"Take that Calgary Puck!" — SN960 and Calgary sports media discussion

[manwiches]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Now Wills getting hot and taking a run at Pinder for hating on Smith all year

Better place to keep the topic maybe. I'll keep it here.

That was a borderline uncomfortable conversation.

[Loyal and True]

Good for Wills. I don't mind Pinder challenging people's opinions but he doesn't demonstrate that he listens to anyone's points and the quality of discussion suffers greatly. Sad that this kind of lecture has to take place on live radio but Pinder's ego is just too much. Had to turn off Flames discussion too many times (to my chagrin) because the "discussion" is too unbearable

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Now Wills getting hot and taking a run at Pinder for hating on Smith all year

What a load of !@#$.

Mike Smith has been the worst goalie in the NHL all season.

He puts together 3 acceptable games, and Wills is taking it as ammo?

Haha ah that's just silly.

[Flamenspiel]

Yea, I am pretty sure they all were told to kick it up a notch in terms of on-air intensity. Pinder always takes a fan's perspective whereas Wills takes a more conservative team approach. Wills(and Peters) have been proven right about Smith, the fact that Peters uses Smith(successfully) is proof enough for now.

Not to say that Pinder is always wrong but he has an outsider's viewpoint and maybe does not see the whole picture.

[Loyal and True]

It was less about Smith and more about Pinder

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

What a load of !@#$.

Mike Smith has been the worst goalie in the NHL all season.

He puts together 3 acceptable games, and Wills is taking it as ammo?

Haha ah that's just silly.

Wills has had love for Smith all year so it is a guy like that vs a hater in Pinder. Pinder does a nice job of keeping things on the rails when it gets heated but that was a little uncomfortable

[Yamer]

I like Pinder. He's smart, he's well spoken, he's confident. IMO he's more open than listeners and his colleagues give him credit for. It's great listening to radio that isn't all stroking the Flames, the players, and their management. I don't always agree with him, but it's great hearing that informed contrary perspective.

Most of all I like him because he's a pro's pro. Super composed and can seemingly handle any situation.

However, he sure seems to be grinding to his peers.

[The Yen Man]

I side with Pinder on his view of Smith. Guy has put in 3 acceptable performances, and now all of a sudden Wills feels the need to tell Pinder he was right all along?

I'll give credit where credit is due in that all I was hoping for with Smith going forward is for him to be as good as an average NHL goaltender needs to be, and he's done that the last 3 games, so no criticism from me. But guys like Wills make it sound like he's been lights out lately, and that's simply not true. Guy has been acceptable. Nothing more than that.

I get that Wills has a more personal relationship with the guys on the team because he's with them for so long. But at least try to be fair and professional about it, and not just a rah rah homer. I like my "hockey insider" to be at least a little more objective and critical of the team when it's warranted.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Yamer

However, he sure seems to be grinding to his peers.

Think that's pretty common across the hockey world right now.

See it on Twitter all the time now too where the older more traditional "hockey men" get pretty frustrated with the younger guys that are more about analytics and stats without caring much about the "person" on the ice.

I think guys like Boomer and Rhett actually really liked Pinder and just played up their distaste for the radio. On the flip side though I feel like Wills actually really dislikes Pinder.

[chummer]

Boomer has been hammering Pinder lately, I don’t see much like there.

But he pretty much says everything to his face so I don’t have a problem with it.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Yamer

I like Pinder. He's smart, he's well spoken, he's confident. IMO he's more open than listeners and his colleagues give him credit for. It's great listening to radio that isn't all stroking the Flames, the players, and their management. I don't always agree with him, but it's great hearing that informed contrary perspective.

Most of all I like him because he's a pro's pro. Super composed and can seemingly handle any situation.

However, he sure seems to be grinding to his peers.

Agreed. IMO, Pinder is the 960's best on air talent. He has a good voice for radio, articulates his points well, is a good interviewer, and comes across as a guy who's more open to listening to other people's opinions. I find it ironic that Boomer of all people, is the one that has an issue with Pinder not listening to other people's opinions.

Heck, he even does Overtime better than Steinberg. I find Steinberg kind of grating to listen to, and I can feel through the radio how he thinks the callers talking to him are idiots. I get there's a lot of drunk guys on there calling, but hey, that comes with the territory. No need to belittle the callers IMO.

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I side with Pinder on his view of Smith. Guy has put in 3 acceptable performances, and now all of a sudden Wills feels the need to tell Pinder he was right all along?

I'll give credit where credit is due in that all I was hoping for with Smith going forward is for him to be as good as an average NHL goaltender needs to be, and he's done that the last 3 games, so no criticism from me. But guys like Wills make it sound like he's been lights out lately, and that's simply not true. Guy has been acceptable. Nothing more than that.

I get that Wills has a more personal relationship with the guys on the team because he's with them for so long. But at least try to be fair and professional about it, and not just a rah rah homer. I like my "hockey insider" to be at least a little more objective and critical of the team when it's warranted.

It's difficult for me to say anything outright negative about anyone, including Derek Wills. He seems like such a great guy and his play calling is grade A+. One of those hockey personalities like Kelly Hrudey who you would just love to sit, have a beer with, and chat hockey stories....

...but he is one of the biggest homers in the hockey world. I don't think he's ever said anything negative or even mildly challenging concerning the Flames. I get why professionally and personally he's that way, but for some reason I find that far more irritating than personalities like Ryan Pinder.

[djsFlames]

Wills' unrelenting belief in Smith has reached comical levels.

It's such a ridiculous stance to have on a 36 year old on his way out of the league possibly this year to be beating his drum to be this saviour starter, and even through all the losses when he sunk them. A few decent/average games doesn't erase the body of work on the whole, and isn't indicative of him turning a big corner to stardom. That's some Oileresque putting the cart before the horse. It's simply been a return to NHL level goaltending. Which is HUGELY welcome, but doesn't imply was DW thinks it does.

I bet Wills likes him cause they're similar in age and he can relate better to the seasoned family man than many of the other guys on the team. His level of bias for him is both obvious and embarrassing though.

Rittich is the future in net, and that means preparing him for that future as a starter, by getting starts, and many of them.

[Loyal and True]

Smith vs Rittich is no contest and easy to dismiss Smith based on stats all year. Wills has basically held that Rittich was not necessarily ready to assume the mantle and therefore defends playing Smith out of his slump to the point that everyone has enough confidence in Smith to fill in (at least temporarily) if Rittich falters. In that sense Wills has been proven correct.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Yamer

It's difficult for me to say anything outright negative about anyone, including Derek Wills. He seems like such a great guy and his play calling is grade A+. One of those hockey personalities like Kelly Hrudey who you would just love to sit, have a beer with, and chat hockey stories....

...but he is one of the biggest homers in the hockey world. I don't think he's ever said anything negative or even mildly challenging concerning the Flames. I get why professionally and personally he's that way, but for some reason I find that far more irritating than personalities like Ryan Pinder.

Both Pinder and Wills have been ridiculous in their discussion of this topic. Wills has been far, FAR too eager all season to give Smith credit for being better than he has actually played. While at the same time Pinder is so blinded by the first part of the season that he seems practically incapable of giving Smith any credit at all. He has also been nearly as bad in his own overtly glowing reviews of Rittich's performance as Wills has been of Smith.

It was funny listening to them go at each other, and props to Pinder for keeping his cool. Wills sounded genuinely upset, and I think he probably does not like Pinder at all.

[Loyal and True]

Pinder on 960 follows the Eric Francis, Bruce Dowbiggen school that irreverence = quality.

I would rather listen to someone who is more respectful of other opinions while challenging traditional thinking vs analytics. That would be quality.

And I agree Wills is a Homer in his role but I assume everyone takes that in stride.

Pinder cheap shots really aren't quality.

[Robbob]

I do think that at the end they seemed to pretty much get on the same page. The bottom line is the next 23 games will be what is important. Playoff goal tending is just as much of who get hot at the right time. A couple of miserable months in October and November have no bearing at all. This team will play who ever is the hotter goalie. The final 23 games will determine who that is.

[Magnum PEI]

Pinder has been pretty harsh on Twitter with Smith this season, might have rubbed some people the wrong way.

I heard Wills yesterday after the game, and he was almost gloating about Smith's recent starts and his slightly better stats than Rittich. Seemed like it was directed at Pinder.

[White Out 403]

Driving home today listings that segment about the goaltending was absolutely brutal. I was actually embarrassed on behalf of everybody involved

[mikeecho]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Ya I've noticed that about Nault. Seems like he gets offended when his opinions are challenged a bit or just not agreed with. When theyve discussed getting a goalie at the deadline comes to mind. When Pinder brushed off the Islanders a bit comes to mind as well. But Pinder always keeps it pretty pro in those situations. Nault reminds me of a drunk friend at the pub discussing things and gets a bit heated.

I've had the same "guy a few beers deep at the pub" take on Nault. Sums it up perfectly for me.

Originally Posted by Yamer

It's difficult for me to say anything outright negative about anyone, including Derek Wills.....

...but he is one of the biggest homers in the hockey world. I don't think he's ever said anything negative or even mildly challenging concerning the Flames. I get why professionally and personally he's that way, but for some reason I find that far more irritating than personalities like Ryan Pinder.

Not disagreeing with you, just seemed like a good post to tag onto.



The reality is that Wills is a PR guy. That's how he started out his career and has carried that into his broadcasting career. He's all about the good guys storyline/narrative through and through. I get that. I don't like the way he does it, but I get that rights holders like these kinds of guys who carry the water.



The fact that he was on the verge of being emotional tonight because Pinder won't agree that Smith has turned the corner because he now has a mediocre SV% (playing all the empty net tap in non playoff opponents - which he either ignores or glosses over) is staggering. He even started his pre-game interview with Smith yesterday by specifically mentioning how lots of people had written him off but he'd never lost belief. Laughable!