Garbage bag day

[TheScorpion]

Matt Duchene would constitute a dream for the Flames. He has seemingly exorcised all of his playoff demons and is one of the most dynamic players I've had the pleasure to watch on a routine basis, even on a terrible Ottawa team.

13 points in 12 playoff games plus 70-ish regular season points. That's darned good.

Duchene
Monahan
Backlund
Ryan

That's the centre depth of a contender.

[jayswin]

Yep, but he also likely just solidified a $10+mil AAV on a long term contract.

[jayswin]

Not saying he won't be worth that, but just stating that if we acquire a number one centre via free agency after a stellar playoffs we'll be up to Matthews/Taveras type money and I don't know if our cap can absorb that with Brouwer and Neal being paid by the team for the next few years.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Yep, but he also likely just solidified a $10+mil AAV on a long term contract.

I could see $9. Don't think he'll get up to $10, but who knows. Either way, I'd hope the Flames would be competitive on those negotiations. That's a chance to add a legitimate star forward without having to give up the Valimakis and the Anderssons of the world. If Frolik, Smith, and Brodie are gone, there's the $10 million you need and then some, plus the cap is going up.

[Toonage]

Unlikely he leaves Columbus at this rate.

[Patek23]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Unlikely he leaves Columbus at this rate.

If they get blown out of the second round I wouldn’t be surprised if people don’t think that anymore. Seems like this is their do or die year. Will he want to stay when guys like Panarin and Bob leave?

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Unlikely he leaves Columbus at this rate.

While this may be true, it's also important to remember that Columbus would have to give up another first-round pick to re-sign Duchene.

[flamesforthecup2017]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Eric Francis @EricFrancis
James Neal "I’ve got a lot to prove. I now I can put the work in to get back to where I know I can be. It was a tough year for sure."

Kristen Anderson @KdotAnderson
James Neal: "That was hard. I've never had to go through that in my career. That was a tough pill to swallow. For me, I think, going forward, you take it. Be honest with yourself ... and come back and have something to prove... (cont'd)"

... it was a tough year, for sure. We've got a great group of guys here. It's tough when you're not producing like you should be."

"I want to be a top-six guy who is counted on to score goals. I want to be an impact players. I've scored 20-plus goals in every one of my years except this year. I know I can get back to being the type of player."

all lies..trade him for lucic

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by flamesforthecup2017

all lies..trade him for lucic

Flames have zero NMC’s they are not about to pick one up by trading for a more expensive player. Lucic has been garbage for 3 years while Neal only 1. Oilers want to swap 1st round picks as part of the deal I am in

[Toonage]

Good points re: Duchene

Interesting off season ahead for sure

[TheScorpion]

Devil you know vs. the Devil you don't... Neal is cheaper and has less trade protection than Lucic, plus I think Neal is more effective. Just keep Neal around, I don't think he actively hurts the team and he's easy to buy out if things REALLY go south

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by 868904

But they did play fast and with pace during the regular season.



Peters system worked, the players just didn't execute in the playoffs.

Yes the Flames played fast, but the players themselves aren’t actually that fast IMO. If a fast team like Colorado decides to also play fast, then they’ll be faster. No center on this team could even come close to catching Mackinnon in a straight foot race and it put the Flames in a bad spot every time he had the puck, which was a lot.

Derek Ryan even said after game 4’s loss that they came out and executed the game plan and yet somehow the Flames still allowed another 50+ shots. To me, I saw a Colorado team that elevated their game and elevated their team speed in the playoffs and they crushed us just like the Golden Knights did to teams last year.

I expect to see some quicker players next season rather than see guys who drag and slow their lines down (i.e. Neal).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by MillerTime GFG

So a cracked thumb...explains why his shot maybe lacked some zip, but certainly doesn't account for his lack of overall compete/physicality.

This injury certainly doesn't excuse him from his poor play.

Patrice Bergeron played in the Stanley Cup finals with a collapsed lung.

Tape it up, swallow some Vicodin and go hit somebody.

[SportsJunky]

Originally Posted by flamesforthecup2017

all lies..trade him for lucic

Trolling season. Nice to see you again.

[Flames0910]

Interesting about Monahan's off-season being mostly recovery from the surgery.

Maybe the lack of training meant he wasn't properly conditioned for the grind of the season. Would help explain why he fell off after the all star break.

[420since1974]

Will the Flames clear enough Cap Space for a new Top 6 Forward next season?
Personally, I doubt it.
Regardless if Smith is back next season or not, I expect that the Flames will spend roughly the same amount of money on goal-tending (currently $5.25M for both). It could be Rittich and Smith (at a reduced salary), or Rittich and someone new, but I seriously think that BT pays less than $6M combined).
I honestly doubt that there is any way to move Neal that would gain any Cap Space without giving up a very good prospect/draft pick, so I do not expect him to be traded before next season.
Trading Frolik ($4.3M), Brodie ($4.6504M), and Stone ($3.5M) for draft picks only should be just enough to cover the salary increases necessary to re-sign all of Calgary's RFAs and UFAs: Bennett, Fantenberg, Hathaway, Mangiapane, Prout, Quine, Rittich, Smith (or replacement) and Tkachuk.
I just don't see any Cap Space for a Top 6 forward without trading equal value roster player(s).
I think that BT will limit himself to minor depth tweaks (RD in Stockton is a definite need) and perhaps some gambles on overseas FAs in the 23 - 26 age range.

[bubbsy]

All of this is very interesting.

Was the loss to the avs due to size/"meanness" or due to speed?

I really thought it was meanness.

Flames forwards shrunk and avoided physicality, leaving a useless offense. Flames defence were influenced by the heavy pressure, resulting in many turnovers, lengthy defensive zone times, and 2 last game tying goals.

You can't out talent... Acquiring talent requires rebuilding or having cap space to gamble on landing a, likely over the hill, top free agent.

That is why i miss Daryll Sutter. He's a coach who's teams rarely tried to outskill teams to win. Ironically, he only won a first round once...

The nhl, the referees in particular, have made it clear that there are 2 different games/standards/rulebooks, a regular season and a playoffs.

Treliving did a tremendous job in creating a team that is terrific in the season, but what is painfully clear is that this has almost nothing in common with what it takes to win in the playoffs.

[420since1974]

The difference in how the officials called the regular season vs play-off games certainly makes it a tremendous challenge to build a team that can even make the play-offs, let alone excel at them.
Personally, I wish that the game was just called consistently, regardless of the time of the game or season.
Call everything or call next to nothing, JUST BE CONSISTENT.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I could see $9. Don't think he'll get up to $10, but who knows. Either way, I'd hope the Flames would be competitive on those negotiations. That's a chance to add a legitimate star forward without having to give up the Valimakis and the Anderssons of the world. If Frolik, Smith, and Brodie are gone, there's the $10 million you need and then some, plus the cap is going up.

If Frolik, Smith and Brodie are gone they are three players who will have to be replaced. I am sure that you could get a player on entry level deals who could pick up the slack, but even then the players you would need to pay to replace them (especially Smith) would significantly bite into that number.

The Flames just don't have the cap room to make a big splash in the UFA market and retaining their best/most expensive players.

[Joborule]

Although there is a need to add some toughness to the roster so it isn't so easy to bump the players off the puck, and can grind out to get the puck in the hard spots, I feel the speed disadvantage was more apparent. The Flames had all the troubles in the world in trying to clear the puck out of their zone, and construct breakouts because the Avs were all over them and the Flames were always harassed and caused them to turn the puck over.

Part of that is structure and player poise, but also part of it is that Avs player could catch up to some of the slower skating players on the team, and they just couldn't handle it since there was not enough support from players. If the team speed got improved, it would make breakout easier since players would be in position for breakout passes faster, and this would've allowed the Flames to handle the Avs forecheck better, and counter it at times. Aside from the last game, with Gaudreau getting two breakaways, did anyone else in the series manage to get one also?

The Flames strength, especially during the early part of the season, was their quick transition game, and hard forechecking. We didn't see to much of ethier during the last half of the season, and especially not in the playoffs, and I feel that's due to the lack of speed on the roster, and why it couldn't be maintained. Although teams tightening up defensively, which is why it closed up so much, doesn't mean it's impossible to still produce. The Avs sure as hell showed that it's possible.

This is why Peters wants the roster to get faster and play with more pace. And why he mentioned before that the team strengths that worked earlier in the season wasn't the team strength in the series. The roster doesn't have enough players suited for that style of play; so that's what gotta be worked on.