[PGT] Business as usual; Flames lose at Honda Center. Again. (5-2)

[thymebalm]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

Monahan is also worrying me. Not really an impact player.

Meh. He's great but he's taking on big assignments and his shooting percentage is lower than his first two seasons by a few percent. I wish he had more shift by shift impact, but we haven't seen his ceiling yet.

[Erick Estrada]

Monahan has been getting chances but he's just not finishing right now. He typically plays a quiet game even when he's scoring but right now he's not finishing. I don't think his game is poor and like with Bennett the bounces will start going his way eventually.

[Machiavelli]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

Monahan is also worrying me. Not really an impact player.

He may be the biggest disappointment for me this season. He doesn't enforce his will, too easy to play against.

[Caged Great]

The Flames have only scored 10 fewer goals than last season to this point, which when you consider how Bouma, Wideman, and Hudler have regressed offensively, that's actually quite impressive.

The problem is they have allowed 27 more goals than a year ago. That's mostly on the goaltending and bottom three defensemen. Corsi wise, all of Giordano/Brodie/Hamilton have played well. Russell/Wideman/Engelland/Smid have all been beyond horrid and they should all be removed from the team. Nakladal and Wotherspoon have actually been great corsi wise, a major improvement on those they replaced. It is a small sample size of course, but if those two continue to play well, then they should remain in the lineup period.

[Machiavelli]

Originally Posted by thymebalm

Meh. He's great but he's taking on big assignments and his shooting percentage is lower than his first two seasons by a few percent. I wish he had more shift by shift impact, but we haven't seen his ceiling yet.

I wish he'd hit more.....makes a big difference on the forecheck.

[Huntingwhale]

I'm not even mad about the loss. Flames will never win there. That is a fact. 4 posts? That's so Honda Centre. Hiller sucks, but Hamilton and Engelland had absolutely brutal giveaways and not many goaltenders are going to stop those.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

Brad 'heavy hockey' Treliving has to start earning his money.

This team is too small and not skilled enough.

Not sure how you are going to fix this. We need some better top 6 and bottom 6 players.

Darren Helm?Jamie McGinn?Andrew Ladd?David Backes?

Agreed. Guys like McGinn, Ladd, Backes, Lucic, Eriksson should all be targets if they hit UFA. Probably gonna get a big, strong, skilled forward or d-man this draft.

But I agree with your sentiment and IMO it's driven home every time we play the King and Ducks. We are still too small, soft and unskilled. With the way the playoffs work now, we know we have to beat ANA/LA/SJ to get to the Cup so Treliving and Burke will need to build a heavy team to compete against them.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

I could only stomach a few minutes of that game on replay, but it looked like Engelland had a really bad game tonight. Bennett also a culprit on one of the goals and Monahan completely lost Kesler on one of his goals. Hiller looked below average at best.

Also, how many posts and crossbars did we hit. Not to mention the Bouma/Stajan no goal. I would have figured that the bad luck in that building had been exhausted over the years, but nope, still awful, awful luck.

22 straight losses in that building. Un. Be. Liev. Able.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Machiavelli

I wish he'd hit more.....makes a big difference on the forecheck.

I thought Ferland was supposed to be that guy? Pretty pedestrian game by him. He's a guy that needs to step up in this games.

I notice Frolik only got 10 minutes tonight which is pretty low.

[FireItUp]

Originally Posted by Realtor 1

I disagree

We are within reach of the playoff spot if goaltending is league average.
Love what Nakladel and Worherspoon are showing, love our forward group minus a couple guys but kicking out rebounds into prime scoring areas or not stopping basic shots or not giving the team faith in some bail out saves kills us.

I think we're closer to top 3 pick and to me thats more important right now; if we even made the playoffs I can't see us challenging for the cup with our current roster. We would be way better off selling off as much as we can (no core players) before the trade deadline.
It's time to be realistic and do whats smart for the organization long term before this ends up being the same team as when Iginla was around...always out of the playoffs or barely in.

[Samonadreau]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

The bottom pairing was a bright spot as they were the only pair that wasn't a train wreck at times for the most part.

Completely agree.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

Assume we draft 5-6, and Puljujarvi, Matthews, Laine, and Tkachuk are gone who is the best forward that meets our needs?

Dubois and Gauthier

Both are 6-3/6-4 200+ and have a lot of skill. Dubois is a similar prospect to Ryan Johansen. The only problem is that he's a C/LW. Gauthier is a RW.

[AcGold]

I sincerely hope we start selling soon. Even if we made it to the playoffs this team is clearly in very bad shape, they need a few more pieces

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

Assume we draft 5-6, and Puljujarvi, Matthews, Laine, and Tkachuk are gone who is the best forward that meets our needs?

If those four are gone, we're probably taking Chychrun. Who, FWIW, might help us in the size department against the Ducks, but knowing Hartley will never make the NHL.

[Stormchaser]

Originally Posted by Realtor 1

Hartley needs to swallow his pride and start Joni regardless of his reasoning. There was no reason not to start him tonight... In fact there were plenty of reasons to start Ortio.
We know that Jonas is not back next year. Give the ball to the player who's future is still questionable. We made the playoffs large in part of Ortios winning stretch last year and then he came out and was given a less than ideal chance. Starting against the hottest team in the league after being the third goalie all year, replacing Hiller in a losing cause, etc are all "fill in" games. Give him a legitimate stretch.

Totally agree 100% with this. I do wonder if the Flames are doing Hiller a solid because they're loyal to their players...maybe helping him out in his contract year?? its a stretch perhaps.

[Lanny'sDaMan]

Bah. I have many words, and not a one of them will pass the profanity filter.

Goodnight.

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by Machiavelli

He may be the biggest disappointment for me this season. He doesn't enforce his will, too easy to play against.

Really? Off the top of my head Hiller, Hudler, and Wideman have been way more disappointing than our 2nd leading scorer. Yeah, I guess he could hit a bit more, but I don't think he's been a disappointment at all this season.

[ScorchyScorch]

2017

Gaudreau - Monahan - Laine
Jankowski - Bennett - Frolik
Ferland - Backlund - Colborne
Agostino - Stajan - Granlund
Bollig

Giordano - Brodie
UFA - Hamilton
Engelland - Wotherspoon
Nakladal

Bernier
Murray

#pleaseandthankyou

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

Assume we draft 5-6, and Puljujarvi, Matthews, Laine, and Tkachuk are gone who is the best forward that meets our needs?

If we draft #5 then I would think we would probably take whichever of Tkachuk (LW) or Chychrun (D) is left. Those guys to me stand out ahead of the rest. Tkachuk would give us a skilled power forward. Chychrun would give us an amazing skater who has size, skill and would give us an elite top 4 defense long term.

If we're drafting #6 and both Tkachuk and Chychrun are gone then I'd be looking at Dubois(LW/C), Nylander(W) and Gauthier(RW). Dubois has size, skating, skill. Maybe the best overall package. Nylander is the most purely skilled but will be average size and not very physical. Gauthier is huge and an offensive sniper and RW. #6 is probably too early for Gauthier, if we're looking for a forward there IMO it'd be between Dubois and Nylander IMO.

Max Jones is another power forward, it'd be sweet if we could somehow manoeuvre two 1sts and get Jones with the second one.

[Samonadreau]

It doesnt bug me that Monahan doesnt hit more but it would be nice to see him be harder to play against. There is a difference. That being said when your #1 center is 21 you can only ask so much.