Unpopular Opinions about Flames

[Scroopy Noopers]

Flames will easily fit Gaudreau under the cap with his next contract.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

Flames will easily fit Gaudreau under the cap with his next contract.

Of course they can, since he’ll be playing out East LOL.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

It should be unpopular, its non-sensical.

Retool? Maybe.
Blow it up? That's literally crazy talk.

Barring some deep playoff run it's highly likely the team looks a fair bit different next season. I would expect Gaudreau and another forward or two to be moved out, Hamonic not back, maybe Brodie as well, new backup goaltender, etc. Maybe even a third head coach in a year.

[united]

Thought it was interesting that after their much-publicized struggles earlier in the season, lately the Tampa Bay Lightning have shifted Steven Stamkos back to winger duty, alongside Brayden Point and opposite Nikita Kucherov (Stamkos remains on faceoff duty but they switch as soon as safely possible afterward). Stamkos now has points in 9 of his last 10 games (14 total) and the Bolts are rolling with 15 points over that span.

I still would like to see Lindholm trialed between Gaudreau and Monahan for a few games at minimum, and preferably 10+, as he has become the best defensive forward on the team but is still able to keep up with them offensively - a terrific two-way centre.

While Mikael Backlund was expected by most to have a down year due to the standard first-year father dip, his fall has been dramatically worse than imagined. Luckily, Derek Ryan has quietly been very good this season so can easily assume second-line duties, with Backlund and Mark Jankowski filling out the bottom two.

At best it works and you have enhanced your knowledge of the team's dynamics. At worst it doesn't pan out and a crappy line remains crappy, but you have gained information for decision making.

[troutman]

Blow it up! Blow it up real good!

[ricardodw]

Riitich is being treated as a backup goalie. How in the world was he not in the net in the Nashville game? On the bench in the last playoff series.

The flames management/coaches has shown zero confidence in BSD as a #1 goalie , basically ever.

He has to start in every must win game from now on or the Flames have to find 6-8 M in Cap for a real #1 goalie that they feel comfortable playing in must win games.

[SportsJunky]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

He has to start in every must win game from now on or the Flames have to find 6-8 M in Cap for a real #1 goalie that they feel comfortable playing in must win games.

That's the only two options? I feel like there are more.

[Toonage]

One of the most used/overused goalies in the NHL and he's not considered a #1 or trusted by the coaches/management?

[tfi racing]

Isn't every game from now on a must win game?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Toonage

One of the most used/overused goalies in the NHL and he's not considered a #1 or trusted by the coaches/management?

It seems he lacks the mental fortitude that clear cut NHL starting goaltenders have. Even the best goaltenders go through the odd rough patch but it's always a roller coaster with Rittich. Maybe his ceiling is simply of a 1A/B type of goaltender. Really given they signed him out of Europe we should be ecstatic that he's as good as he is as the bigger problem is the goaltenders the organization has drafted and developed haven't even managed to become viable NHL goaltenders in any capacity.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

It seems he lacks the mental fortitude that clear cut NHL starting goaltenders have. Even the best goaltenders go through the odd rough patch but it's always a roller coaster with Rittich. Maybe his ceiling is simply of a 1A/B type of goaltender. Really given they signed him out of Europe we should be ecstatic that he's as good as he is as the bigger problem is the goaltenders the organization has drafted and developed haven't even managed to become viable NHL goaltenders in any capacity.

I will weigh in on this.

I think that Dave has more mental toughness than you give him credit for. He has seen more eggs laid in front of him than a chicken farmer.

The Oilers break in on one if the first plays in the game, make a pass from behind the net out front for a quick one timer. Does mental fortitude stop that?

When Hanifin goes full garden statue, lets McDavid step around him, he doesn’t meaningfully take away time and space, just gives McDavid a little human pylon. Does mental fortitude stop that?

I will give you goal 7, that wasn’t good. But Dave was expecting to be done for the night.

Same for Talbot, last night. Nice pass in the first minute by Hamonic to set up Bennett. Hrudey gave him a star. You know what else I noticed? The way he buried two goal scorers with cross checks. After they scored. Because they had position on him.

This is a bad team.

If you are blaming the goalies, you need to look elsewhere

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by Toonage

One of the most used/overused goalies in the NHL and he's not considered a #1 or trusted by the coaches/management?

In a game where if you lose it knocks you out of a playoff spot and a win gives you a so much more of a margin pretty sure that most teams go with their All Star goalie if they feel he is an All Star.

[Toonage]

nm

[Erick Estrada]

Who's blaming the goaltenders? I think most of us realize the teams issues are deep seeded with a core of players that just don't have what it takes to win a cup. That said goaltending this season has been merely average relative to the rest of the league. I realize you are the president of the Rittich fan club so I'm not going to get into this argument with you but my issue with him is that he's too emotional for the position as most elite goaltenders are cool and unflappable. You couldn't tell from the look on Kipper's face if the game if the Flames were winning or losing. When they win Rittich is throwing sticks and jumping around and when they lose he's taking it hard. I just think that emotional roller coaster makes it hard and it's one of the reasons he's up and down and two head coaches have not been willing to fully commit to him.

[Rollin22x]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

I will weigh in on this.

I think that Dave has more mental toughness than you give him credit for. He has seen more eggs laid in front of him than a chicken farmer.

The Oilers break in on one if the first plays in the game, make a pass from behind the net out front for a quick one timer. Does mental fortitude stop that?

When Hanifin goes full garden statue, lets McDavid step around him, he doesn’t meaningfully take away time and space, just gives McDavid a little human pylon. Does mental fortitude stop that?

I will give you goal 7, that wasn’t good. But Dave was expecting to be done for the night.

Same for Talbot, last night. Nice pass in the first minute by Hamonic to set up Bennett. Hrudey gave him a star. You know what else I noticed? The way he buried two goal scorers with cross checks. After they scored. Because they had position on him.

This is a bad team.

If you are blaming the goalies, you need to look elsewhere

I like what Burke said on Thursday. Before the defenders make a mistake there were probably 3 or 4 before that by the forwards that could have prevented the whole sequence. I think it's the same for the goalie most of the time.

[powderjunkie]

Backlund's issues are multi-factorial; being a new dad might be one of the factors. The team being not as good, and him either playing out of his natural position with good players, or playing in his natural position with replacement level players probably being the other main factors.

[CSharp]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

... Hanifin goes full garden statue ...

Now, that's good!

[dammage79]

Called it, page 1. Bubble team.

Sell sell sell.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Some people always think it's a good time to blow it up...the Blues are probably glad they didn't take that advice. Same with the Caps who "couldn't win in the playoffs"

Always look to improve...team is too young to blow up

The phrase "blow it up" is hyperbole anyway, it have never been done and can't be.
But both of the teams you mentioned made some major changes to get over the hump.

Washington also passed the first round 3 or the previous 4 seasons.
St Louis missed the playoffs the year before but made it 6 straight seasons before that winning 4 series.
Calgary has won 4 serious since 1989

There's consistency these franchises showed before winning that indicated they had some tools to work with and were light years ahead of where Calgary is.
This organization is mediocre at every level and no where near where it needs to be to talk like those clubs.

[Gaskal]

Tkachuk with Lindholm at center was, and continues to be, a stupid idea for the team overall. Sure, that pairing is great in a bubble, but it did a bunch of things to the rest of the team I absolutely hate:

-Utterly neuters Backlund, removing Tkachuk from his line after Frolik got traded, and by that leaves us with no more true shutdown, tough minutes line that we can throw out there in difficult situations.

-Removes one of the most successful right shot RWs of the last few years to play for us from the most productive line he's been on his career (yeah I know they've been ice cold but that's not entirely on Lindholm)

- By extension, that now leaves Monahan & Gaudreau playing with scrubs or forwards playing offwing on RW (who cares if Buddy's your childhood friend, Johnny, he's still a career AHLer) unless Tre makes a trade of course.