The Hurricanes were reportedly interested in acquiring Blackwood from the San Jose Sharks, but the Colorado Avalanche swooped in and made the trade before Carolina could make a move. Now, according to NHL insider Pierre LeBrun, the Hurricanes are looking at Vladar as a potential backup to starter Pyotr Kochetkov.
Tampa Bay took advantage of a defensively porous Flames team en route to an 8-3 victory at the Scotiabank Saddledome. It represented both the Flames’ first regulation loss at home since Nov. 3 against Edmonton, and the most goals they’ve allowed in a home loss since Feb. 15, 2020.
The Calgary Flames have had lots of trouble scoring goals this season, it has been well-documented over the course of the season. However, the Flames AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers have had no issues filling the net since the beginning of their season, and that has been headlined by breakout AHL star Rory Kerins.
It’s easy for fans (and yours truly) to forget it, but prospect development is never completely linear. Not for blue-chippers, not for seventh-round picks, not for anyone.
The Calgary Flames are entering a period where they need to be more cautious with their top prospects than ever before. With all their existing prospects and upcoming draft picks, their development staff will have to be at the top of its game. They have lots and lots of work to do.
Speaking of opportunities to get his name into the team's record book, Wolf is currently 7-1-0 at the Scotiabank Saddledome this season.
He's slated to start against the Florida Panthers on Saturday. With Dan Vladar injured, Wolf has a chance to play the remainder of the Flames' homestand, which takes them into the Christmas break.
It's always fun when my two teams play each other.
Look, I think we can all accept that the Panthers are the superior team overall. I just hope the Flames show up defensively after that last embarrassment, and knowing Huska, I suspect they well.
They need to as the Panthers are an aggressive offensive team, putting lots of shots on goal, but also having the skill to score a lot too. The shots are not just to inflate fancy stats, it pays off.
However, the Panthers have also been suspect defensively this year. Bobrovsky isn't having a great year, and Spencer Knight (in his first NHL games in 2 years) isn't doing a whole lot better. Their goals saved above expected is really low (-4.9 and -3.4 respectively). Losing Montour was big as the second pair is now covered by two borderline 2nd pair guys in Kulikov and Mikkola (although they still hold their own). The third pair is Schmidt and Balinskis, and while they add some skill and speed, they are not the strongest defenders out there. The goalies get hung out to dry a lot, but they're also not making a lot of saves either.
Some of the forwards have been weak defensively as well. Verhaeghe, and to a lesser extent, Rodrigues and Bennett have all been caught cheating offensively at times and not taking care of their own end. They still have strong defensive fowards like Barkov, Reinhart, Lundell, and Luostarinen, but they end up doing too much heavy lifting at times.
If the Flames decide to play defense first, and then counter attack by throwing pucks on net with a bit of net front chaos, they could win this one. Fail to do either of those and I don't see how they win. Of course, Wolf could flat out steal a win too...
It's a late start for me, so I may or may not be in the GT. Hope it's at least an entertaining game.
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"You know, that's kinda why I came here, to show that I don't suck that much" ~ Devin Cooley, Professional Goaltender
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It's always fun when my two teams play each other.
Look, I think we can all accept that the Panthers are the superior team overall. I just hope the Flames show up defensively after that last embarrassment, and knowing Huska, I suspect they well.
They need to as the Panthers are an aggressive offensive team, putting lots of shots on goal, but also having the skill to score a lot too. The shots are not just to inflate fancy stats, it pays off.
However, the Panthers have also been suspect defensively this year. Bobrovsky isn't having a great year, and Spencer Knight (in his first NHL games in 2 years) isn't doing a whole lot better. Their goals saved above expected is really low (-4.9 and -3.4 respectively). Losing Montour was big as the second pair is now covered by two borderline 2nd pair guys in Kulikov and Mikkola (although they still hold their own). The third pair is Schmidt and Balinskis, and while they add some skill and speed, they are not the strongest defenders out there. The goalies get hung out to dry a lot, but they're also not making a lot of saves either.
Some of the forwards have been weak defensively as well. Verhaeghe, and to a lesser extent, Rodrigues and Bennett have all been caught cheating offensively at times and not taking care of their own end. They still have strong defensive fowards like Barkov, Reinhart, Lundell, and Luostarinen, but they end up doing too much heavy lifting at times.
If the Flames decide to play defense first, and then counter attack by throwing pucks on net with a bit of net front chaos, they could win this one. Fail to do either of those and I don't see how they win. Of course, Wolf could flat out steal a win too...
It's a late start for me, so I may or may not be in the GT. Hope it's at least an entertaining game.
Friends off.
For a game.
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It's always fun when my two teams play each other.
Look, I think we can all accept that the Panthers are the superior team overall. I just hope the Flames show up defensively after that last embarrassment, and knowing Huska, I suspect they well.
They need to as the Panthers are an aggressive offensive team, putting lots of shots on goal, but also having the skill to score a lot too. The shots are not just to inflate fancy stats, it pays off.
However, the Panthers have also been suspect defensively this year. Bobrovsky isn't having a great year, and Spencer Knight (in his first NHL games in 2 years) isn't doing a whole lot better. Their goals saved above expected is really low (-4.9 and -3.4 respectively). Losing Montour was big as the second pair is now covered by two borderline 2nd pair guys in Kulikov and Mikkola (although they still hold their own). The third pair is Schmidt and Balinskis, and while they add some skill and speed, they are not the strongest defenders out there. The goalies get hung out to dry a lot, but they're also not making a lot of saves either.
Some of the forwards have been weak defensively as well. Verhaeghe, and to a lesser extent, Rodrigues and Bennett have all been caught cheating offensively at times and not taking care of their own end. They still have strong defensive fowards like Barkov, Reinhart, Lundell, and Luostarinen, but they end up doing too much heavy lifting at times.
If the Flames decide to play defense first, and then counter attack by throwing pucks on net with a bit of net front chaos, they could win this one. Fail to do either of those and I don't see how they win. Of course, Wolf could flat out steal a win too...
It's a late start for me, so I may or may not be in the GT. Hope it's at least an entertaining game.
It's been pretty obvious for a while now that the Panthers need to add a top 4 defenseman. When they're not on defensively they allow rush chances against and it's pretty obvious from the puck drop if that's the case.
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It's been pretty obvious for a while now that the Panthers need to add a top 4 defenseman. When they're not on defensively they allow rush chances against and it's pretty obvious from the puck drop if that's the case.
That's pretty much the best offer they could do although Samoskevich has looked very good and is exactly what they need, a young ELC player with control. But they have some depth up front to make up for it unlike the backend.
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I hope Wolf puts in a good showing today and takes advantage of the opportunity to play more starts with Vladar hobbled. Celebrini seems to have built a lot of momentum for the Calder, but this could be Wolf’s turn to show he is this years most dominant rookie. Go Flames!
Florida Panthers at Calgary Flames 8:00pm TV: SNW/1, CityTV, SCRI - RADIO SN960
