Training Camp Day 15 Notes - Milano and Eakin released

[Toonage]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

I have a feeling Valimaki is next to go. He might clear with his salary though and if he gets sent down the cap space might be more valuable than he is

$500k or so still counts against the cap if he goes down. They'll try to move him before Monday is my guess.

[old-fart]

Originally Posted by getbak

Remaining in camp...

3	D	CONNOR MACKEY
4	D	RASMUS ANDERSSON
6	D	JUUSO VALIMAKI
8	D	CHRISTOPHER TANEV
16	D	NIKITA ZADOROV
26	D	MICHAEL STONE (PTO)
52	D	MACKENZIE WEEGAR
53	D	NICOLAS MELOCHE
55	D	NOAH HANIFIN

10	C	JONATHAN HUBERDEAU
11	C	MIKAEL BACKLUND
17	L	MILAN LUCIC
20	C	BLAKE COLEMAN
21	C	KEVIN ROONEY
22	C	TREVOR LEWIS
24	R	BRETT RITCHIE
28	C	ELIAS LINDHOLM
29	C	DILLON DUBE
63	C	ADAM RUZICKA
67	L	RADIM ZOHORNA
73	R	TYLER TOFFOLI
88	L	ANDREW MANGIAPANE
91	C	NAZEM KADRI

25	G	JACOB MARKSTROM
80	G	DAN VLADAR

I think you don't sign Stone immediately, and you send Valimaki down. He hasn't earned a spot and it is very unlikely he'd be claimed. That leaves you with 7 D, 14 F and 2 G for your 23 man roster.

When Kylington gets back he will need time to get up to game speed and could even do a conditioning stint in the AHL prior to forcing any more decisions. If we have an injury on D you sign Stone, or you could sign him now to a high $$$ AHL deal, and flip it to an NHL deal later if necessary.

Forwards stay pretty much as is now unless you think you can sneak one of the big 3rd liners through waivers, which I don't think they could.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

So from what I gather, these are the players remaining at camp:

Forwards:
Huberdeau-Lindholm-Toffoli
Mangiapane-Kadri-Dube
Coleman-Backlund-???
Lucic-Rooney-Lewis
Extras: Zohorna, Ruzicka, Ritchie
Injured: Feuk

This is about how I drew it up before pre-season began, but still no better clarity on who will be in the top 9. I see it as a platoon situation because all three extra guys have question marks. Ruzicka in particular needs to be pushed to maintain his pace of play, so having continuing competition for that job is good for him. Perhaps he blossoms because of it.

However, the other options appear to be Rooney with Ruzicka or Lewis as 4th line center, Zohorna, or Ritchie. You may even see Lewis elevated to that line with one of the extras on the 4th line. Basically, it's still wide open and there are a lot of options to put there, but none of them great.

On the other hand, even though they need to work on finishing plays, I love the line of Bread-Kadri-Dube. They are quick and feisty, and are going to make life hell for the opposition. Give them some time to gel and they'll put up some good numbers.

Defense:
Tanev-Weegar
Hanifin-Andersson
Zadorov-???
Extras: Stone (PTO), Valimaki, Meloche, Mackey
Leave: Kylington

To me, this is still very much in the air. The top two pairings are set and look good. Zadorov is a lock as well, but who to play with him? If you're asking me, Valimaki just isn't ready, so he's going to go down, but I imagine they're waiting to the last second to try and sneak him through waivers.

Meloche vs. Mackey is a wash to me because I have trouble finding anything to separate the two from each other. Both are big, stay at home guys who are about the same age and experience level, although Meloche has played in the pros a little longer. The righty advantage of Meloche might give him the inside edge, but I'm far from convinced.

There there's Stone, who blasts away on a nightly basis, but let's be honest, he has some trouble with NHL speed at this point. I think if he's a #7, it's fine, but if he's playing every night it's going to be a problem.

This is all moot once Kylington returns as he will almost assuredly be back in the starting lineup every night, but who knows when that will be. For now, let the debate rage on.

Goalies:
Markstrom, Vladar

No argument from me. Both played very well in the pre-season, especially Vladar who looks ready to take another step in his game. Wolf needs lots of AHL seasoning. Patience.

[sureLoss]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1578083973271785472

https://twitter.com/user/status/1578084641931919360

[Cali Panthers Fan]

I don't get having Andersson over Weegar on PP1. Weegar is quicker in case of a rush the other way, AND he has better offensive skills. I'm unconvinced that Andersson's shot is worth having on the top unit.

[sureLoss]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1578086847175008256

[Calgary4LIfe]

Slightly surprised that Eakin wasn't offered a deal, but this is a fairly deep team and he was a longshot. I think he did enough to find a contract somewhere. I thought Sutter was going to use him as a Stephane Yelle-lite - throw him out for important defensive draws, then rush him off the ice.



Milano was really unnoticeable, unless you were trying to look for him specifically. He just didn't do much with or without the puck from what I saw.


Stone is probably going to start in Calgary until Kylington returns. There is going to be a decent player or two exposed either from defence or from forwards. I really doubt they are going to expose Zohorna after just claiming him, and even more doubtful Ruzicka will get exposed. Meloche has been good I thought, basically right there with Mackey.


Valimaki I think gets exposed, and unless someone really liked him in his draft year, probably passes waivers. Will be interesting to see who else the Flames try to sneak through. It really is a fairly good competition right now.

[Heavy Jack]

It’s actually the one area of Andersson’s game that has frustrated me the most because when he does actually choose to unleash a slapper it’s typically a howitzer. If he could figure out how to sneak shots through from the top of the slot as well I’d think we’d see him take the next step and evolution in his overall game. Weegar hands down does this better right now but Andy has those talents in his toolbox as well and just needs to figure out how to use them.

[1_Flames_Fan]

I say send Valimaki down and take the chance. If he gets claimed you get the cap space. If he doesn't hopefully he can find his game with the Wranglers. I'd say 30/70 he gets claimed. He's like 9th or 10th on the depth chart for me right now.

[Mitch]

I thought Eakin was awful in the games I watched, not sure what other people saw. All good news.

[D as in David]

My guess is that Stone will receive a healthy AHL contract and will be given an NHL contract later in the season; possibly after the trade deadline. Or if injuries earlier in the season open up a slot for him.

Just going on a belief that he wants to reside in Calgary and will forego more dollars in another city.

[joejoe3]

it was Sonny Mehlano at best

[SeanCharles]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I think Stone has some sort of a gentleman's agreement with Treliving that he will always be ready to sign and suit up if we need the depth and we'll make it up to him somehow. I hear they are personally close.

He could sign an 2-way deal and play for the Wranglers.

I'm sure other NHL GM's know Stone only wants to play in Calgary so won't claim him as a professional courtesy.

Then we have Stone as depth in case we need it.

[EVERLAST]

Excited for the season to start. Huberdeau and his elite passing makes me wish we had a sniper/ shooter like Cammalleri who seemed to bury everything.
Once he's got chemistry with Lord Zebulon I hope that prediction of 50 goals he commented on comes to fruition.

Darryls presser was funny.....we sucked, we sucked , we sucked. At least he's to be quite honest.

I seriously want to see both the wranglers and Flames having good starts. Prospects need to push push push to get callups because I do think we can be better.

I hope to see Schwindt or the new Z make some kind of impact and be on the team

[SeanCharles]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

I don't get having Andersson over Weegar on PP1. Weegar is quicker in case of a rush the other way, AND he has better offensive skills. I'm unconvinced that Andersson's shot is worth having on the top unit.

For me, the thing I would change is put Mangiapane on PP1 over Toffoli.

Andersson I think isn't a problem on PP1.

[old-fart]

Originally Posted by SeanCharles

He could sign an 2-way deal and play for the Wranglers.

I'm sure other NHL GM's know Stone only wants to play in Calgary so won't claim him as a professional courtesy.

Then we have Stone as depth in case we need it.

If he signs a 2-way deal, he would have to clear waivers to be assigned to the Wranglers. if he signs an AHL only deal, he does not. That takes any risk of a claim out of the picture.

Then, sometime down the road, if he signs an NHL deal he would not have to sign waivers to play in Calgary, but would have to clear at that time to be assigned to the AHL.

That, of course, assumes that Stone would accept an AHL deal.

[Leeman4Gilmour]

This isn't much for out of the box thinking but they only have to drop 2 to get to 23. Valimaki and Meloche seem like the obvious choices at this point. I feel they are more worried about losing Ruzicka on waivers than Valimaki. Well, that's how I feel, so I'm assuming Flames management feels the same. Great minds and all

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Bingo

And what to make of the new giant winger?

His metrics were good last night, but man I barely noticed him.

Their line, with Ruzicka at C, just wasn't able to generate a lot of zone time. They seemed to be up against WPG's top 2 lines a lot. It was a tough assignment for them.

Plus, he was probably exhausted.

[Icon]

Was quietly pulling for Milano as much as a diamond in the rough kind of find... but he didn't show enough.

Glad to cut bait with both, prefer the other options 100%

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Glad the PTOs were released. Nothing specifically against them, but they won't move the needle on the team and we have better internal options coming.

Time to get down to business. Get systems in place and get some practice time in so that they're ready for game 1. I do not want to see them lose another season opener.

How many in a row is it now? 9?