Flames year end grades

[ricardodw]

I was waiting for someone else to put up this thread but just as a starting point are my grades for the the Flames.

C is an average NHL player that could play on any NHL team.

Gaudreau – A

Monahan – B Needs to score at Gaudreau level as a one-dimensional player to get an A

Ferland – C exceeded all expectations as top-6 player, and then had 2 goals in his last 29 games, seems to be high risk high reward and high maintenance.

Tkachuk A+

Backlund C- Is asked and being paid to for more than he can. Not a great fit on the Flames as a non-aggressive player on a team where the top players are Lady Byng candidates.

Frolik D Big contract on the other side of 30. If he is a Flame next year then he will move into the Stajan role. Similar career trajectory to Hudler, top player to out of the league in a short time.

Bennett C Can play on pretty much any NHL team. Was not expected to be an average to below average player. Plays hard on a team that doesn’t

Jankowski C Can Play on pretty much any NHL team. Solid rookie year probably could be part of a gang and use his size better if properly led and managed.

Brouwer D Big contract on the other side of 30. Had a career as a gang member and took the big contract to be the gang leader and will retire well.

Gio A+

Hamilton C defensive liability, has to be looked after by Gio. Would benefit from the rest of the team being more competitive and let him be the small shooting d-man

Brodie C another in the group of small skilled players . Huge disappointment as just 3 years ago he was better than Gio and arguably the best player on the Flames . He skill set is exactly what the new NHL requires.

Hamonic C an average serviceable NHL d-man. Has been in decline for a couple of years. Was better at the end than the start. He peaked in 2014-15. ( same season as Brodie) That was the Hamonic that the Flames wanted when they traded a 1st and a couple of 2nds for him. He was expected to be the most physical regular player on the team team but with the Flames he makes about half the hits that he did on the Islanders.

Stone C an average serviceable d-man on the Flames. His play at the end of last year(B+) and clicking with Brodie made the need to over pay for Hamonic puzzling.

Kulak C+ established himself as a NHL player. Was not given an opportunity to be more than a #6 d-man on the team. On most other teams chances are he would have had a few games in a top-4 role with a better player than Stone. He will make it hard for the Flames to bring up Andersen but not easy enough to trade one of the big three. Would benefit from having more aggressive teammates to cover his lack of aggression

Smith C a serviceable NHL goal tender that is not good enough to carry a team for a whole season Hasn’t had a winning record over his long career or a winning season in 4 years. He is not a valid option for the Flames going forward.

Rittich and Gillies…C both are proven AHL goal tenders and need a chance to be a #1 in the NHL for at least 20-30 game stretch. It will not necessarily be pretty but is needed before they can become playoff team goalies in the NHL.

[FlamesNation23]

Lol i kept reading past most of this but when you gave smith a C, you completely lost me. The guy kept us in games all year and you give him a damn C? Without Smith this team finishes bottom 5. I agree with some of these but there are a few you are way too harsh on

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

I was waiting for someone else to put up this thread but just as a starting point are my grades for the the Flames.

Thanks for starting this. I disagree with some of these, for example Smith and Hamilton are at least B for me.

As an aside, it's hard to tell if the - in "C -" means C- or is just punctuation. Might want to edit for clarity.

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by FlamesNation23

Lol i kept reading past most of this but when you gave smith a C, you completely lost me. The guy kept us in games all year and you give him a damn C?

That's not enough though. Yeah, he was standing on his head and performed miracles quite a few games this season; but he wasn't consistent doing it and faltered at the critical times. Since there are no half-grades, then A means all-around excellent; B - good and C - so-so. In this grading system, Smith deserves a C. Keep in mind, more than half of our players deserved a D or straight-out F this season, so C is actually above the curve.

[The Boy Wonder]

I actually agree with most of this.

Yes could we debate whether smith is a B or a C sure but fact is he was terrible after the all star break even before he got injured and his numbers are closer to Elliot last year than to a Vezina Trophy winner so I’m fine with the C rating

[Otto-matic]

Here are my grades.

Backlund, Mikael - C -
Bennett, Sam - C-
Brodie, T.J. - D
Brouwer, Troy - D-
Ferland, Micheal - D
Frolik, Michael - C-
Gaudreau, Johnny - A
Giordano, Mark - B+
Glass, Tanner - C
Hamilton, Dougie - B-
Hamonic, Travis - C
Hathaway, Garnet - C
Jankowski, Mark - B-
Kulak, Brett- B
Lazar, Curtis - C-
Monahan, Sean - A
Smith, Mike - B+
Stajan, Matt - C
Stone, Michael - C
Tkachuk, Matthew - A
Versteeg, Kris - C * (hard to grade him with his shortened season but wasn't very effective in most games played.)
Rittich, David - B-

Coaching Staff - F

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by FlamesNation23

Lol i kept reading past most of this but when you gave smith a C, you completely lost me. The guy kept us in games all year and you give him a damn C? Without Smith this team finishes bottom 5. I agree with some of these but there are a few you are way too harsh on

There is not a lot of difference where the Flames ended up and bottom 5.

C is an average NHL goalie and even you would likely agree that Smith was definitely not in the top 10 goalies.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

Monahan – B Needs to score at Gaudreau level as a one-dimensional player to get an A

Not bad for a fella held together with tape and good wishes.

I would give him an A at least for playing through.

[GioforPM]

Yeah, Hamilton's a C- player. And Backlund and Hamonic too. Obviously worse than Stone.

[madmike]

Originally Posted by FlamesNation23

Lol i kept reading past most of this but when you gave smith a C, you completely lost me. The guy kept us in games all year and you give him a damn C? Without Smith this team finishes bottom 5. I agree with some of these but there are a few you are way too harsh on

Smith was great in the first half. Pretty awful in the second half. I know he didn't get a ton of goal support, but he also really faded down the stretch - whether from overuse or his injury, who knows... But I don't have an issue with the C. Smith isn't the kind of goalie you can stick in there for 60-65 games and expect a top-level performance.

With Smith next year, the Flames need a 1B kind of guy to take some of the load - not a Rittich or Gillies.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by edslunch

Thanks for starting this. I disagree with some of these, for example Smith and Hamilton are at least B for me.

As an aside, it's hard to tell if the - in "C -" means C- or is just punctuation. Might want to edit for clarity.

Only C- is Backlund cleaned up the rest . I don't think he is trade-able with his new contract.

[DropIt]

Backlund rated behind jankowski and Bennett is ridiculous

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by madmike

Smith was great in the first half. Pretty awful in the second half. I know he didn't get a ton of goal support, but he also really faded down the stretch - whether from overuse or his injury, who knows... But I don't have an issue with the C. Smith isn't the kind of goalie you can stick in there for 60-65 games and expect a top-level performance.

With Smith next year, the Flames need a 1B kind of guy to take some of the load - not a Rittich or Gillies.

If the Flames get a 1B I would rather have Rittich and/or Gillies as 1C as they might be 1A in 2019-20 and Smith will likely be retired.

[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by madmike

Smith was great in the first half. Pretty awful in the second half. I know he didn't get a ton of goal support, but he also really faded down the stretch - whether from overuse or his injury, who knows... But I don't have an issue with the C. Smith isn't the kind of goalie you can stick in there for 60-65 games and expect a top-level performance.

With Smith next year, the Flames need a 1B kind of guy to take some of the load - not a Rittich or Gillies.

I actually think Goaltending is the one area we may be ok. I expect Gillies and or Rittich to play quite well as a backup for a full season next year. If smith wasn’t responsible for his terrible play after he got injured then neither was Rittich who I thought actually played very well mostly and it would be a shame to not give him every chance to be the 1B next year

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by DropIt

Backlund rated behind jankowski and Bennett is ridiculous

Well, Backlund has higher expectations than Bennett and Jankowski. He didn't live up to them this year, hence why he got a lower grade.

[Northendzone]

i am a little surprised at the level of support for backlund to be a grade c

[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

i am a little surprised at the level of support for backlund to be a grade c

He really wasn’t that good this year...

[VladtheImpaler]

Back when I used to post it, I would grade relative to expectation for THAT PLAYER, so that way you avoid the "how is Backlund a C- when Jankowski is a C or whatever" dispute.

[btimbit]

I would give Bennett a D. Back to back 26 point seasons, inconsistent, barely any signs of improvement. That's not to say he couldn't improve in the future, but grading him on this season, he's easily a disappointment

[Eric Vail]

If Smith is a C, does that make him the 15th best starting goalie in the NHL? Does it make him the 31st best goalie in the NHL?