Dear Craig, it's time to give Rory Kerins his due!

[TheIronMaiden]

Kerins cant win puck battles.

[Savvy27]

He hasn't been poor defensively this season. Listen to Brett Sutter from Flames talk this week. He specifically mentions how much Kerins has improved away from the puck

[Enoch Root]

Such a bizarre hill to die on... he's a tweener.

[Ba'alzamon]

He'll get his recall. Probably. Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't, but it is nevertheless true that the Flames have a lot of forwards and there simply isn't room for everyone. No, that is not a lame duck excuse, it's a reality. Honzek wedging himself in just made it harder.

Incidentally, I find it funny that the people clamoring for a meritocracy are always the same people that complain incessantly when Dryden Hunt gets called up. Do you want a meritocracy or not?

[Calgary4LIfe]

No wonder teams in Canada are so resistant to rebuilding. Between the Parekh thread and this one, there are simply way too many impatient fans.


Flames are still 'going for it' this season officially. Unofficially, I am sure that they entered the season ready to shift gears. Until something is announced - or at least until Andersson and/or Kadri are traded for futures, this is 'business as usual'. As it should be.


The best returns that the Flames are going to get for their existing players WHILE also providing the young players with the best possible development experience is to continue where they are now. Parekh, Honzek, Zary, Coronato, Klapka, Bahl, - these are all key young players moving forward as well, and being in the current environment of playing hard and trying to crawl back up the rankings is helpful to their environment.


Also, the Flames have already been sitting players out already - Klapka last night, Coronato the game before, etc. Bringing Kerins up makes the Flames sit-out two players a night, or send one back down to the Wranglers. Looking at the waivers exemptions.. I pick Honzek? Just as he is looking like a very solid NHL'er, and just scored?


There will be injuries and there will be trades. Just have to stay patient. Kerins will - just like every other prospect thus far in the last few years - been given his opportunity if he continues playing well. Period. He has already gotten some NHL games underneath his belt, and I bet he will get more this season too. I would rather he was brought up to stay since he is waiver eligible, and give him a very good long look in a position to succeed. Hopefully a few others get looks as well.


Kerins is 100% fine developing in the AHL. He is getting important minutes too. Flames are developing him properly.

[Monahammer]

Where does this Rory has a poor defensive game #### come from? Are there advanced AHL stats available that I am unaware of? If so, can someone please link them for everyone to see?

What I see is a player who has never been a minus player in any league he's played in. In Junior, coaches praised his two way responsible play:

https://calgarysun.com/sports/hockey...-scoring-stats

“He thinks the game at a very, very high level,” said Flames development coach Ray Edwards of Kerins, who also has an ‘A’ stitched on his jersey as an alternate captain. “He’s ahead of it, you know what I mean? He sees plays before they happen. He sees the ice very well. He can slow the game down. He enters the zone, delays. He loves that delay game. He loves hitting that second wave coming into the zone. He’s an elite power-play player. He can make plays. He finds people. He can shoot the puck from that flank position.

“And then the other side of that is just his hockey sense allows him to be in the right place all the time and allows him to play quicker, in terms of just being ahead of the play.”

When he was played in the NHL, he played exclusively with grinders, the worst possession players on our roster. He STILL had 4 points in 5 games and was a plus player. Using advanced stats generated in only 5 games is absolute Bull####.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Kerins cant win puck battles.

Originally Posted by Jay Random

Yeah, it's not like they ever found roster spots for Coronato, Klapka, Zary, Honzek, or Parekh. No runway at all.

Originally Posted by Jay Random

He had one huge game and then quickly turned invisible.

Originally Posted by dino7c

He isn't in because of his poor defensive game and skating...hopefully he is working on it as he will probably get some games at some point

The usual suspects in this sort of convo lol.

Originally Posted by Ba'alzamon

He'll get his recall. Probably. Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't, but it is nevertheless true that the Flames have a lot of forwards and there simply isn't room for everyone. No, that is not a lame duck excuse, it's a reality. Honzek wedging himself in just made it harder.

Incidentally, I find it funny that the people clamoring for a meritocracy are always the same people that complain incessantly when Dryden Hunt gets called up. Do you want a meritocracy or not?

Meritocracy for prospects, not meritocracy for aging ahl journeymen who will have no future impact on the club.
Further, I bolded something I have been saying for a long time. This is an absolute failure of club management not to trade out aging vets and make room for our prospects to play.

[Enoch Root]

Prospects should have to earn jobs. Creating room and handing them spots is not how you push them to get better.

Gridin is busting his ass on the Wranglers right now, working on the things that will get him back to the NHL for good. IMO, that is MUCH better than giving him a roster spot.

[Usernamefatigue]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Such a bizarre hill to die on... he's a tweener.

Seems to me this forum loves tweeners. See Jacob Pelletier for example

[Finger Cookin]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

*sigh*

Yeah.

Also Matthew Phillips . Isn’t it time?

If we play Phillips, we'll have to consider erecting a second statue for him outside the new arena. Seems unprecedented.

[Strange Brew]

The NHL readiness of Flames prospects is vastly overrated by some IMO.

Gridin looks good and I do think he could play in the NHL now and develop just fine. So I will grant that one, a rebuilding team should probably play a guy like that. We are 11 games in and he has played 4 of them. Not exactly a disaster, I won't be surprised if he gets at least half an NHL season.

Kerins is not a high end prospect.

I think we are seeing with Parekh's struggles how hard it is for a young NHL defenseman. I am 100% convinced that it is better for Hunter B. to be in the AHL at the moment.

Who the hell else needs to be in the NHL right now?

[Reggie Dunlop]

Rory Kerins!

[ForeverFlameFan]

I am probably high on Kerins more than others, but "let him cook". What's the rush? Let an injury, trade, or plain terrible hockey (which could likely be the latter between the 3 variables) before he comes up.

As others mentioned, he does lose a lot of puck battles. Which to me has me viewing him as an NHL winger than a center. I will say, we could use his IQ up here. He always finds himself in the right spots, at some point it isn't considered a coincidence.

[CroFlames]

Happens all the time. Krys Kolanos was a hell of an AHLer.

But couldn't do #### in the NHL.

I'm not saying Kerins = Kolanos, I'm just saying that AHL success doesn't equal NHL success automatically.

[Calgary Highlander]

This season, Brett Sutter has been line matching Kerins against the opposition's top line. He has come a long ways, both with his skating, and his defensive play.

He'll get his shot at some point this season.

[Badgers Nose]

Originally Posted by Calgary Highlander

This season, Brett Sutter has been line matching Kerins against the opposition's top line. He has come a long ways, both with his skating, and his defensive play.

He'll get his shot at some point this season.

On another team probably.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Usernamefatigue

Seems to me this forum loves tweeners. See Jacob Pelletier for example

It's the impatience.

[savardandjokinen]

I'd be happy if he got an opportunity as the 4C, especially on a rebuilding team, I think this whole argument of "top 6 or bust" isn't as relevant as it once was, teams like Tampa have introduced these types of players as 4th liners then they have either fizzled or worked their way up

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Where does this Rory has a poor defensive game #### come from? Are there advanced AHL stats available that I am unaware of? If so, can someone please link them for everyone to see?

What I see is a player who has never been a minus player in any league he's played in. In Junior, coaches praised his two way responsible play:

https://calgarysun.com/sports/hockey...-scoring-stats


When he was played in the NHL, he played exclusively with grinders, the worst possession players on our roster. He STILL had 4 points in 5 games and was a plus player. Using advanced stats generated in only 5 games is absolute Bull####.

People clearly don't want his offense to threaten our tank.

I can only laugh at how easily people will write off certain prospects while looking for every reason to believe in others because of draft pedigree.

Some will extract narratives out of thin air to defend the Flames decisions.

The argument isnt being made that he's something that he hasn't proven to be yet, but just that he should be granted the opportunity to even try to prove it.

5 games were a) not enough and b) not even a failure if you care about output, and this team in particular should care a lot about that aspect given how its dried up for them over the last couple of seasons.

[SuperMatt18]

TBH I also think Kerins has always been a but underrated within the organization.

Even in the 23-24 season...he was kind of seen as a bit of a liability at times but he produced really well in limited minutes and had one of the highest game scores for Rookies in the AHL.

Then last year he only improved on that, was trusted in a bigger role and got his P/GP up to a point per game. IMO he looked really good in 3/5 NHL games, had one poor game, and then he was sent down.

And now this year his overall games is more well rounded, Sutter trusts him against other teams top lines, and he has 9 points in his first 7 games.

With 130 AHL games played now I don't think it's impatience to want to see this player get more NHL time, it's acknowledging the player has made a steady progression to the point where he needs NHL time to continue that development and that for a team not looking to contend right now he has a lot more long term potential in this organization than Justin Kirkland does.