Veteran Leadership and Grit

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Wild GM

I said it before and I'll re-state it here - I worry that the make-up of the team is just off. They aren't particularly fast, big, tough or skilled. They are stuck in the middle.
I would be looking at making some pretty material changes to the core to change both the make-up of the team from an ability point of view, but also to try to address the fact that I think personality wise they have too many guys that are simply a bit passive.

I agree with this but at the same time, very very nervous about a major trade with the current regime. This team still has trouble scoring, and if you end up sacrificing speed, scoring or youth for intangibles in a big trade, you run the risk of setting this organization back yet again. You better be absolutely sure coaching is not the problem, because a change there doesn’t cost you any players.

[savardandjokinen]

Stajan just isn’t an NHL player. I think he works hard but the guy is just plain not good enough anymore. If Brouwer were to throw hits and lead by example on the ice, I think he’d do his job. However he seems to doddle around and not do anything beneficial on the ice.

[redforever]

I think a major start of injecting leadership would be stripping the A from Brouwer and giving it to Tkachuk.

I think that would send a good message about what kind of leadership and play the Flames are expected to show on the ice. This kid hates losing.

[savardandjokinen]

Originally Posted by redforever

I think a major start of injecting leadership would be stripping the A from Brouwer and giving it to Tkachuk.

I think that would send a good message about what kind of leadership and play the Flames are expected to show on the ice. This kid hates losing.

I think Tkachuk will make for a great leader one day, but he needs to improve his discipline for now. I’d like to see them strip Brouwer and give it to Backlund

[Strange Brew]

This is not a criticism, but what qualities does Monahan exhibit that make him a good alternate captain?

[Harry Lime]

I tend to think that Klimchuk is ready for a bigger role with the organization. He is coming along slowly, and being groomed as a kind of 'Backlund on the wing'. He may not bring a tonne of grit, but it seems like he would be tough to play against.

With Hathaway up, it seems like some of these players can be called upon internally.

[Wolfman]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

This is not a criticism, but what qualities does Monahan exhibit that make him a good alternate captain?

His hair, but seeing how he cut it he should be stripped of his A.

[Brick]

Give Matthew Tkachuk credit. He has more grit than any of the veterans.

This team has an obvious lack of veteran leadership with grit.

Troy Brouwer and Matt Stajan are underwhelming and they simply need to be replaced.

[cannon7]

Giordano is overrated as a captain. But he has no help. No one takes Brouwer, Stajan, Versteeg, etc. seriously as leaders. Jagr is more of a mentor type and can't really lead by example anymore. Just makes it that much more evident that Treliving has no idea what he's doing.

[David Struch]

Inject some new faces into the line-up...

Gaudreau - Monahan - Ferland
Mangiapane - Backlund - Tkachuk
Klimchuk - Bennett - Jagr
Lomberg - Jankowski - Hathaway

Giordano - Brodie
Hamilton - Hamonic
Stone - Andersson

[savardandjokinen]

Originally Posted by David Struch

Inject some new faces into the line-up...

Gaudreau - Monahan - Ferland
Mangiapane - Backlund - Tkachuk
Klimchuk - Hrivik - Jagr
Lomberg - Jankowski - Hathaway

Giordano - Brodie
Hamilton - Hamonic
Stone - Andersson

Lomberg over Bennett???

[Finger Cookin]

Originally Posted by savardandjokinen

Lomberg over Bennett???

Pfft. Is Bennett's face "new"? The answer, objectively, is "no".

[savardandjokinen]

Originally Posted by Finger Cookin

Pfft. Is Bennett's face "new"? The answer, objectively, is "no".

Bennett does not deserve to be taken out of the lineup, at the start of the season I would agree but he's been playing well as of late

[Finger Cookin]

Originally Posted by savardandjokinen

Bennett does not deserve to be taken out of the lineup, at the start of the season I would agree but he's been playing well as of late

Have you considered the relative newness of his face, though?

[RoughRiderRowdy]

This team has zero leadership or grit. Nothing zilch, what paddy shot at. Nothing. Sickening

[Hackey]

Brouwer has been a terrible signing and yes Stajan sucks but these guys really are not the big issues. They make for good scapegoats because they are overpaid 4th liners but Monahan hasn't scored a single goal in 9 games. Gaudreau has 1 goal in his last 12 games. If we replaced Stajan with someone from the farm and Brouwer wasnt on the team we still suck.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Brouwer has been a terrible signing and yes Stajan sucks but these guys really are not the big issues. They make for good scapegoats because they are overpaid 4th liners but Monahan hasn't scored a single goal in 9 games. Gaudreau has 1 goal in his last 12 games. If we replaced Stajan with someone from the farm and Brouwer wasnt on the team we still suck.

Well if we replace Monahan and Gaudreau with someone from the farm, we will still suck too. There are a number of players that don’t appear to be playing up to expectations. Brouwer is number one on the list and don’t know why he gets a pass.

Monahan is still barely top 10 in goals and Gaudreau still barely top 10 in points. Where exactly do you expect these guys to be? You’re right they should be more consistent but this team’s record is what it is with those two producing more or less as expected.

Maybe we shouldn’t expect those two to carry a team?

[Jiri Hrdina]

They are the ones that have to carry the team - at least offensively.
Brouwer is the easy scape goat - but 1 goal in 12 games from your top offensive player isn't good enough.
Johnny and Sean get the offensive starts, the offensive match ups and the power play time.
They NEED to produce.

[Machiavelli]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Brouwer has been a terrible signing and yes Stajan sucks but these guys really are not the big issues. They make for good scapegoats because they are overpaid 4th liners but Monahan hasn't scored a single goal in 9 games. Gaudreau has 1 goal in his last 12 games. If we replaced Stajan with someone from the farm and Brouwer wasnt on the team we still suck.

I didn't know the drought was that bad. That's awful.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Wild GM

They are the ones that have to carry the team - at least offensively.
Brouwer is the easy scape goat - but 1 goal in 12 games from your top offensive player isn't good enough.
Johnny and Sean get the offensive starts, the offensive match ups and the power play time.
They NEED to produce.

But on balance they have produced at expected levels. You think Gaudreau should be top 5 in scoring?

This team was built from the defense out. Which means we should be strong in our own zone, they should be contributing offensively and helping shore up the 4th line. That is the part of the team that is not producing as needed.

When Monahan and Gaudreau were scoring like crazy and Smith was rock solid, we were still far from a powerhouse team. That should be troubling. There was no reason to expect they would continue at those levels.

Brouwer is an easy scapegoat for a reason. He is not doing any of the things he was hired to do.