[News] Flames opening day roster set

[Enoch Root]

Yeah, the talk of Giordano being replaced by Zadorov, misses the point entirely, IMO. It is growth from within.

Hanifin 24
Andersson 24
Zadorov 26
Valimaki 23
Kylington 24

It's all about the growth of these players, with a few vets around to help out. How much they grow, time will tell.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Yeah, the talk of Giordano being replaced by Zadorov, misses the point entirely, IMO. It is growth from within.

Hanifin 24
Andersson 24
Zadorov 26
Valimaki 23
Kylington 24

It's all about the growth of these players, with a few vets around to help out. How much they grow, time will tell.

“Play the kids!!!”

“Wait, not like that!”

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Yeah, the talk of Giordano being replaced by Zadorov, misses the point entirely, IMO. It is growth from within.

Hanifin 24
Andersson 24
Zadorov 26
Valimaki 23
Kylington 24

It's all about the growth of these players, with a few vets around to help out. How much they grow, time will tell.

And as much as I like Gio, he was not a good player half of last year and could well hit a wall this year. It’s not 2018-19 Gio being replaced. It’s 21-22 Gio, who is 38 years old.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

I really don’t understand the D hate.

Rasmus was supposed to take #1 power play spot last year, and be a solid top 4 guy. Goes double for this year and I don’t doubt that he can do it.

Hanifin took a step last year and I don’t see any reason why he won’t take another this year. They have Tanev as the glue to hold them together.

They didn’t ‘replace Gio’ with the bottom pairing guys… they developed and promoted from within (Hanifin and Andersson), which is exactly what most Flames fans want. Or at least it’s posted about constantly. It’s what is supposed to happen.

“Can’t believe they replaced Gio with Gudbranson and Zadorov” is just more mindlessly negative bitching.

Here is our D's career highs in points:

Tanev - 20 points
Andersson - 22 points
Hanifin - 33 points
Zadorov - 20 points
Valimaki - 11 points
Gudbranson - 13 points
Kylington - 8 points

That's my concern. Not a single Dman that's shown the ability to produce offense at a high level in the NHL.

I think if you go back and look at true contenders and strong playoff teams, they always have at least one Dman that can produce offense from the back end, like 0.5 to 1.0 point per game type numbers.

Hopefully the 24 and unders find another level this season.

[VilleN]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Here is our D's career highs in points:

Tanev - 20 points
Andersson - 22 points
Hanifin - 33 points
Zadorov - 20 points
Valimaki - 11 points
Gudbranson - 13 points
Kylington - 8 points

That's my concern. Not a single Dman that's shown the ability to produce offense at a high level in the NHL.

I think if you go back and look at true contenders and strong playoff teams, they always have at least one Dman that can produce offense from the back end, like 0.5 to 1.0 point per game type numbers.

Hopefully the 24 and unders find another level this season.

Personally, I think it is likely that Hanifin hits that 0.5ppg mark. Andersson might rebound this year and I believe we should see some progression from Vali and Kylington. We will see though, I understand your point though- we definitely could struggle to produce offense from the backend if the above does not happen.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Here is our D's career highs in points:

Tanev - 20 points
Andersson - 22 points
Hanifin - 33 points
Zadorov - 20 points
Valimaki - 11 points
Gudbranson - 13 points
Kylington - 8 points

That's my concern. Not a single Dman that's shown the ability to produce offense at a high level in the NHL.

I think if you go back and look at true contenders and strong playoff teams, they always have at least one Dman that can produce offense from the back end, like 0.5 to 1.0 point per game type numbers.

Hopefully the 24 and unders find another level this season.

Yup that’s all fine and I don’t disagree with any of it. Not my point.

[Enoch Root]

Last year, the D combined for 97 points, which is a 142 point pace.

The stats posted above, would mean 127 points, if each player matched their career high.

What do you think they total this year?

I think it will be 130 -140

[topfiverecords]

Decent long discussion with Treliving on yesterday’s Bob McCown podcast for anyone that cares.

[Strange Brew]

Of all the things, I'm worried about, losing Gio specifically isn't one of them. They moved on from him at the right time. It would have been nice had they gotten something for him at the deadline but doesn't sound like they tried.

Now it's about whether the young D improve, Tanev plays close to last year and the new guys are competent. I would say TBD on all three fronts, just need more hits than misses.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Of all the things, I'm worried about, losing Gio specifically isn't one of them. They moved on from him at the right time. It would have been nice had they gotten something for him at the deadline but doesn't sound like they tried.

Now it's about whether the young D improve, Tanev plays close to last year and the new guys are competent. I would say TBD on all three fronts, just need more hits than misses.

The other concern to me is they didn't replace Giordano's "type" either.

That's hardly Calgary-centric as a few teams seemed to complete their rosters with lumbering players suggesting there just weren't many options.

But a very good Noah Hanifin, or a very good Rasmus Andersson may not have the offensive cache of Giordano even if they pop a bit.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Bingo

The other concern to me is they didn't replace Giordano's "type" either.

That's hardly Calgary-centric as a few teams seemed to complete their rosters with lumbering players suggesting there just weren't many options.

But a very good Noah Hanifin, or a very good Rasmus Andersson may not have the offensive cache of Giordano even if they pop a bit.

Yeah fair enough. At his best, Gio was a catalyst for offense. That was true even early in his career.

[Enoch Root]

Giordano had a whopping 5 more points than Andersson last year (they had almost identical TOI, both even strength and PP)

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Here is our D's career highs in points:

Tanev - 20 points
Andersson - 22 points
Hanifin - 33 points
Zadorov - 20 points
Valimaki - 11 points
Gudbranson - 13 points
Kylington - 8 points

That's my concern. Not a single Dman that's shown the ability to produce offense at a high level in the NHL.

I think if you go back and look at true contenders and strong playoff teams, they always have at least one Dman that can produce offense from the back end, like 0.5 to 1.0 point per game type numbers.

Hopefully the 24 and unders find another level this season.

Gio is probably a 30 point player these days too though

[FanIn80]

Exactly. People acting like we somehow didn't replace "prime Gio." Well, we didn't lose "prime Gio." We lost "in his 40s and now just an averagely-decent Gio," which will be replaced by Hanifin or Andersson.

Does it suck that we no longer have a "prime Gio?" For sure, but we've been without one of those for a couple years already.

[Johnny Makarov]

1 thing to consider is that I think without fans last year it really affected Tkachuk and Andersson. Even if they are booed it motivates them more.

Well it better because both were hot garbage last year!

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Last year, the D combined for 97 points, which is a 142 point pace.

The stats posted above, would mean 127 points, if each player matched their career high.

What do you think they total this year?

I think it will be 130 -140

Probably pretty accurate. Hanifin, Andersson, Valimaki and Kylington have upward mobility production-wise. I guess the real question is what production does Sutter hockey require out of D?

ETA: Andersson’s career high is 22 but had 21 in 56 games last year. Only 5 off of Gio’s total.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Exactly. People acting like we somehow didn't replace "prime Gio." Well, we didn't lose "prime Gio." We lost "in his 40s and now just an averagely-decent Gio," which will be replaced by Hanifin or Andersson.

Does it suck that we no longer have a "prime Gio?" For sure, but we've been without one of those for a couple years already.

Well I guess the Crack didn't watch any Flames games from the past 2 years as they had Gio on the point on the 4 on 3 PP last night. Just bad.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Giordano had a whopping 5 more points than Andersson last year (they had almost identical TOI, both even strength and PP)

Totally agree.

I don't see this year's Gio as being the Gio from two or three years ago.

But they didn't have '19/'20 Gio last year and it hurt them. Now they've lost even that ('20/'21) Gio and haven't replaced that.

Over the past two covid seasons Giordano was 0.89 Pts/60, Hanifin is 0.73, Andersson is 0.69.

[DJones]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Exactly. People acting like we somehow didn't replace "prime Gio." Well, we didn't lose "prime Gio." We lost "in his 40s and now just an averagely-decent Gio," which will be replaced by Hanifin or Andersson.

Does it suck that we no longer have a "prime Gio?" For sure, but we've been without one of those for a couple years already.

Seen it all summer. With or without the draft we already lost Norris Gio, and yes that is incredibly hard to replace but it was happening regardless.

I don't think anyone thinks we are going to have Norris contender on defense this year. But at the same time we have enough skill to make up for it. Andersson on the powerplay is probably the biggest question.

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by DJones

Seen it all summer. With or without the draft we already lost Norris Gio, and yes that is incredibly hard to replace but it was happening regardless.

I don't think anyone thinks we are going to have Norris contender on defense this year. But at the same time we have enough skill to make up for it. Andersson on the powerplay is probably the biggest question.

Yup Andersson and Hanifin are the keys. One has to step up and lead the offense. Opportunities are there.