The Flames need to put Chiasson into the press box and recall either Klimchuk or Jankowski and put them on the first line. Janko is a smart enough player that he can easily play the wing if necessary and Klimchuk has a good sniper's level shot. Either type of player is desperately missing from the first line. I think that a good portion of the problem with that line specifically is that they are not getting any help from the third guy on that line. It's easy to control the play if you only realistically have to cover two players.
Despite the goal today, Chiasson does not belong anywhere near a top line in the NHL. If he's actually the best option this team has huge problems.
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A few weeks after crashing head-first into the boards (denting his helmet and being unable to move for a little while) following a hit from behind by Bob Errey, the Calgary Flames player explains:
"I was like Christ, lying on my back, with my arms outstretched, crucified"
-- Frank Musil - Early January 1994
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Despite this team's bottom end depth, we somehow have a depth player in too many important roles at the top end, and they are dragging our non-perfect star players down instead of rounding them out.
#4 defenseman - Jyrki Jokipakka who would be a solid #6 with reduced minutes. He has too many mental errors that he can't skate well enough to recover from. I am convinced now more than ever that Kulak can play just as well in that role, while having the speed to cover for Hamilton's gaffes, and the offensive zone anticipation to extend zone time.
#1 PK defenseman - Deryk Engelland who has never had strong PK metrics yet somehow they keep thinking he is a strong penalty killer. Give Hamilton a shot at it, what's the worst that happens at this point? Is that not why we traded a 1st + two 2nds for a 6'5" defenseman? I sure hope it wasn't to be our bottom pair second unit power play specialist
#2 winger - Alex Chiasson who is no more than a 4th liner, and one with tunnel vision at that (has he even made a pass outside of the Sens game?). I am not saying you necessarily need a bonafide first-liner with them, but a player that can actually think with the top line would help. Ferland, for example. Or call up one more of the kids on the Farm, they all exude hockey sense.
#3 winger - Frolik is a sometimes effective player, but he IS a third liner. I have no doubt about it as he goes to his usual weak wristers out of the curls and button hooks that are non-threatening. He is benefiting from Backlund a lot more than Backlund is benefitting from him. I already see him as the third best player on that line, even if that line has been excellent for us.
Power Play Units - A lot more offense dies on Brouwer's stick than his supporters would ever admit. He's got a nice shot yes, but he is not a creator. He's basically Colborne replacement at double the cap hit. On the PP he's basically a Monahan clone except he is beyond redundant with Monahan on the same PP unit, resulting in both players struggling to find their own niche. Why not go back to some PP units that have actually looked good in the past (Tkachuk-Brouwer-Bennett-Backlund-Brodie I believe looked good during preseason, and Ferland-Gaudreau-Monahan-Hamilton-Giordano was pretty hot last year through January-on. Maybe swap Giordano and Backlund.)
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"May those who accept their fate find happiness. May those who defy it find glory."
Last edited by GranteedEV; 11-06-2016 at 11:13 PM.
Serious question, what's the record for shortest coaching tenure? I'm not talking about a Todd Nelson-esque interim head coach, I mean a legitimate hire brought in before a season. Wasn't Gulutzan canned in Dallas after like 110 games? That's not a whole lot.
I'm quite sure Al Coates was interim for around 60 games during the young guns heyday. IIRC he took over for Gilbert actually.
On a positive note, Tkachuk is becoming my new favourite player. He's such a dink, I love it. Last year I tuned in just to watch Gaudreau, this year it's Tkachuk.
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One coach being bad has no bearing on how bad or good the next one is.
I loved and hated Hartley. First he was very mediocre with a very mediocre team. He was the perfect coach for the beginning of the rebuild in the sense that there was identity and accountability ingrained in the players. His player selection and theories on the game were outdated and he was never going to take the team anywhere. Coaches like Babcock, Quenneville, Sullivan and Sutter understood that stretch pass and forwards breaking early may help you score a bunch of nice goals, but you'll lose more often than not. Hartley just flat out refused to look at the evidence with his own team. His player selection was also bizarre at times, but that was secondary.
As for Gulutzen, I'm not going to pretend I can figure out his "system", but he seems to want to experiment with everything. Tinker with one thing at a time, but to change the system, put a ####ty D with a good one and think that's sound strategy, while reinventing a powerplay, changing up a PK, etc is just dumb. All chemistry with D pairings is gone, Brodie gets switched out of the side he's played for 4 years, Wideman gets 20 minutes, Grossman over Kulak, etc, etc, etc
The experimentation is the biggest issue. He should have had a clue as to the d pairings from last years play. The line combinations should have been figured out in training camp. Experimenting with the season on the line is ridiculous.
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One coach being bad has no bearing on how bad or good the next one is.
I loved and hated Hartley. First he was very mediocre with a very mediocre team. He was the perfect coach for the beginning of the rebuild in the sense that there was identity and accountability ingrained in the players. His player selection and theories on the game were outdated and he was never going to take the team anywhere. Coaches like Babcock, Quenneville, Sullivan and Sutter understood that stretch pass and forwards breaking early may help you score a bunch of nice goals, but you'll lose more often than not. Hartley just flat out refused to look at the evidence with his own team. His player selection was also bizarre at times, but that was secondary.
As for Gulutzen, I'm not going to pretend I can figure out his "system", but he seems to want to experiment with everything. Tinker with one thing at a time, but to change the system, put a ####ty D with a good one and think that's sound strategy, while reinventing a powerplay, changing up a PK, etc is just dumb. All chemistry with D pairings is gone, Brodie gets switched out of the side he's played for 4 years, Wideman gets 20 minutes, Grossman over Kulak, etc, etc, etc
I completely understand. It's not mutually exclusive at all. At least Feaster honored his contracts though. This isn't any better than Hartley hockey, but his players owe him big for the career years they had. This glue gun "system" is beer league.
I don't think BT is out the door with GG. This is his first coaching hire. How many did Sutter get?
He may have not even been first or second choice. Maybe their guys didn't accept. Who knows. Yes firing Hartley is on him, but Hartley had to go. Another season would have been about the same as what you are seeing.
I think BT survives GG firing. He gets one more chance. He so far has screwed this up, and the goalie situation up last year, but he's done well elsewhere. You just have to look back to Feaster and realize this guy deserves one more shake.
Pittsburgh fired their coach and won the cup last year. There is still hope.
Lol, Pittsburgh has Crosby and Malkin. We have Backlund.
We're 28th in point%. Only Vancouver and Arizona below us. But you just know they'll start paying decently come February and get up to 20th or so. Mediocrity for another generation. While Edmonton gets gifted a superstar. So depressed right now, just listening to this on repeat,
contemplating selling tickets for the first time, maybe hopping on a US team bandwagon. Panthers maybe. Or following the KHL.
I completely understand. It's not mutually exclusive at all. At least Feaster honored his contracts though. This isn't any better than Hartley hockey, but his players owe him big for the career years they had. This glue gun "system" is beer league.
I'm not sure what you're referring to with honoring contracts?
But yeah, Hartley hockey was entertaining at least. Still wish we would've signed a good coach.
This team will be better with some confidence and a little stability if Gulutzen will ever give them some. They'll never make up this deficit though. Playoffs are done
He may have not even been first or second choice. Maybe their guys didn't accept. Who knows. Yes firing Hartley is on him, but Hartley had to go. Another season would have been about the same as what you are seeing.
Not too sure about that, I would have liked to see what Hartley could've done this year with Elliott and Johnson, instead of Ramo/Hiller/Ortio. The firing was premature IMO, should've given Hartley at least the start of the season.
Quote:
I think BT survives GG firing. He gets one more chance. He so far has screwed this up, and the goalie situation up last year, but he's done well elsewhere. You just have to look back to Feaster and realize this guy deserves one more shake.
The team Feaster assembled made the 2nd round of the playoffs, so far under Treliving they haven't even made the playoffs and its not looking good this year again. I really think Treliving is over-rated as a GM by a lot of people, his moves look great on paper but fail to deliver results on the ice.
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Bernier didn't steal this game. Flames out-shot the Ducks, but they didn't get as many high-quality chances. Johnson didn't lose us the game. Special teams suck, and that of course has an impact, but 5 on 5 they aren't winning either. They are simply putting more rubber at the net.
5 stars of the game:
Backlund
Frolik
Those two are always working hard.
Tkachuk
Bennett
Engelland
Simply for giving a crap and not allowing the Ducks to walk all over them.
This team is weak right now. They are pushovers out there. They seemingly have absolutely no swagger.
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Power Play, Penalty Killing is not working for this team right now. You cannot win every night if the special team is not clicking. Also not enough presence in front of the net. The only player I see that are willing to go in front of the net is an 18-year rookie Matthew Tkachuk. Our defense are not joining the rush as much and whenever the Flames getting to an offensive zone, they tend to try to be fancy in passing the puck way too much.
Both Monahan and Gaudreau are struggling right now. Gaudreau tends to just skating around in circle instead of skating to the net the way he used to. Monahan on the other hand is out of position a lot offensively. I don't think the Gaudreau-Monahan-Chiasson line is working right now. Too bad because I thought Chiasson can be the guy. Hopefully Gaudreau and Monahan start playing like the last few season soon or else Flames will have a tough time scoring. I think the best line so far this early season is the 2B(I still think they are the 3rd line) with Frolik-Backlund-Tkachuk/Ferland. Even the 4th line is outplaying our first two line. We need our first liner to be the best line pretty much every night.
I still think this team is capable of making the playoff if they cut down on a lot of turnovers and bad penalties. I still think we are way better than the Oilers(despite their records right now) and the Canucks.
The incredulity of same flames fans is pretty hysterical.
This team is basically exactly where it was the previous 4 years.
Without cheating defensively they don't have the offensive muscle to keep pace with the rest of the league and they aren't good enough defensively to shut things down when the going gets tough.
Maybe this team is exactly where it should be given they lost depth over the summer and replaced it with goaltending.
Instead of losing 6-2 at the honda centre it's a 4-1 loss.
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