[Signing] Flames sign Joakim Nordstrom (1 year, $700k AAV)

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Those were both extremely light calls on Nordstrom, and he's been a great addition to our PK. Skates well and hits on the forecheck. Can't make an offensive play to save his life, but that's why he's on the 4th line. I have no issue with him overall.

[Niemo]

Nordstrom is bad.

[TheSquatch]

1st call sold by Koskinem, but he can't do that fly-by.

2nd call total phantom as far as I could see.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Niemo

Nordstrom is bad.

He's a bit of a trainRack

[cam_wmh]

He’s finally got a shift again, and just muffins his out, straight to the oilers d.

What a bag of #####, this struggler is.

[Sandman]

I never expected anything but a guy who could play good Pk. He's really struggling with the puck on his stick though. He handles the puck like a grenade. I hope it's just because he's still getting used to new teammates....

[Burn13]

That was sad to watch him out there for soooooooo long.

[AC]

Didn't like his 2 failed clearing attempts late that lead to Tkachuk's penalty on McDavid.

He has to either find a way to get to centre and dump it all the way down, or at least put it high in the air without icing it. But instead turned it over directly twice.

That being said, he helped kill that penalty off well I thought.

[chubeyr1]

Originally Posted by AC

Didn't like his 2 failed clearing attempts late that lead to Tkachuk's penalty on McDavid.

He has to either find a way to get to centre and dump it all the way down, or at least put it high in the air without icing it. But instead turned it over directly twice.

That being said, he helped kill that penalty off well I thought.

That penalty for skating through the crease at the end of a PK was moronic.

Koskinen did a sell job on that but Nordstrom had no business being there.

He was lucky to get any shifts after that. He can not afford to be doing stuff like that.

He had a horrible game. More like this and he wont be in the NHL.

[tvp2003]

I understand putting him in to play on the PK (especially with Ryan out).

Hard to kill penalties when you’re the guy in the box though. Rough game to be sure...

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by chubeyr1

That penalty for skating through the crease at the end of a PK was moronic.

Koskinen did a sell job on that but Nordstrom had no business being there.

He was lucky to get any shifts after that. He can not afford to be doing stuff like that.

He had a horrible game. More like this and he wont be in the NHL.

Hard to believe they call embellishment tonight on Lindholm after letting Kostkinen go

[btimbit]

It was a total sell job but wtf do you think you're gonna accomplish bumping into the goalie like that

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by btimbit

It was a total sell job but wtf do you think you're gonna accomplish bumping into the goalie like that

He was too close and it looked like he tried to avoid him. Stupidity matched only by the absurdity of the sell job

[OldSam]

Yeh, doesn't he know McStupid is the only one with right of way to go through the crease.

[Hackey]

That was a dumb penalty. You should know you'd get called on that. Don't even be in that situation and if you have to be then try really hard to sell getting out of the way which he didn't.

[Sylvanfan]

This is a guy singed for 1 year at the league minimum. I don't know what exactly people would expect here. The first penalty he took was not a very good play as there is not excuse to go into the crease there. He does get used more than I think he should, but that's likely because he can kill penalties, which is something Simon and Leivo are not as experienced with.

[Bingo]

The guy is elite when you're collapsing in your own zone and and hanging on for dear life ... he sacrifices his body and goes right after the puck carrier.

Unfortunately that only happens when the other team pulls their goalie or you're killing a penalty.

He had a decent stretch of five on five play with Lucic and Ryan, but that's not happening with last night's fourth line.

[1qqaaz]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

This is a guy singed for 1 year at the league minimum. I don't know what exactly people would expect here. The first penalty he took was not a very good play as there is not excuse to go into the crease there. He does get used more than I think he should, but that's likely because he can kill penalties, which is something Simon and Leivo are not as experienced with.

When Nordstrom was signed, a lot of people were saying "what is there to complain about? Depth never hurts so nothing can go wrong with a league minimum contract"

Except this just isn't true.

Yesterday, Nordstrom played 12:02.
Monahan played 14:56.

Mediocre coaches like Ward tend to overplay the zero-skill guys just because they're willing to block shots, get physical, and they put in solid efforts.

But Nordstrom has been played way over his head. It's not his fault per se. Nordstrom is simply one of the least productive forwards in the league, and he shouldn't be anywhere near the top 9. When you don't produce at all, it's nearly impossible to contribute to the success of the team. This is evident by the fact that Nordstrom has consistently had a horrendous +/-, even while on goods teams. Modern NHL games are too close - you can't sacrifice a line of scoring just for grit. Yes, he's fine as a 4th line forward who plays in tough situations. Be he shouldn't be playing even half as many minutes as Monahan.

The problem with players like these is that they somehow move up the lineup, then take the production out of the entire line. On the PK, they do nothing except block shots. Nordstrom takes way too many penalties and that's unacceptable when you're playing against teams that overly rely on the powerplay. He's not even very large or physically imposing. Lindholm is slightly larger than him.

Finally, guys like Nordstrom take opportunities away from ripened prospects who are clearly superior players. Development should always be the utmost priority.

Nordstrom embodies the reasons I don't like it when the Flames sign older depth players. Our coaches fall in love with them in a manner that detriments the team. It also hurts development.

It's not a coincidence that the Flames almost always play better when they are playing young rookies. The energy helps. So do the actually offensive contributions from the bottom 6.

[flamesrule14]

Yeah his usage is the biggest complaint for me. Ward seems to go to him way to much. He should be in Strictly a 4th line role and Pk role nothing more. Decent speed, can dig in the corners and seems decent on the kill(has to stay out of the box though). Depth forward that’s in and out of the lineup. Should not touch top 9 ice time.

Two straight games now that I’ve noticed an offensive zone face off 4 on 4 situation and he’s out there. First game against Winnipeg he had a turnover that Markstrom saved him on and last night it was another bad shift. Honestly absolutely no reason he should be out there in that situation. All that ice 4 on 4 with an offensive zone face off to boot and you have him out there??? The hell are the coaches doing. Seriously. I was yelling at the tv last night when I saw him out there. Brutal.

[Karl]

Yeah...he's bad. For as good as he's been penalty killing, his gaffes have far outweighed his positives. Too many dumb penalties and horrific turnovers (the turnover against the Jets to make Markstrom have to bail him out of a 2 on 0 was absolutely heinous). Not the absolute worst player on this team but one of the worst. He's NHL calibre, but just barely.