[Signing] Matthew Phillips to Capitals 1yr 1 way $775K

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

You forgot Toffoli. Soon as he goes on one of his little scoring streaks...

Originally Posted by Shazam

Toffoli, Valimaki, the legends go on.

Also Monahan, Lomberg, Hathaway, Milano. A lot of legends out there.

My biggest Flames legend was Anton Stralman! We acquired him for Primeau and a 2nd. He did quite fell in preseason, but Sutter decided to dump him for a 3rd 2 months after acquiring him.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

Also Monahan, Lomberg, Hathaway, Milano. A lot of legends out there.

My biggest Flames legend was Anton Stralman! We acquired him for Primeau and a 2nd. He did quite fell in preseason, but Sutter decided to dump him for a 3rd 2 months after acquiring him.

Robert Svehla! He would have deserved a Legend thread back in the day.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Soon the first page will be nothing but posts about former players when they get a point.

The Legend Of Sam Bennett.
The Legend of Matthew Tkachuk.
The Legend of Johnny Gaudreau.
The Legend of Milan Lucic.
The Legend of Mathew Phillips.
The Legend of TJ Brodie.

And every single thread will be discussion about Mark Jankowski.

[FlamesAddiction]

I think it's fair to say that Phillips has earned the opportunity for a trial run at the NHL level. It's also not exactly going out on a limb to have doubts that a player his size will replicate at the NHL level, what he did in the AHL. There is a chance he does, but the odds are stacked against him. I have no reason to not hope for him though. He didn't do anything negative to the Flames, other than turning down a contract in favour of a better contract in Washington (2-way vs. 1-way deals).

I wonder how productive Phillips has to be though in order to stay in the line-up over bigger players that can be more physical.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

Phillips had plenty of opportunity and never impressed. The only reason Phillips is getting a chance in Washington is because of Mitch Love. No Love on staff and Phillips doesn't even get a contract offer. He's got an ally and an advocate for him on the staff. He needs to take advantage of that because he won't have similar advocacy anywhere else.

Well this post seems to contradict itself.

Supposedly Phillips never impressed in this organization...but this organization wanted to re-sign him...and the head coach he had in this organization the past two seasons is the one that is his advocate on this new team. So he must have impressed someone.

Good for Phillips to recognize that his best opportunity was with the guy that probably has the best idea of what he is as a player, since he saw it first hand the last two seasons.

If anything that's not a negative against Phillips, but should be a point in his favour, the guy who was his AHL Head Coach, and is now an NHL Associate coach, is the one that believes in him. I'd wager that Mitch Love has a better read on if Matthew Phillips can be an NHLer than anybody on this site, and he seems to believe he can.

And it's not like there is no risk for Love. It's his first NHL job, as the newcomer to the staff in Washington, so him going out to advocate for Phillips doesn't come without him risking his own reputation in that organization a bit.

In the end I think we'd all agree that this is likely Phillips last and best opportunity at becoming an NHLer though, so hopefully he can make the most of it.

[TheScorpion]

Here's the reality of the situation. Phillips was blossoming in the Flames' system at a time where the prospect pool wasn't particularly strong, but the team was also kind of struggling and looked to need some help. He was putting up good numbers, but it was also the COVID-shortened season and his numbers sagged down the stretch, which fueled some natural skepticism. That, adding on to the existing concerns about his height, raised some legit questions, but the chemistry he showed with Ruzicka that year was undeniable — and the fans needed some hope in a tough year. He looked like their best bet on the farm.

But I genuinely think that fan excitement would have naturally tapered off, like it does with most AAAA players (Gawdin, Klimchuk, etc), had the segment of skeptical folks not been so adamant and adversarial about his shortcomings (he's not an NHL player and never will be, how could you think he is?). That, in turn, sparked a bit of defiance in the people who really liked the player. Which turned the whole case into more of an ideological, generational, and certainly personal thing than it needed to be.

And then Phillips continued to stay in the minors for two more years despite only ever getting more productive, which naturally fueled the circular nature of the argument (why hasn't he gotten a shot/he's not good enough to get a shot/we won't know if he's good enough until he gets a shot). Which only intensified that divide, making the people who like Phillips seem like his "champions" basically by circumstance because they still hadn't been provided any compelling evidence to the contrary. And for the skeptics, well, he still hadn't played in the NHL, so he's obviously not an NHL player.

So of course this whole thing is going to be circular until the loop breaks and he gets a chance to prove one of those two groups wrong. The only reason this discussion is still so lively after three years is because that just hasn't happened yet, for whatever reason. Luckily for everyone who is upset about this topic continuing to exist, it looks like that's about to change. Thank goodness!

[CalgarySames]

Sorry if already posted but...

https://twitter.com/Capitals/status/...7Ctwgr%5Etweet

[Jaybo]

I'm really scared the loss of Matthew Philips will come back to haunt the Flames.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Jaybo

I'm really scared the loss of Matthew Philips will come back to haunt the Flames.

I'm not, I don't think he becomes a top 6 winger but even if he does I think the Valimaki flub will hurt way worse.

[Hack&Lube]

I hope Phillips becomes an amazing first liner playing with Ovechkin. Anything for another FU to Sutter.

[The Fonz]

Originally Posted by habernac

Imagine giving a #### about Matthew Phillips, a guy that was never going to have an impact here.

For sure.

Flames fans on a Flames message board giving a #### about a Flames drafted player who lead the Flames' farm team in scoring for 3 consecutive years.

Very weird thing for Flames fans to do, indeed.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Jaybo

I'm really scared the loss of Matthew Philips will come back to haunt the Flames.

Why?

There is only room for 4 top 6 wingers on a team. And they get paid like top 6 wingers. If he becomes one - great, good for him! But it doesn't really change anything with respect to the Flames. Either he is on the roster, or someone else is, using up that same cap space.

Rooting for him to do well is fine - I certainly am, because I think he's a really nice young man, is from Calgary, and plays at Priddis (quite well, btw). But if he does have a good NHL career, it doesn't really impact the Flames one way or the other.

[bax]

I’m 90% sure Phillips doesn’t turn into anything more than a tweener at the NHL. His production spikes have just come a bit too late in his development.

With that being said the annoying thing is Sutter and Treliving didn’t even try to see if it could work out.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by bax

I’m 90% sure Phillips doesn’t turn into anything more than a tweener at the NHL. His production spikes have just come a bit too late in his development.

With that being said the annoying thing is Sutter and Treliving didn’t even try to see if it could work out.

Treliving did bring him up so there's not a lot more he can do unless you want the GM meddling in head coach decisions which was something that would never fly with Sutter who was going to do things his way. Conroy didn't really go out of his way to entice Phillips to remain with the club so it's fair to say the organization as a whole may not be as high on him as some fans.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Yup. I wished Phillips had more than what, 9 minutes of ice time? As a guy who produced in the AHL, to be a UFA at the end of the season, and with the NHL team struggling for production, he deserved a better chance with the Flames. After that, he chose to move on (which I can't blame him) and good luck to him (and I am still doubtful he amounts to much more than a tweener).

[Ashasx]

nm

[Enoch Root]

nm

[PepsiFree]

I don't know why this would "haunt" the Flames or how we would be resting this on the shoulders of the Flames in general.

Treliving called Phillips up, Sutter didn't want to play him. Sutter played him sparingly, he didn't look great (in retrospect, who did?) and that was it. Conroy wanted to keep him and offered him a 2-year contract, but he was a UFA and chose elsewhere.

I feel like management did everything they could, outside of firing Sutter mid-season because he wouldn't play Matthew Phillips, to get Matthew Phillips onto the big club and to keep him in the organization.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Scorp seems to post more about Valimaki and Phillips than he does about Flames prospects. Considering his career aspirations, to me that seems like not the greatest idea. So I said so. Big deal - he can take or eave that as he sees fit, which he did.

"Abolutely toxic to this forum" Yeah, okay.

You go around thread to thread attacking people who post information that differs from your very specific view on the flames and the league. Seems pretty toxic.

A specific example from this thread was cited and you acknowledge your toxicity in the first half of reply and dismiss it in the second.

Tell us all you know about sports journalism, wizened one. Seems very likely that Scorp has already greatly surpassed anything you can offer in that venue. Why don't you stick to minding your own about career advice.

[TheScorpion]

I feel like I post a lot about Coronato and Wolf but who's to say, I guess. I don't operate on any template. Shrug

Honestly have nothing really against what Enoch said because I think it's just out of a simple misunderstanding of my career goals. I don't aspire to work in PR with the Flames. And what I post on here doesn't really have much connection with my work at all tbh.