2014-15 General Adirondack Flames Discussion Thread

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Holy crap, look at the three month progression on the PK! That's some tremendous work by the coaching staff and players.

And Ortio... wow. So nice to see him back in full form. It's unfortunate that first month is ruining his numbers.

Thanks for the recap Drury!

[thymebalm]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

Holy crap, look at the three month progression on the PK! That's some tremendous work by the coaching staff and players.

And Ortio... wow. So nice to see him back in full form. It's unfortunate that first month is ruining his numbers.

Thanks for the recap Drury!

As the year carries on that October will weigh less and less on his stats.

-

The only thing I thought we'd see more of with the Addy Flames is goals. We are without any game breaking ppg type players. Baertschi, Arnold, Hanowski, and Poirier look like they could all grow into that role, but none have the consistency yet.

The D-core has been decent considering they have a lot of guys that are all hitting the same ceiling in terms of play and production.

Main thing is to get to the playoffs with this squad and start getting the prospects playing meaningful hockey in the spring. Lots of good down on the farm this year.

[Drury18]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

Holy crap, look at the three month progression on the PK! That's some tremendous work by the coaching staff and players.

Yea, that jumped out at me too. I actually went back and checked my numbers to make sure I hadn't made any mistakes. We have gone from the 30th PK in the AHL when October finished to 6th (and climbing might I add) to end 2014.

There's been two lengthy streaks of PK's. I believe the current one is 38 of the last 39 have been killed off. Prior to that was the 33 straight PK kills in November. The PK can be absolutely stingy at times.

[Drury18]

Adirondack introduced a new mascot last night. Here is Dash, the family friendly teddy bear looking Dalmatian.

[Rick M.]

He looks like a barely adequate replacement for the late lamented Scorch. I hope he doesn't bite a fireman.

[GettinIggyWithIt]

Well - a dalmation would definitely be a more fireman friendly mascot.

[thymebalm]

Originally Posted by GettinIggyWithIt

Well - a dalmation would definitely be a more fireman friendly mascot.

Scorch plays Phantom of the Arena from the Jumbotron.

[Flame19,289]

Adirondack plays 11 of the next 13 games at home. With the two away games being quick 1-game trips to Utica and Rochester, the Flames won't leave New York State until late February.

Time for a push to take over the division lead!!
Hopefully that push starts tonight with a home game against the Division leading Utica Comets.

[Bingo]

From a distance I continue to be surprised at Hanowski's production, and Agostino's lack of jam at the AHL level.

I would have bet money that Hanowski was the lesser of the two, and the least likely to get another pro contract from the Flames and that Agostino was a sleeper that looked to be a good third line player in Calgary in a year or two.

Instead Agostino is way down the charts with guys like Wolf and Van Brabant being more productive.

Do the stats tell the story on these two guys?

Not surprised to see Arnold doing well in the AHL, but thought his production would come a little later on than the first half of his first season.

[FBI]

Yeah Agostino looked like he might have something on his call up.. (But then so did Aliu)

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Originally Posted by Bingo

From a distance I continue to be surprised at Hanowski's production, and Agostino's lack of jam at the AHL level.

I would have bet money that Hanowski was the lesser of the two, and the least likely to get another pro contract from the Flames and that Agostino was a sleeper that looked to be a good third line player in Calgary in a year or two.

Instead Agostino is way down the charts with guys like Wolf and Van Brabant being more productive.

Do the stats tell the story on these two guys?

Not surprised to see Arnold doing well in the AHL, but thought his production would come a little later on than the first half of his first season.

Agostino had a lot of jam earlier in the year. Something's happened to his game lately. Offense has dried up and he just doesn't have that energy he had.

[Drury18]

Agostino is a college guy. It's the same thing Ward preached patience about last year. These college guys hit a wall mid season because they aren't used to the game schedule or the life schedule of pro hockey. Hanowski did it, Jooris did it.

I'm not that worried about Agostino. I'm more worried how Huska is handling the college guys as this was one of these things that Ward really seemed to have a better understanding of and better grip of. He helped the guys work through it and had more tolerance for it. I'm not sure Huska has the same understanding or patience as he's not coached that level of player before.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I was looking forward to seeing Agostino last year, and I must say I was a bit disappointed. The book I read about him was that he was an aggressive forechecker who would make life tough on opposing teams and who can provide a decent amount of depth scoring. That isn't what I really saw.

Agostino to me is very 'vanilla'. He doesn't seem to bring anything of note really. Decent speed, but not great. Doesn't play physical enough. Doesn't score enough. Doesn't do a whole lot out there IMO. Doesn't make too many mistakes either. He won't be a guy that loses you a game with a bad mistake, but he doesn't really impact the game positively. Would be great if we are talking about a bottom-pairing defencemen, but he isn't.

I thought Agostino would be far ahead of Hanowski and Van Brabant (and Hathaway too). All three of those guys bring much more to a team than Agostino does. Hanowski needs to work on his footspeed, but the kid is an absolute leader and will do whatever it takes to win a game. St. Cloud's success had a lot to do with Hanowski and what he brought to that team apparently. I think Hanowski will eventually make it to the NHL as a good 3-4th liner who is hard to play against, and can provide some timely goals - that is at least how I view him.

Van Brabant has some decent wheels and likes to play physical. I think he will be battling it out with Hanowski, Harrison, Carrol, etc., as those abrasive and hard guys to play against in the bottom 6 that can maybe kill penalties, scrap now and then, and provide depth scoring. I see all these guys providing a bit more than Agostino.

Hopefully I am proven wrong and Agostino starts showing much more than he has been, but I just don't see him as much of an asset at all. I see him as more of the types that are available every year in the AHL for free and that AHL teams sign to provide some depth to their clubs, rather than NHL teams. Hopefully he is just a slow starter and becomes another Jooris story, but I just haven't seen it.

[Drury18]

Dash has a Twitter now if anyone wants to follow: @FlamesDash

He's also wearing a jersey tonight after running around the arena "naked" last night. Apparently a few people got upset about that too. Because a furry mascot dog wearing nothing but boots is obscene or something.

[BACKCHECK!!!]

Originally Posted by Drury18

Dash has a Twitter now if anyone wants to follow: @FlamesDash

He's also wearing a jersey tonight after running around the arena "naked" last night. Apparently a few people got upset about that too. Because a furry mascot dog wearing nothing but boots is obscene or something.

Wow, I wonder how these people react when they see a REAL dog naked in public.

[Bingo]

OK I'm going to personally take credit for getting Agostino going.

Who's next?!

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

I refuse to follow Dash on Twitter. We all know who the real mascot is. I'm not following some wannabe.

Originally Posted by Bingo

OK I'm going to personally take credit for getting Agostino going.

Who's next?!

Trevor Gillies hasn't scored in a while...

[Drury18]

Originally Posted by Bingo

OK I'm going to personally take credit for getting Agostino going.

Who's next?!

Could you get Tousignant back to himself? That would be awesome.

[Drury18]

Actually changed my mind. Can you get Reinhart going? That would be even better.

[savardandjokinen]

Originally Posted by Drury18

Actually changed my mind. Can you get Reinhart going? That would be even better.

I would've said Sven a couple weeks ago, but he's going so you're completly right about reinhart.