[PGT] Flames beat Detroit 3-2.

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Well Backlund this year has shown more than Baertschi has so I'm not sure why you're giving Baertschi a free pass and ignoring how good Backlund has been. Right now he is a depth centre? Nope, right now he is our best centre.

Am I the only one watching Backlund closely when I watch Flames games? I really don't get it. Tonight he was arguably our most dangerous forward. He battles well along the boards, shows a nose for the net, is giving and receiving passes, has had some nice goals too.

Crazy how underrated he is by some. Pretty sure next season will prove that out.

Nope, definitely not the only one. He will be part of the core going forward.

It just amazes me how much of a "Red Wing" player he is, handles the puck well, high hockey IQ, good first pass.

Even Babcock, a couple years ago, singled him out in a media scrum without even being questioned and said something long the lines of "I don't know who that number 11 kid is, but he looks really good" before a game.

No coach does that, especially one of the best coaches in the NHL without him being really impressed. I just know he will be a Red Wing one day and really break out there.

Backlund looks like he's developing really well and looks like the best player on the ice most nights in both ends. Surprised how hardly anyone sees that.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Well Backlund this year has shown more than Baertschi has so I'm not sure why you're giving Baertschi a free pass and ignoring how good Backlund has been. Right now he is a depth centre? Nope, right now he is our best centre.

Am I the only one watching Backlund closely when I watch Flames games? I really don't get it. Tonight he was arguably our most dangerous forward. He battles well along the boards, shows a nose for the net, is giving and receiving passes, has had some nice goals too.

Crazy how underrated he is by some. Pretty sure next season will prove that out.

I have watched him, I just haven't been overly impressed.

He may be our best center (him or Stajan) but that is more to do with the poor centers on this team than a ringing endorsement for him.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Well Backlund this year has shown more than Baertschi has so I'm not sure why you're giving Baertschi a free pass and ignoring how good Backlund has been. Right now he is a depth centre? Nope, right now he is our best centre.

Am I the only one watching Backlund closely when I watch Flames games? I really don't get it. Tonight he was arguably our most dangerous forward. He battles well along the boards, shows a nose for the net, is giving and receiving passes, has had some nice goals too.

Crazy how underrated he is by some. Pretty sure next season will prove that out.

Baertschi was dominant in junior, pretty damn effective in the AHL, he's four years younger than Backlund, and even when he hasn't been scoring, he's been generating quality scoring chances. Most importantly, FOUR YEARS YOUNGER and exponentially farther along in his development. That's why Sven gets a free pass.

I like Backlund. I'd give him two years, five million this summer. But nothing about him is particularly game-breaking. He's a passable skater, he has decent hands, his vision is okay, pretty good shot. And he's constantly injured.

He's a useful piece. Is he the best center on the Flames? Probably. But that's more indicative of the Flames having some of the worst center depth in the NHL than it is of Backlund's merit as a core player. Backlund has been in the NHL for parts of three seasons now. He proved this year that he's an NHL player. He has to be one of the best players on the team consistently and put up the numbers to back that up to be a core player. He hasn't done that.

[Jake]

Count me in as a big Backlund fan. I think he is a late bloomer. Sure, you can say being the best centre on the Flames doesn't mean much, and you'd be right, but that still doesn't say anything about Backlund's play. He has been a reliable, two way centre. If this were a full season, I think he could have had a 40-50 point year. You keep 24 year old, two-way, 40-50 point centres. They are not easy to find.

He is definitely a guy you can build on going forward... he may not be a central piece to the puzzle, but he is still a very useful one.

[Five-hole]

#$@% you Wings. I hope you miss the playoffs by one point after that abysmal effort. You scored one goal on an AHL team.

Ugh. If we have a worse pick than the Oilers I'm really going to barf.

[kirant]

Originally Posted by Five-hole

#$@% you Wings. I hope you miss the playoffs by one point after that abysmal effort. You scored one goal on an AHL team.

Ugh. If we have a worse pick than the Oilers I'm really going to barf.

Get ready.

We all know the Oilers are winning the lottery

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

The Wings brought their "C" game and the flames did not look any better then them. I will agree that if it was not for 2 fluke goals, the Wings could have won. In the position they are in they should have dominated from the openning faceoff.

I love posts like this. Let's just forget about Detroit even more flukey goal from center ice.

[OutOfTheCube]

Was at the game tonight.

If the last memory of Kiprusoff I have is that stellar glove save in the last 30 seconds, I am happy. Great night.

That is all.

[Hair bleach and Vodka]

Originally Posted by kirant

Get ready.

We all know the Oilers are winning the lottery

There isn't enough booze in this city to handle that.

[BruceCody]

Begin better than Jackman anyways
rest games: Cervenka in, Jackman healthy scratch

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Psytic

I just can't figure out what the argument is. Its out of their control. They can't throw games and if other teams #### the bed against us what can you do? No point in being mad for the sake of being mad.

This.

Personally as a fan I'm in a very good place now. If we win, yay for winning! If we lose, yay for a better draft pick!

I don't see the point for all the negativity.

[Henry Fool]

Guys, it's only one win. It's not the end of the world. If you thought that they'd end the season on a long losing streak, your expectations were way too high.

Seriously, I think it's great that they dropped Detroit to 9th place. I also think that some people overstate the importance of getting one top pick in one draft. The top-3 aren't guaranteed superstars and it's hardly a tragedy to draft Lindholm or Monahan. You need years of good drafting and good management decisions to build a winning team, picking a couple of spots later in one draft isn't going to ruin the rebuild.

[hayduke's dad]

Originally Posted by moon

We aren't winning now we are losing. Look at the record more losses than wins and likely finishing the season with a lot more losses coming.

And we do have guys being outscored by Begin.

Originally Posted by moon

I read that Hartley said that Kipper was playing tonight and Friday and Kipper could have gone out on a high note with a 2-1 loss in which he played like he did tonight, although not entirely sure that retiring players going out on a high note is that important or something you always want them do.

Originally Posted by moon

Sure nobody is complaining about giving a solid effort but the team is turning in meh performances (outside of Edmonton game) and still losing more than winning so a game like this seems to do little to nothing to change the so called culture of losing that Edmonton supposedly has.

Originally Posted by moon

Nope.

I am saying I am disappointed that they won with a pretty poor performance and that it still could have been a great game by Kipper even if the team would have lost.

I don't think that 90% of players would throw games so no way to expect that from them. I just want the other teams to actually show up especially when Detroit and Phoenix supposedly wanted to win these games.

Originally Posted by moon

Well a top 10 pick isn't any different in this draft than most and we certainly aren't getting the same quality of guy just by drafting in top 10 as opposed to the top 3 where the elite talent is.

Originally Posted by moon

Not at all.

Some may still remember calling me a big Flames homer only a few years ago when I believed in the players and management we had.

Only become a so-called pessimist when I dislike the way the team was going, the players they were bringing in and the management team.

If this team changes its direction or drafts Mackinnon you will see a big optimist/homer in me.

I think that moon would complain the whole time well getting oral sex and tell the other person what they are doing wrong the whole time.

[3 Justin 3]

Originally Posted by hayduke's dad

I think that moon would complain the whole time well getting oral sex and tell the other person what they are doing wrong the whole time.

"no no no, I want it drier, what are you doing?

...what was that? yes of course use your teeth."

[UKflames]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

Unfortunately, a team like Colorado with Duchene and Landeskog, Nashville with Rinne and Weber, Carolina with the Staals, Skinner, and Semin, or Tampa with Stamkos and Hedman will win it.

This just about sums it up for me, how can teams with this much talent be doing worse than us

[Da_Chief]

Brodie, Baertschi, Backlund..maybe Breen, Barkov, Berra...It's not the "owskis" its the Killer Bs

[wingmaker]

I can understand the people who want a tank job, but I don't know what more they expect "the team" to do. Feaster has recalled half of Abbotsford and some kid just out of college, half of the vets not traded away have been in and out of the line-up with injuries, Hartley has been playing the back-up and putting the kids in all situations. Sarich played over 23 minutes last night. The Flames have done the things teams do down the stretch when they don't care about winning. But at the same time, Hartley is still going to push the kids to play hard because that is all that they have left to do in this season. The teams coming in here have all been in play-off battles and they're getting out worked by a bunch of young kids. I don't know, I don't see how the Flames are screwing this up. If they come together and win games now, all we can do is cheer them on and hope that this is the beginning of a new culture in Calgary. And frankly, after watching Iginla and co choke down the stretch year after year, it's kind of refreshing seeing some wins when teams are playing desperate hockey down the stretch.

And as for Howard gifting the win, this is true, but the Flames still played well. They didn't dominate the game, but Detroit didn't either. Detroit never had sustained pressure. You got to give some credit to these guys. They are playing like a team right now.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by nik-

I don't understand this "culture of losing" crap. We ARE losing on a season by season scale. How is losing at the end of a season going to create a culture of losing if four #### seasons hasn't ... and probably the next three seasons added to that.

Culture of losing is a great narrative that has nothing to support it. You are correct about the Flames recent history. Add in the history since the '89 cup and you have the definition of a culture of losing. When you have players, like the ex-captain, who were perennial slow starters and sporadic poor finishers, and fans and management considered that okay, that is by definition a culture of losing. I don't see how losing nothing games at the end of season is fostering a culture of losing, while being okay with the losing of games that actually mattered at the start of the season were okay and excuses were found. Very confounding.

I thought this game was fate laughing in our faces. A worthless scrub like Steve Begin gets two gift goals on misplays by a goaltender and we end up winning a game we should have lost, and need to lose. This win just moved us from drafting 3rd to drafting 6th. That is losing a shot at a franchise level player for a kid with top six potential. That just makes me sick to think about.

We may have won this meaningless battle, but we took another step last night to losing the war.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by moon

I have watched him, I just haven't been overly impressed.

Please just shut up! You could have watched Gretzky or Lemieux during their prime in Flames jersey and not come away overly impressed. You never have been, nor will ever be, impressed by anyone who wears a Flames jersey. Stop trying to give the impression you are objective, because you are not.

[debil]

Well...great. We don't even have top5 pick now.