Francis: Tire Fire

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Going into the season the only guy on their roster that was an elite player was Fleury with Neal being the only creditable first liner. Marchessault didn't have much experience in the NHL prior to the expansion draft so he was an unknown. The rest of the team was essentially support guys and bottom six players. For whatever reasons these guys have come together quickly, learned a new system and have had an amazing year. The Flames are complete 180 of Vegas. They have some top dollar, talented players who are seriously under performing and can't get their #### together.

Like who? What top dollar talented player on the Flames isn't living up to his contract?

bottom six players? yeah they got to choose the best bottom six players from 30 teams while we have Hathaway, Glass, and Lomberg playing

Vegas has more talent that half the league...they aren't just working hard every night

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

If Hamonic is a terrific defender, I'm certainly not seeing on the ice and it's definitely not showing up in the underlying numbers. Brouwer had been on the decline for several seasons. Stajan keeps getting any ice time at all.

This team has more wasted cap space than any other team in the league.

I'll say it again, these guys are supposed to be providing leadership, because they aren't providing any other positive for this team. Our 4th line gets ice team when the team is trailing late in the 3rd period. Brouwer gets more powerplay time than Tkachuk or Hamilton.

If you think somebody like Gaudreau is a problem at all for this team, your evaluation is simply wrong. How many players contributed more to their team's offence this season? How many teams have as wide a gap between their 1st leading scorer and their 2nd?

This team is going to absolutely blow it. We make fun of the Oilers trading Hall and Eberle for nothing and it looks like the Flames are going to do something they'll regret this summer.

Larry frickin Robinson in his prime would have poor "underlying numbers" and look like a terrible defender if he was saddled with covering the play of one TJ Brodie this season.

Beyond that...I am no Francis fan, but there is a whole lot of "shooting the messenger" going on here IMO. Not sure there is much, if anything, to debate as far as his conclusions.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Geeoff

I was gonna disagree with the bullet point on Gaudreau and Monahan but that's not even what Francis said. He said that Gaudreau and Monahan need to start blocking shots, which was a pretty weird thing to suggest IMO. I disagree that these two should be sacrificing their body, we need them on the ice and scoring.

Blocking shots probably won't take them out of the lineup. It might be painful though.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Vegas has more talent that half the league...they aren't just working hard every night

Nobody was saying that after the draft. Nobody. A lot of hockey watchers were angry that McPhee made a bunch of deals to pass up good players in exchange for futures.

But maybe you were different. Do have a link to any comments after the expansion draft where you were amazed at how much talent Vegas had?

[Dx54]

He's not wrong. And to be quite honest, we need more people like Francis in the Calgary media.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Dx54

He's not wrong. And to be quite honest, we need more people like Francis in the Calgary media.

Not everyone is lucky enough to have a powerful mother to get them a job, ok?

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Nobody was saying that after the draft. Nobody. A lot of hockey watchers were angry that McPhee made a bunch of deals to pass up good players in exchange for futures.

But maybe you were different. Do have a link to any comments after the expansion draft where you were amazed at how much talent Vegas had?

Why does that even matter?...a lot of hockey watchers thought the Oilers were gonna win the cup

Reality RIGHT NOW is that Vegas does have a ton of talent...how many teams in league are gonna have a 40 goal scorer? a .930 starting goalie?

Fact is they are winning because they have good players

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Dx54

He's not wrong. And to be quite honest, we need more people like Francis in the Calgary media.

Francis just tells people what they want to hear...he jumps on the bandwagon


A month ago he was saying how great all these guys were

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

Not everyone is lucky enough to have a powerful mother to get them a job, ok?

The guy has worked in the media for 25 years. Whatever opportunity he got at the outset because of his family, there's no way he would be still be working, having survived many rounds of layoffs, if his bosses didn't think he was doing the job.

[burnitdown]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

The guy has worked in the media for 25 years. Whatever opportunity he got at the outset because of his family, there's no way he would be still be working, having survived many rounds of layoffs, if his bosses didn't think he was doing the job.

Matthew Tkachuk is only in the NHL because his dad got him on rep hockey teams when he was a kid! The guy's a bum!!

[mikeecho]

Originally Posted by Toonage

I heard the interview on Hockey Central at noon. Typical Francis talking out of both sides of his mouth. Spent some time saying how Hamonic had trouble because Brodie was horrible. Then suggested how the Flames could move Brodie to the Habs cause they need a good puck moving defenseman. Not if they listened to your description of him Eric.

I was listening and had a big chuckle at that too.

[Otto-matic]

Originally Posted by shutout

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/...ame-tire-fire/

• major character issues
• leadership issues
• coaching issues
• goaltending masking the problems on the team
• Team just disappeared
• Sense of urgency and leadership
• Lack of leadership and buy-in from the young guys

I feel like you can pin these all directly on the coaching staff. They built a completely emotionless team that falls apart the second something goes wrong.

[OldDutch]

I didn’t click the article but it is plain lazy and annoying to tear down the club in every facet.

I was listening the the FAN this morning and same thing. The club on the rise last year is hopeless and lost this year and hooped for the future. Wow so insightful.

As others pointed out the team that came back a record number of times has key pieces still there. Saying they now suddenly don’t care is lazy and stupid. The answer lies in the middle.

Fire milquetoast GG and hire a proper coach, not another assistant. Get a guy who can organize and motivate. Make some trades to gets scoring help from a position of strength. Don’t fire sale aka “a nobody for Taylor Hall”.

Long and short, get a proper coach. Ignore the media.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Larry frickin Robinson in his prime would have poor "underlying numbers" and look like a terrible defender if he was saddled with covering the play of one TJ Brodie this season.

Beyond that...I am no Francis fan, but there is a whole lot of "shooting the messenger" going on here IMO. Not sure there is much, if anything, to debate as far as his conclusions.

Hamonic's underlying numbers on the Islanders are very similar to what they are this season (actually they are a little better this season).

I'll agree Brodie has been bad, but Hamonic has been bad in his own right.

[mikeecho]

Originally Posted by Dx54

He's not wrong. And to be quite honest, we need more people like Francis in the Calgary media.

The deal with Francis is that he intentionally takes the contrarian stance on things to stand out and draw attention.

If the prevailing narrative from the Calgary media was how awful the team was and that Gulutzan needs to be fired, he'd be writing about how he thinks the team is on the right track and this season was a minor set back.

Up until now, a lot of the media covering the Flames have been voicing muted disappointment. Listen to 960 during the day and there's a lot of talk about how there's lots of questions and few answers, or that there will be plenty of time later to be critical of the team at the end of the season.

Enter Francis who throws out the easy but sharp criticisms and now he's getting national media attention.

Now, over the summer when the team makes a few moves, wait to see how the majority of the media respond. If they're positive and optimistic about what Treliving does, expect him to slant to the negative. If they're voicing disappointment, expect him to slant to the optimistic.

Brodie is horrible / should be traded for a huge haul is typical. He's working opposite angles in the same breath because he needs to have both narratives ready depending on which way the wind is blowing.

Just listen to the radio ads he writes for the segment he pays for so he can be on air. "You probably hate him and will send us nasty text messages. Eric Francis is with Rob Kerr on Fridays brought to you by the Beltliner." He says a few controversial things there and then spends the next few days doing radio hits all across Canada as a Flames expert.

He's not really a journalist. He's an editorialist writing to sell clicks/papers and build his brand.

[Strange Brew]

Vegas was able to select a number of good players that had to be made available by other teams. The Flames protected Curtis Lazar.

Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised by how the season went.

[Northendzone]

Meh, I though his opinions are bang on.

I enjoy listening to Francis, I don’t always agree with him, but that is fine as it only costs me my time to hear them

[CSharp]

Jesus, Sportsnet should replace Francis with that Aussie guy from JackFM. Anyone sounding like Francis doesn't sound too bright.

[Boreal]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

I find Francis’ articles are usually pretty bang on. This article probably is too. It’s too bad he has forever sullied his reputation around these parts. It’s hard to find genuine discussion in a Francis thread.

*Disclaimer- I haven’t read the article yet.

I frequently come to that conclusion as well, and then I realize he gets paid for this work and I, like others on the forum, do not yet still come to a similar conclusion on first thought, before reading his tripe.

If he's paid for his work what insight does he bring? What value? Minimal.

He's a talking head. Listening to him and Kerr is frequently like eavesdropping on a bar conversation between a competent person and a moron, and I get that it is frequently a shtick.

If Francis wants respect here and elsewhere he should provide actual insight instead of click bait. There are plenty of other professional writers/broadcasters like, Kerr, Friedman, Duhatschek, Mirtle, Bourne, etc. etc. and on and on, who do, he isn't one of them.

[Phaneuf_Phan]

Jagr has the best +/- on the team. That about sums up the season for me.