Defensive pairings, how should we feel.

[Bingo]

If they go

Giordano Wideman
Brodie Engellend
Grossman Hamilton
Giordano Brodie

I can sort of see it.

Hamilton on the first powerplay line to get his minutes up

[Imported_Aussie]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

This is mostly about pairing a left shooting defenceman with a right shooting defenceman. In this case it means breaking up the Brodie - Giordano pairing. While Brodie does great playing the wrong side, it means one of the right shooters needs to play on their wrong side, which isn't so great.

Brodie also sacrificed his shot a lot on that side. He does not have the greatest shot anyway, but being on his natural side, he may be more able to get pucks to the net

[DJones]

Had some serious deja vu reading that haha.

[belsarius]

I like spreading it out on the 5v5 pairings. You keep one of your studs on the ice at all times and keep a tough defender around at the same time. I hated how soft Russell/Hamilton were as a pairing and how exposed the bottom pairing was.

PP and PK time will go almost exclusively to the top 4 and Grossmann/Engellend will end with 10-12 minutes each. It's a bold strategy, let's see how it plays out.

[playmaker]

The problem with Wideman is that he's both slow and unable to deal with bigger bodies in our own zone.
In modern NHL this is a horrible combination for a player you want to give 20+ minutes (especially against the western teams and big skilled forwards such as Seguin, Benn, Lucic, Kopitar, Spezza, Thornton, Carter, etc.)

In my opinion, the best defense the Flames can assemble tonight is

Giordano - Brodie
Hamilton - Jokipakka
Engelland - Kulak

If Kevin fails to prove he's the top 4 defenseman, I think Brad will have to look elsewhere and risk a trade if he wants to have a playoff team.
Seriously, just replace Kevin e.g. with Hamonic in that pairing and you've got the best defensive pairings in the league.

[Locke]

I'm most interested in Engelland personally.

When Gio went down he was the guy who stepped up and chewed about a dozen minutes a night, at 3-6 minutes a night he was terrible, so to me it depends which Engelland we get which depends a lot on how the coaching staff uses him.

As for Wideman, I would consider the Wideman of last season to be the aberration, I know we're all expecting it because hes getting older and players rarely improve with advancing age, but its about how he adapts.

I'm willing to give them to the opportunity to prove themselves with the new coaching staff before I start sharpening my pitchforks.

[polak]

Not a fan to be honest. As others have mentioned, it exposes one side on every pairing and I'm really not a fan of Grossman with Hamilton.

[Erick Estrada]

Not a fan of the pairings at all but it's just one game and by the 3rd period I wouldn't be shocked to see some juggling depending on the score and if the team is defending a lead or behind trying to generate offense. This team will be work in progress for the first month of the season.

[joejoe3]

Originally Posted by belsarius

...Grossmann/Engellend will end with 10-12 minutes each. It's a bold strategy, let's see how it plays out.

[JurassicTunga12]

Don't like those pairings. Hopefully they don't last more than a period.

[CMPunk]

Originally Posted by Locke

I'm most interested in Engelland personally.

When Gio went down he was the guy who stepped up and chewed about a dozen minutes a night, at 3-6 minutes a night he was terrible, so to me it depends which Engelland we get which depends a lot on how the coaching staff uses him.

As for Wideman, I would consider the Wideman of last season to be the aberration, I know we're all expecting it because hes getting older and players rarely improve with advancing age, but its about how he adapts.

I'm willing to give them to the opportunity to prove themselves with the new coaching staff before I start sharpening my pitchforks.

[GranteedEV]

I will reserve judgement until I see some results but I can't say I have a good feeling about these pairings. Engelland is not a good top six D never mind top 4, and Wideman can't handle top pair competition with Gio. Hamilton should not be on a bottom pair, and Grossmann is not our third best left shot D, he may not even be our sixth best.

[Jore]

Originally Posted by JurassicTunga12

Don't like those pairings. Hopefully they don't last more than a period.

I hope they don't last more than a shift. I was pretty excited for a new coach,, but it doesn't get more wrong than this, in the words of kent Wilson

[neo45]

It's going to be a trainwreck most likely. At least I think so


Splitting up Gio and Brodie in order to spread out the good players screams "trying not to lose" instead of trying to win

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by neo45

Splitting up Gio and Brodie in order to spread out the good players screams

This is the approach on my son's Atom A team. Both his team and the Flames play hockey, therefore this will work.

[CalgaryFan1988]

Originally Posted by playmaker

The problem with Wideman is that he's both slow and unable to deal with bigger bodies in our own zone.
In modern NHL this is a horrible combination for a player you want to give 20+ minutes (especially against the western teams and big skilled forwards such as Seguin, Benn, Lucic, Kopitar, Spezza, Thornton, Carter, etc.)

In my opinion, the best defense the Flames can assemble tonight is

Giordano - Brodie
Hamilton - Jokipakka
Engelland - Kulak

If Kevin fails to prove he's the top 4 defenseman, I think Brad will have to look elsewhere and risk a trade if he wants to have a playoff team.
Seriously, just replace Kevin e.g. with Hamonic in that pairing and you've got the best defensive pairings in the league.

And then lose Hamonic in the expansion draft after giving up assets for him.

[Strange Brew]

Hamilton is the interesting player to watch here. Last year, he was routinely 5th in TOI IIRC. Even after Russell was traded and Wideman was suspended, there were nights he was behind Engelland in ice time.

A lot of people felt like that was due to Hartley's strange preferences and I would tend to agree. I will be interested to see how he does this year and where he slots in with regards to TOI. Don't really know what to make of these initial pairings and what it means about Hamilton.

Not sure I'm ready to call Hamilton/Jokipakka the best 3rd pairing in the league. Nor do I think we have the best 4th line in the league which some would claim last year. These guys have a lot to prove before I would say we have the best anything.

[polak]

Expecting Wideman to handle the top competition seems like a disaster in waiting. I hope these pairings have an extremely short leash.

[Parallex]

@WesGilbertson
#Flames defence pairings:
Giordano-Wideman
Brodie-Engelland
Grossmann-Hamilton
Jokipakka-Kulak

Excuse me while I go throw up in my mouth a lil' bit...

[neo45]

I don't think it is overreacting at all to be absolutely terrified that our new coaching staff thinks that this is a good idea.