any more, but I thought Wideman really excelled when he was rifling shots from the point and really quarterbacking the PP. Haven't really seen him do much of that yet.

[stone hands]

Wideman has been really hard to hate over the last few games

Doesn't excuse his god-awful play overall since coming back from injury last year. He's been absolutely putrid for the most part

[Fire]

He still looks old and slow to me. His only redeeming quality is his shot.

[Goriders]

But like I said. I don't think they brought him in to be TJ Brodie or Robin Regehr.

They brought him in to add offense and to help on the PP because our forwards were so useless and they were forced to add offense from the back end.

He needs to be paired with someone who is defensively sound. Russell or Smid, to account for the fact that he's a river boat gambler who's slow.

Point I was trying to make is he's having an impact this year vs what he was doing at the end of last year. Which was sit in the press box. So that's good to see considering we're paying him $5m a year.

[mile]

He's looked better after being paired with Russell.

Still needs to be better defensively, but if he continues to produce points he might have a little trade value.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by mile

He's looked better after being paired with Russell.

Still needs to be better defensively, but if he continues to produce points he might have a little trade value.

That is what I am hoping. He continues to produce and we can ship him out for a pick.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

That is what I am hoping. He continues to produce and we can ship him out for a pick.

We have to eat enough salary or take some back to stay above the floor.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

We have to eat enough salary or take some back to stay above the floor.

At the trade deadline? I don't think so. I could be wrong.

[GioforPM]

Pro-rated.

[Murph]

You guys are bonkers. Wideman's got two more years at $5.25M after this year. No one's taking that on.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Murph

You guys are bonkers. Wideman's got two more years at $5.25M after this year. No one's taking that on.

A team on the East could use him. He's always done well on the East.

[Five-hole]

He's been improving. I thought he was pretty good against the Lightning.

[Nme-Territory]

My expectations for Wideman this year: Roman Hamrlik
What I feel like I'm getting: Ian White

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Murph

You guys are bonkers. Wideman's got two more years at $5.25M after this year. No one's taking that on.

If only the flames could retain some salary in order to trade him

[Stormchaser]

Wideman's stock is soaring which is great! I hope he scores another 15 goals by Feb/March.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I think he has been improving as well. Hopefully he will be back at his form that he showed at the start of last season, but he is at least improving out there.

Nice to see him start getting back on the scoresheet! Hope he keeps it up.