Unpopular Opinions about Flames

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

The design of the building plays into this. It is so spread out. Sitting in the second bowl of rogers in Edmonton you're like 2x closer to the other side of the arena than when you sit 2nd bowl in the saddledome.

BTW I do not recommend sitting 2nd bowl in edmonton. It is very steep. You cannot lean forward at all without blocking out the view of those behind you.

I would sit in the 2nd bowl in Rodgers with someone I really like, like want to hold there hand and have our legs pressed together levels of like.

[SportsJunky]

Darren Haynes has an article at The Athletic today that outlines 8 changes that the Flames should make right away. https://theathletic.com/1308101/2019...der-right-now/
Most are no-brainers, like fixing the cap crunch. One or two, like moving Lindholm to C, could be described as unpopular with some of the fanbase.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Johnhitbox

The fans don’t help that either. Quiet building sometimes.

If the Saddledome could capture even a percentage of the passion displayed by the Foot Soldiers Support Group at Spruce Meadows the entire franchise would benefit from it.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

Darren Haynes has an article at The Athletic today that outlines 8 changes that the Flames should make right away. https://theathletic.com/1308101/2019...der-right-now/
Most are no-brainers, like fixing the cap crunch. One or two, like moving Lindholm to C, could be described as unpopular with some of the fanbase.

I'd gladly try Lindholm at C, if it wasn't for my concern over losing defensive play and grit on the top line. Grit may be getting addressed by "new and improved" Monahan. Defensive play - I'm still at a loss. Maybe Mangiapane?

Gaudrau-Monahan-Mangiapane
Tkachuk-Lindholm-Czarnik (he was pretty good last night but who knows if he can continue)
Lucic/Bennett-Backlund-Frolik
Jankowski-Ryan-Lucic/Bennett

[Ped]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

Darren Haynes has an article at The Athletic today that outlines 8 changes that the Flames should make right away. https://theathletic.com/1308101/2019...der-right-now/

Very good advice in this article:

Don’t get hung up on what the Oilers are doing. It’s just distracting noise at this point. You have five games to come with Edmonton, the first of which is still over two months away. The four-point gap between the two clubs could be long gone by then if you can find your own game. That’s where the focus must be.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I'd gladly try Lindholm at C, if it wasn't for my concern over losing defensive play and grit on the top line. Grit may be getting addressed by "new and improved" Monahan. Defensive play - I'm still at a loss. Maybe Mangiapane?

Gaudrau-Monahan-Mangiapane
Tkachuk-Lindholm-Czarnik (he was pretty good last night but who knows if he can continue)
Lucic/Bennett-Backlund-Frolik
Jankowski-Ryan-Lucic/Bennett

Well the article has Tkachuk taking Lindholm's spot on the 1st line so the 2nd line would be Lindholm centering whatever is the flavor of the day for the 2nd line wingers. If Tkachuk is on the first line the issue becomes who plays wing on the 2nd line as Backlund is the next best forward but you want him playing center so maybe try Lindholm centering Bennet and Mangiapane? It's going to be difficult to change up the lines if one of these wingers doesn't step up and start playing like they deserve a top 6 spot.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Well the article has Tkachuk taking Lindholm's spot on the 1st line so the 2nd line would be Lindholm centering whatever is the flavor of the day for the 2nd line wingers. If Tkachuk is on the first line the issue becomes who plays wing on the 2nd line as Backlund is the next best forward but you want him playing center so maybe try Lindholm centering Bennet and Mangiapane? It's going to be difficult to change up the lines if one of these wingers doesn't step up and start playing like they deserve a top 6 spot.

Yeah, I am not advocating the article's lines.

[Harry Lime]

Calgary has four excellent offensive forwards. Doesn't it make sense to put two on each line? Peters seems afraid to even try it.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Calgary has four excellent offensive forwards. Doesn't it make sense to put two on each line? Peters seems afraid to even try it.

Peter's seems really worried about letting Lindholm play center in general

[powderjunkie]

Gaudreau - Monahan - Jankowski
Tkachuk - Backlund - Lindholm
Mangiapane - Ryan - Frolik
Lucic - Bennett - Czarnik/Rieder


Bold part unpopular. But, Janko has 6th most goals among Calgary forwards in the last 2 years (despite playing most of his time with Bennett and Hathaway). His PK skills would help offset Johnny's defensive deficiencies. IMO he has more potential than anyone else to 'breakout' in an elevated role.

That second line would be all-world defensively.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Bonded

Peter's seems really worried about letting Lindholm play center in general

I’d draw a different conclusion. Peters isn’t scared to try Lindholm at centre imo, I think he’s scared to take Lindholm away from Gaudreau. Gaudreau really needs Lindholm’s grit and defensive play.

[Flames_F.T.W]

I'm of the opinion that the lines are getting a little stale. I think separating Gaudreau and Monahan would be a nice change up. That top line has been "off" going back to last season

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Bonded

Peter's seems really worried about letting Lindholm play center in general

I wouldn't say worried.

Or at least, that's not what he's worried about.

The worry is if you remove Lindholm from that line, is Gaudreau a point per game player anymore?

The Flames top line wins them the majority of their games, it's fine to tinker around the outside but it's almost impossible for a line that good together to be taken apart.

[Johnhitbox]

Originally Posted by Bonded

Peter's seems really worried about letting Lindholm play center in general

Maybe centre is out of his comfort zone? I mean, he’s known the player most of his pro career.


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[Buff]

I've felt for a while that Monahan and Gaudreau should be split up.

Gaudreau - Lindholm - Bennett
Tkachuk - Monahan - Mangiapane
Jankowski - Backlund - Frolik
Lucic - Ryan - Reider/Czarnik


Bennett, Mangiapanie, and Jankowski can take turns rotating through which line they play on based upon who is playing the best or who fits best with a particular pairing.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Gaudreau - Monahan - Jankowski
Tkachuk - Backlund - Lindholm
Mangiapane - Ryan - Frolik
Lucic - Bennett - Czarnik/Rieder


Bold part unpopular. But, Janko has 6th most goals among Calgary forwards in the last 2 years (despite playing most of his time with Bennett and Hathaway). His PK skills would help offset Johnny's defensive deficiencies. IMO he has more potential than anyone else to 'breakout' in an elevated role.

That second line would be all-world defensively.

I'm not sure Janko's PK skills are the same as ES defensive skills. They overlap, but IMO he's on the PK because he has a long reach and that's about it.

Tkachuk isn't an all-world defensive player. I'd probably put him somewhere in the middle on the team.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Mikael Backlund should be the next captain of the Calgary Flames.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I'm not sure Janko's PK skills are the same as ES defensive skills. They overlap, but IMO he's on the PK because he has a long reach and that's about it.

Tkachuk isn't an all-world defensive player. I'd probably put him somewhere in the middle on the team.

Let's be fair here for 2 seasons Janko has been great on the PK. Half his goals have been scored on the PK it feels like. Aside from this horrid beginning to this season, Janko has been a great penalty killer. And hey, the PK functions at an amazing rate so far this year so Janko needs to up his levels 5v5. And PP but that's not going to happen any time soon. But I do believe he could be effect on the PP.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Let's be fair here for 2 seasons Janko has been great on the PK. Half his goals have been scored on the PK it feels like. Aside from this horrid beginning to this season, Janko has been a great penalty killer. And hey, the PK functions at an amazing rate so far this year so Janko needs to up his levels 5v5. And PP but that's not going to happen any time soon. But I do believe he could be effect on the PP.

Sure - what I'm saying is that good PK doesn't always equal good ES defence. I don't know about his positioning as a defensive centre, for example. PK he's more or less a rotating wing.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Let's be fair here for 2 seasons Janko has been great on the PK. Half his goals have been scored on the PK it feels like. Aside from this horrid beginning to this season, Janko has been a great penalty killer. And hey, the PK functions at an amazing rate so far this year so Janko needs to up his levels 5v5. And PP but that's not going to happen any time soon. But I do believe he could be effect on the PP.

Yeah he actually has decent shot suppression on the PK for sure.

Of PKers that have played over 100 minutes short handed over the last three seasons he ranks 15th in CA/60 (82).

He does seem to struggle at giving up a high ratio of quality to quantity though, giving up 19.6 HDCF/60 on the PK - ranking 73rd.

A big part of that though is because he's playing a risky PK style that also generates a lot of chances. He ranks 3rd in the league in HDCF/60 over that time at 7.17, trailing only McDavid and Aho.

From a net perspective he fairs well due to this with a 26.79% HDCF% share, which ranks 12th in the league.

So interestingly on the PK he does a good job of keeping overall quantity down but tends to take risks that create more high quality chances for and against.

Him on the wing of the top line is an interesting proposition though - his PK chance creation usually tends due to generating off the rush, which is something he struggles to do in the bottom 6. Potentially having time on a more offensive line that is strong on the rush could unlock more offensive potential for sure.

And him and Gaudreau haven't been terrible together:

CF%: 54.5%
SCF%: 56.7%
HDCF%: 51.1%

That's decent.