[News] Jan 3 UPD: Frolik's agent complains about his ice time

[Mr.Coffee]

Also if I was Treliving I would go to Frolik or his agent and tell him that he will try to trade him for a sensible deal if that’s what he wants- but that if he doesn’t STFU on social media he is going to sit in the press box until year end and eliminate the distraction. Then his ice time will not be 11 minutes it’ll be 0.

People are massively- massively overestimating how much this guy means to the team. Watch how well your career goes after that, Mike.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Didn't realize that Walsh had tweeted a second time...

pretty annoying. Can't imagine BT is pleased considering his interview prior to the Detroit game addressing the first tweet.

At this point, i think they need to sit down behind closed doors with Peters (if they haven't already) to air out their differences... if that doesn't solve things, its time to move on Frolik.

Can't have his agent doing drive bys every time his client has a good game...

[sa226]

The whole thing just doesn't add up to me.

Any time anybody talks about Frolik, its about how he is the consummate pro. What about team first? Who needs this distraction?

Who the hell wants to be traded off of one of the better teams in the league?

If this was Gulutzan, we would all be nodding our heads. Peters has a real shot at the Jack Adams this year with what he has done.

How much of this is Walsh, how much is Frolik?

Its weird, just doesn't add up.



Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

[gamesaver]

Originally Posted by Wolfman

If Frolik doesn't want to be here, that's fine with me. He's a 3rd line player on every NHL team. The quicker he realizes it the better off he'll be.

He is also outscoring Neal by a mile while not being in the line-up for some time due the injury with much less ice-time and zero PP chances, kills penalties, draws penalties, works and skates hard and is making less money, all of this while being healthy scratch here and there, a treatment some players that are performing worse than him seems to be immune to. I can see where that frustration is coming from, really...

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Outside of the distraction, I wonder how much his team mates appreciate Frolik (through his agent) taking to Twitter and publicly declaring himself a better player than almost everyone on the ice not on our first line?

I’m sure they really appreciate him deciding to rank order himself and his ficus on his contributions. I’m sure they are really feeling the wolf pack mentality for him. Not sure we’d see the same response Dumba got from them if he’d smoked Frolik instead of Backlund.

[really?]

Team was on a roll without him last year, he returns...... not so much. This year he misses time due to injury, team rolls once again. Clearly he turned up his game earlier this season, after Peters sent a message, but just because his GAS quotient has gone up doesn't make him indispensible. It's not possible to place the success with him not in the lineup totally, or even largely on him, but the win/loss total without him in the mix suggests Frolik is not as important to team success as he and his agent believe. If he's not willing to accept the role the coach assigns, maybe it is time to move on. Would be nice to keep Frolik as he is a pinnacle level third liner when playing the way he has this year, but in a second line capacity he is simply serviceable and this team will need more than that if they want to advance far in the post season.

[Samonadreau]

Didn't he also take a penalty on his first shift? Maybe try not doing that next game.

Edit: 2nd shift

[gamesaver]

Originally Posted by really?

Team was on a roll without him last year, he returns...... not so much. This year he misses time due to injury, team rolls once again. Clearly he turned up his game earlier this season, after Peters sent a message, but just because his GAS quotient has gone up doesn't make him indispensible. It's not possible to place the success with him not in the lineup totally, or even largely on him, but the win/loss total without him in the mix suggests Frolik is not as important to team success as he and his agent believe. If he's not willing to accept the role the coach assigns, maybe it is time to move on. Would be nice to keep Frolik as he is a pinnacle level third liner when playing the way he has this year, but in a second line capacity he is simply serviceable and this team will need more than that if they want to advance far in the post season.

I do not disagree, but the 3M line is a real thing when you need to shut down a scoring line. Who are you going to use there instead of Frolik? Neal? Ryan? Bennet? Frolik was an important piece in Hawks' cup run as a 4th line grinder and penalty killer. You are going to need this aspect of his game if you are looking for a deep playoff run. But his contract doesn't look like a 4th line grinder. Compare what he brings to the team with what Ryan or Neal brings to the team, their contracts, their ice-time, their history as a Flame and how they are treated. I think Frolik is upset with this, but he is a pro and he would never said that publicly. This is what agents are for. Welsh is using Frolik's current production to his advantage. It's bussiness, nothing more and nothing less.

[dino7c]

I cant believe some fans would defend these tactics...it does nothing positive for the team

[gamesaver]

Originally Posted by dino7c

I cant believe some fans would defend these tactics...it does nothing positive for the team

I would not call that defending, just trying to look at it from their stand point. Of course from a teams perspective that does nothing good.

[really?]

Originally Posted by gamesaver

I do not disagree, but the 3M line is a real thing when you need to shut down a scoring line. Who are you going to use there instead of Frolik? Neal? Ryan? Bennet? Frolik was an important piece in Hawks' cup run as a 4th line grinder and penalty killer. You are going to need this aspect of his game if you are looking for a deep playoff run. But his contract doesn't look like a 4th line grinder. Compare what he brings to the team with what Ryan or Neal brings to the team, their contracts, their ice-time, their history as a Flame and how they are treated. I think Frolik is upset with this, but he is a pro and he would never said that publicly. This is what agents are for. Welsh is using Frolik's current production to his advantage. It's bussiness, nothing more and nothing less.

Agree with your thinking, but just because a guy is being paid a second line salary doesn't make a guy a second line stalwart, if that were the case all criticism of James Neal would be baseless. Nobody has truly owned the #6 forward on the team this year, so I don't blame Frolik in his efforts to vie for that position, but from a team perspective it is better if his lobbying is done through his play and not through social media. The Flames are handsomely compensating Frolik, it's up to him to earn his minutes through his play, and it is Peters who decides if he has done that. Frolik is an asset to the team, but I don't believe his stats, or team performance with him in the lineup over the past two seasons entitle him to exclusive second line duty. I'm not sure the better teams in the league would be beating down the door to obtain Frolik for second line placement, so he better be careful about the cards he plays....

[DeluxeMoustache]

Meh. The team would benefit from more ice time from Frolik.

How’d Neal do on his 2 on 0?
What did Czarnik do?
Is Hathaway that great on the PK (and I acknowledge he is good at it) that you need to dress him over a guy that can truly play up and down the lineup in all situations?

I’m all for good team guys, and by all accounts Fro is one. But he also is a proven good player who is better than a lot of dead weight on this team.

The ‘Peters is winning so you gotta trust him’ is lovely but is a lousy argument and a cop out. Really the team wins largely based on top line offense, not the random blending down below. Sure as hell ain’t winning because Ryan belongs on PP2, or due to Neal, Dube, Mangiapane, etc.

Sucks that his agent has to do this, but at his age this kind of stuff can ruin a guy’s career and cost him millions.

I bet the team has sent the message that they want guys to be pissed not to play and this is a consequence of that.

Go Fro!

[TheScorpion]

I like Frolík the player, and I think the Flames benefit on the ice from keeping him around, but I would worry about this becoming a big sideshow. That being said, I think the Flames should give Frolík more ice-time for now and see how he and Walsh like it. There's no sense in disrupting any chemistry by dealing the player. But two tweets now makes me concerned, for sure.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Maybe the second tweet is just a bit of an ‘I told you so’ from the agent.

Hopefully and it is done.

Although if he wants to tweet lobbying for Frolik or Janko on PP2 over Ryan, tweet away

[Gaskal]

Brad has to be steamed right now. After all the changes towards a perceived culture makeover in the offseason. He's going to show everyone what happens when you and your agent put yourself before the team in such a manner.

Something like this can't fly though. This has now quickly become a massive distraction that's hovering over the team's heads, and the timing could not be worse. Just as they're rolling in successes. The sooner it's gone, the better.

[CanadaMatt]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

Brad has to be steamed right now. After all the changes towards a perceived culture makeover in the offseason. He's going to show everyone what happens when you and your agent put yourself before the team in such a manner.

Something like this can't fly though. This has now quickly become a massive distraction that's hovering over the team's heads, and the timing could not be worse. Just as they're rolling in successes. The sooner it's gone, the better.

Well summized! Manufactured drama. This is not a zero sum game either, Frolik looks like a baby, making him less attractive to potential teams and the Flames look like they can’t handle their business ‘in house’...who wins this?

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

Brad has to be steamed right now. After all the changes towards a perceived culture makeover in the offseason. He's going to show everyone what happens when you and your agent put yourself before the team in such a manner.

Something like this can't fly though. This has now quickly become a massive distraction that's hovering over the team's heads, and the timing could not be worse. Just as they're rolling in successes. The sooner it's gone, the better.

But the team is also making bad obvious decisions in favour of guys who are worse, and lucky the top line is usually outscoring their problems. Entering today they had 4 guys in the top 17 scorers in a 31 team league!

And even with that, they are only mixed in with a pretty good pile of teams near the top of the league. Lots of room to get more out of the rest of the roster, they could be up there with Tampa for 1st.

Fro is good enough to be a key player on this team and wants to. The coach has a Teflon coating gifted to him by the first line

[Gaskal]

No. Team comes first.

Because I think after this fiasco, giving Frolik more ice time sends the wrong message not only to the rest of the team, but to players throughout the entire league with their agents, watching this unfold.

If I am Peters and Treliving I'd throw him on the 4th line to toil for a game with the 11th most ice time of all forwards, and if there is another peep from either Frolik or Walsh then I am very, very publicly requesting the submission of his 10 team no trade list.

[GullFoss]

Not sure what the solution is. Frolik is getting sufficient 5-on-5 time. So this is obviously about special teams utilization.

A) PP time - he might have a case to be on PP2. Ryan and backlund are mainstays. So he maybe wants neals spot or Bennett spot. I could him replacing either working ok, and it might at 2 min of ice time per game.

B) PK time - frolik, backlund, lindholm, Janko, Hathaway, frolik, ryan. Pick four. Backlund, lindholm and Janko are mainstays. And Hathaway has been super effective. So I can see how frolik could be really good on the PK, but who does he replace? Lindholm maybe? Would add about 3 mins a game if he got on PK.


IMO Frolik is next in line for PK duties and next in line for PP duties. So we need him in case of injury. Also if anyone in the top 6 gets injured, he plays in the top-6. He's basically an amazing insurance policy.

Walsh wants to see Tre trade him or Peters utilize him better. Tre isn't going to trade him and Peters is going to coach how he wants. This team is a serious cup contender and we can't not have an insurance policy like Frolik on the roster. So my best guess is that for now, even with Walsh's whining, nothing is going to happen

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

No. Team comes first.

Because I think after this fiasco, giving Frolik more ice time sends the wrong message not only to the rest of the team, but to players throughout the entire league with their agents, watching this unfold.

If I am Peters and Treliving I'd throw him on the 4th line to toil for a game with the 11th most ice time of all forwards, and if there is another peep from either Frolik or Walsh then I am very, very publicly requesting the submission of his 10 team no trade list.

So the ‘right message’ is that the guys Tre just brought in get gifted roles without merit.

Let’s single out one guy for consideration. Neal is crap and never scratched.
Gets PP2 time and PP2 pretty much never scores.

‘Screw you Frolik for being better than Neal, he was our marquee free agent and dammit, he gets ice time no matter what he does’

That is simply BS.

Heck, as much as Smith has crapped the bed, Neal could have tied the game tonight. Couldn’t cash in on a 2 on 0. Team could have salvaged a point