Is it just me or do the look stronger along the boards this year? More hungry for the puck and ready to fight hard in the corners? Top line especially just looks so much stronger (especially Gaudreau) than I remember and sometimes they just look like they plain want the puck more than the other guys. Maybe a combination of off season training and playoff experience?
One day the Flames should have an "around the league" report where players read these posts about themselves from rival fans ala Celebrities Read Mean Tweets. Would be gut-busting hilarious I think. Imagine Hudler!
Sort of like "why doesn't someone hit the sedans?" Slippery, talented skaters with high iq are hard to just crush.
Funny to me that of all the fan bases its the Canuck fans saying this, when they've had 2 slippery players that other teams have issues catching with big hits, for years.
Serious tunnel vision.
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Gaudreau gave a pretty good slash of his own to Sutter last night. He's not going to outmuscle anyone, but he doesn't need much space and he'll make just enough of his own.
Yeah I noticed this and also in the home opener as well. Johnny is definitely not above giving some of his abusers a dose of lumber. I think on Wednesday he slashed someone so hard that their glove came flying off and the ref didn't notice or care. Maybe he's been hanging around Sam a lot, lol.
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Its funny that the Canucks fans were wondering why nobody has laid out Johnny gaudreau yet as he is too shifty to get laid out
Also, I think the opposition are aware that in order to neutralize Johnny's super fast, shifty moves, there is a strong risk of taking a penalty. I think this may have some bearing on their tendency to give him more room.
I know this is getting beaten to death, but can we please get Brandon Bollig to take a damn seat in the press box? Can we also please stop sending Mikael Backlund to the doghouse at completely random times? Bouma Backlund Jones, Ferland Stajan Jooris. How hard can it be? I mean, really? I'm so fed up with 6-7 minutes of Bollig being a damn boat anchor when we could actually roll four pretty good lines. Please make this happen versus the Blues Bob. Bouma Backlund Bollig as a line should never ever hit the ice again.
I'm with you brother. Brace yourself though for some serious slagging from other posters though.
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Also, I think the opposition are aware that in order to neutralize Johnny's super fast, shifty moves, there is a strong risk of taking a penalty. I think this may have some bearing on their tendency to give him more room.
Not to mention, part of Johnny's strategy is inviting people close to him and then he spins off of them leaving them out of position and hes gone.
Hartley once said that trying to hit Johnny was like trying to hug a cloud.
Back from the game, great one to be at! Here's my random musings:
- Bollig looked craptacular..
- Wideman has to stop taking penalties, also play with some urgency in 3 on 3 (redeemed himself at the end)
- Johnny was awesome!
- Our 3rd period was excellent but the 2nd had me worried big time.
- Hamilton looking a little hesitant in the D zone, hope he sorts that out.
- Baertschi didn't look too bad to me, but it's only on the PP I think.
- Horvat is looking pretty good unfortunately (still not Monahan level)
- Free beer night for home opener was pretty cool (even though it was Budweiser)
- Ferland was looking decent for me, was always cheering him on to make the hits
- Bennett looking decent, hope he has a big breakout game soon!
- Engelland was crap again, Kulak looking good though
- Backlund and Stajan not doing much yet
- Bring in Jooris for Bollig please
- Raymond looked pretty good in first half of the game, then faded off
- Loved the 3 on 3! Got to see flames first ever 3 on 3 live, pretty cool
Johnny will be top 5 in points one day, maybe this year. May even lead the league once Crosby and Kane slow down. He has the best vision and hands I've ever seen plus he's ridiculously tenacious.
He has no fear whatsoever, in situations where other elite players would get hit or turnover the puck Johhny pulls defenders out of position and creates scoring chances. A Canuck took a shot at him and he slashed the guy back hard.
For such a little guy to play so fearlessly is nearly unheard of, I couldn't believe the smallest guy on the team was getting chippy. He's got that edge Fleury had, not as fast but way better hands and vision. We seriously have a superstar in the making here. He's got the perfect combination of insanse discipline, confidence and humility.
Just a no good side note, this game was not sold out. It was only a couple hundred short but that is a pretty scary indication for ownership as Canadian city home openers are a guaranteed sell out, typically.
I bet if they get off to a ho hum or worse start we'll see a very visual decline in attendance at Roger's arena.
Did anyone see how awesome Baertschi was last night? No? Me neither.
I thought in the last 2 years (and even since the trade until today), Baertschi has been a very polarizing prospect for posters here. I was curious to see if that is the case thus far. Here is what I came up with.
NSFW!
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Virtanen deserves a chance to play over Vrbata or Baertschi win or lose
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Baertschi is so useless
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baertschi is so weak
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Why is Baertschi in our top 6? What has he done to earn that?
Apparently, they like calling him Bae.
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"Bae" is Raymond-lite.
Responses to the above -
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He was acquired by the new regime. That's how he earned it
,
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Gotten traded for a 2nd
,
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bae has done nothing all game
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baertschi been super disappointing. just invisible honestly. he made a good defensive play here and there, but pretty lackluster throughout.
Baertschi makes a top 3 list!
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3 duds tonight:
1st dud Sbisa
2nd dud Bart & Baert
3rd dud Vrbata
Oops.. This one isn't about Baertschi
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Seriously though, Gaudreau is a hell of a hockey player.
Calling for a younger prospect to replace Baertschi
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Virtanen should draw in for one of Baertschi or Cracknell next game. Baertschi hasn't been particularly effective outside of the PP
Yep, polarizing the fanbase with the flash and lack of substance.
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Gotta disagree. He made some slick passes out there and was better defensively. Could've been better but you can see the effort, it's not like he's lazy or anything
The Good, the Bad and the (ugly) rest:
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The Bad Baertschi - Not even looking like an NHL player. Why is he in our top 6? Cut him and dress Virtanen.
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poor horvat being weighed down with anchors. vrbata and bae just literally doing nothing on his line. bo literally creates everything himself, plays the boards by himself..
terrible.
Not such a bad comment, but something we have witnessed lots of - Baertschi is terrible on the boards and loses puck-battles all day.
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We need to get Vrbata away from Baerstchi. They're both to weak on the boards.
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Agree that Sven has made some decent passes thus far but beyond that hasn't provided much.
Someone (sort of) sticking up for Baertschi
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Baertschi made some good offensive plays, surprisingly good defensive plays and he wasn't lazy. Could have been more effective. Was gonna put him in the good but felt his play dropped in the 3rd and he made some not so good decisions with the puck.
In response to inserting Virtanen the next game, this poster feels Sven should be lumped-in with Prust or Crackness, but Dorsett is more important.
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Prust, cracknell, or sven. Dorsett is more useful
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Baertschi - another no show. Did nothing of consequence. On the perimeter and weak on the puck.
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Also, Baertschi and Vrbata did bugger all today.
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Take out Baertschi, put in Virtanen and put Vrbata with the Sedins.
I like Baertschi - sometimes. Really hate those Baertschisss though.
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Liked Baertschi like 3 times but hated them the rest of the time
Someone blaming Baertschi's shortcomings on Vrbata. Yes, everyone BUT Baertschi, and the coach is using him all wrong. Sound familiar?
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Willie is a stubborn mule. something like, "Maybe we'll get the kid line together again later, but I want to see Vrbata with Horvat." What more does he need to see? Put the kids back together and you will see Baert reappear. Bo needs the Virt fore checking/board help. Baert is a playmaker and that can't happen with Vrbata floating around and Bo left to do all the work. They didn't put up 10 points for nothing and I don't care if it was against the Children of Mary. They worked brilliantly together. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize it's worth a shot.
Someone agreeing with the above.
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So much this. No idea why it was only given one game.
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VR-BAE-TA - Awful again. Baertschi's performance was the more feeble, Vrbata's more frustrating given his veteran status. So many bad angle hoper shots. Both of them seem completely out of sync with Horvat, who is busting his hump up and down the ice but generating nothing because he's lining up alongside two shadows.
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Need a nickname for Sven-Bo-Vrby. Ghosts in the Machine?
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Ghosts and the Machine, you mean. Hope Baertschi gets going. Would be nice if he turned into a player, obviously.
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Vrby and Sven need to **** off and not be with Bo. Holding him back. Not impressed with Sven in the slightest. Vrby...going through the motions.
Horvat cares. More then his two linemates combined.
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Well for one, you can't have two players not interested in playing hockey when one is the heart and soul of this team. Hopefully Vrby can string together a decent first half so we can ship him out at the deadline. Sven is gifted a spot, so we just gotta work with him.
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I actually think Baertschi has been decent and shown some promise but that line needs a revamp. Hansen or Virtanen need to replace Vrbata on that line. I, however, don't want to see Vrbata with the Sedin's again, I think it ran pretty stale last season.
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Second line - Baertschi was really bad. Vrbata was also bad. I think a lot of it was line chemistry though. They all had their legs going, but none of them were on the same page as Horvat. Horvat was Horvat.
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Get Vrbata and Baertschi off the team. They're both useless. Baertschi is invisible,
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Baertschi looks soft and should be pulled out of the lineup
Baertschi may or may not become a good NHL'er. Regardless of what the Flames received back in that trade, or if it was 'won' or 'lost', is almost irrelevant to me. Personally, I am just glad that he is no longer a polarizing presence in the Flames' organization. Kid has some unreal skill, but he also has some huge holes that just aren't being filled-in.
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Just a no good side note, this game was not sold out. It was only a couple hundred short but that is a pretty scary indication for ownership as Canadian city home openers are a guaranteed sell out, typically.
I bet if they get off to a ho hum or worse start we'll see a very visual decline in attendance at Roger's arena.
Though, not the greatest idea (for either team) to have a BC Lions game next door the same night, starting at the exact same time.
The NHL sked comes out after the CFL season has started. There was just under 20K at BC place (which is below average as well for the season) just 400m away from the hockey game.
