Monahan+Gaudreau - Gio+Brodie or Bennett+Gaudreau - Gio+Hamilton

[pylon]

Brodano should be on the censored word list. Except instead of censored, it should result in Captain Crunch coming to your house, and living out one of his revenge fantasies, while Fotze stands in the corner watching, while wearing a leather zipper gimp mask.

[Lanny_McDonald]

I like the following lineup.

Gaudreau-Monahan-Hudler
Colborne-Backlund-Frolik
Ferland-Bennett-Poirier
Bouma-Stajan-Jones
Jooris, Raymond

Should stay like this until the Flames can find suitors for Stajan, Raymond and Jones. All three could use new addresses. You can't afford to have $10.3M playing on your 4th line or sitting in the pressbox each night. These guys will be replaceable by players from the minors and save the Flames around $8M on the cap.

Giordano-Hamilton
Brodie-Wideman
Russell-Engelland
Wotherspoon

I think the Flames need to try and move two of Wideman, Engelland and Smid, if Smid comes back to play. Again, too much money being spent at the bottom of the lineup.

[Caged Great]

the setup that I would like to see tried out at least to start the season

Gaudreau-Monahan-Hudler
Frolik-Bennett-Jones
Bouma-Backlund-Colborne
Ferland-Stajan-Shore/Jooris/Granlund

Giordano-Brodie
Hamilton-Smid/Engelland/Wotherspoon
Russell-Wideman

And the top two of the goalie trio.

Frolik can play either wing, which is advantageous as he shoots left, and would allow for Jones and Colborne to slot in on the right side.

We need to move out 3-4 bodies.

[FBI]

Originally Posted by New Era

I like the following lineup.

Gaudreau-Monahan-Hudler
Colborne-Backlund-Frolik
Ferland-Bennett-Poirier
Bouma-Stajan-Jones
Jooris, Raymond

Should stay like this until the Flames can find suitors for Stajan, Raymond and Jones. All three could use new addresses. You can't afford to have $10.3M playing on your 4th line or sitting in the pressbox each night. These guys will be replaceable by players from the minors and save the Flames around $8M on the cap.

Giordano-Hamilton
Brodie-Wideman
Russell-Engelland
Wotherspoon

I think the Flames need to try and move two of Wideman, Engelland and Smid, if Smid comes back to play. Again, too much money being spent at the bottom of the lineup.

Bollig? Traded for 6th round pick?

[Finger Cookin]

Originally Posted by FBI

Bollig? Traded for 6th round pick?

Not to mention that Byron and Shore need to be accounted for. Do you suppose three forwards will be moved early, along with two defensemen? That seems aggressive.

Tough choices coming up in camp. I think some players might be lost for nothing, which will displease the asset managers. Then again, maybe players exposed to waivers will slide through like they almost always do.

[Bingo]

re: Gio/Brodie

I think 2 things have changed since they were a pairing.

1) Hamilton acquired
2) Brodie takes another step

They were great together and Brodie sputtered a bit when Gio went down, but then he emerged to be the best player on the ice against Vancouver. He can carry a pairing now, not rely on being carried.

That says break them up to me not because I don't think they'd be great together but because the Flames now have 2 linchpins and can literally have an ace on the ice 50/60 minutes a night.

If they don't though I can't see Wideman/Hamilton ... Wideman is ideal for less 5 on 5 and a powerplay focus. No point on forcing Hamilton out of position, play him with Russell.

[Split98]

Really looking forward to Bromham in the near future.

Going to be tough to break up Brodano, and I'm a huge fan of chemistry but it's tough to deny how dynamic those two will be together for years and years to come.

[Vulcan]

I think you need to start out with Giordano - Hamilton. If they don't work our than you go back to Giordano - Brodie but you don't waste the opportunity of having three right shooting defencemen playing on the right side. Having Brodie equally comfortable on either side will be great if injuries happen or if Smit plays instead of Engelland.

You could even pair Brodie with Hamilton and Giordano with Wideman. It will be interesting.

[Robbob]

I would lean heavily to keep Brodie and Gio together to start the season unless in preseason Hamilton and one of those two click instantly. I think a good start will be critical for the flames.

Out side the box thinking, since Gio, Brodie and Hamilton seem to be able to carry a pairing, why not have each on their own pairing. You bring down the minutes of the top pairing (could benefit to keep the legs fresh) but it ensures every second of the game one of those players are on the ice. At that point you play the hot hand for matchups.

[JohnnyTitan]

What would the ideal breakdown of minutes be? In line with the "Keep the legs" fresh thinking, maybe this would be ideal?

1st pairing = 42% of minutes
2nd pairing = 33% of minutes
3rd pairing = 25% of minutes

In that scenario, you wouldn't be killing any one pairing while also not "Wasting" either Wideman or Russell on the 3rd pairing.

What did the Flames look like last year? Here are the minutes against Vancouver. I just crunched how much the bottom two guys played, so you can extrapolate that the top-four played a ####-load! (And that includes Engelland playing an average of more than 20 minutes a night!)

So needless to say, we are in WAY better shape this season. More depth will benefit all those guys and the team in general!

Game #1
Schlemko 10:34
Russell 29:07
Wideman 30:03
Brodie 26:05
Potter 3:56
Engelland 20:15

Schlemko + Potter = 14:28 (12%)

Game #2
Schlemko 15:38
Russell 26:51
Wideman 24:24
Brodie 25:57
Potter 5:34
Engelland 20:19

Schlemko + Potter = 21:12 (18%)


Game #3
Schlemko 16:26
Russell 25:02
Wideman 26:46
Brodie 26:20
Wotherspoon 5:09
Engelland 20:21

Schlemko + Wotherspoon = 21:35 (18%)

Game #4
Schlemko 11:19
Russell 25:30
Wideman 27:47
Brodie: 28:32
Wotherspoon 4:19
Engelland 22:33

Schlemko + Wotherspoon = 15:38 (13%)


Game #5
Schlemko 14:51
Russell 26:51
Wideman 27:01
Brodie: 27:21
Wotherspoon 6:33
Engelland 17:23

Schlemko + Wotherspoon = 21:24 (18%)


Game #6
Schlemko 8:16
Russell 29:15
Wideman 25:57
Brodie 28:47
Wotherspoon 3:16
Engelland 24:29

Schlemko + Wotherspoon = 11:32 (9.5% !!!!!!)

[JohnnyTitan]

As for forwards, I would kinda ask the same question? What is the ideal break-down?

In the past we'd talk about top-6 guys, but I specifically remember hearing Treliving comment that he feels each team really has a top-9. So maybe:

1st line: 33% (20 minutes)
2nd line: 25% (15 minutes)
3rd line: 25% (15 minutes)
4th line: 17% (10 minutes)

So when PP time is considered, there are enough minutes for both Bennett and Backlund no matter who is 2nd line vs 3rd line.

I don't want to derail the conversation, but I'm just suggesting that with our "Embarrassment of riches", hopefully we can roll 4 lines / 3 pairings that when combined with our "better conditioning" will crush our opponents! ;-)

[Ryan Coke]

I don't think you try to play lesser players more. If you've got 3 elite defencemen, you put together an excellent top 4 and play them at least 3/4 of the game.

Obviously you don't want to wear them out, but top dmen usually are very comfortable at 23-25 minutes a game. When you play them less their play can actually suffer.

Same thing up front....while you don't want to put your 3 dangerous players on one line, you also don't want to spread them out across 4 lines. You want your best players to get as much ice time as they can comfortably handle.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Ryan Coke

I don't think you try to play lesser players more. If you've got 3 elite defencemen, you put together an excellent top 4 and play them at least 3/4 of the game.

Obviously you don't want to wear them out, but top dmen usually are very comfortable at 23-25 minutes a game. When you play them less their play can actually suffer.

Same thing up front....while you don't want to put your 3 dangerous players on one line, you also don't want to spread them out across 4 lines. You want your best players to get as much ice time as they can comfortably handle.

You put that better than I would, but I was about to say the same thing.

You don't want "resting" to become "under-utilization"

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Bingo

You put that better than I would, but I was about to say the same thing.

You don't want "resting" to become "under-utilization"

See: Stamkos, Steven

[saillias]

I disagree with that. Blame Tyler Johnson for just being better than him this past season.

[Vinny01]

The Flames certainly have set up battles in all 3 positions this camp. There are several vets that can lose their spots to young players.

Gaudreau-Monahan-Hudler
Bouma-Backlund-Frolik
Ferland-Bennett-Porier
Byron-Jooris-Shore

Giordano-Brodie
Russell-Hamilton
Wotherspoon-Wideman

Ramo
Ortio

That lineup eliminates Stajan, Raymond, Jones, Smid, Engellend, Hiller which takes up a combined $21.2M against the cap.