[PGT] Flames lose third straight. Canucks 2, Flames 1 (SO)

[bigrangy]

Kulak was not a tire fire, which means he 100% deserves a spot in the lineup. He was a bit slow at reacting to some zone entries, but was able to catch up before they got dangerous.

[cofias]

Liked Kulak's game, well all our D played pretty well actually. Very mobile and in good position to recover from any unforeseen events. Hope these 6 stick for a while. Even Engelland has just been really solid so far this season.

[Roof-Daddy]

Kulak was pretty good from what I saw. Engelland seemed to have an off night, and I thought Kulak had to cover for his mistakes more than once and did a good job with it.

[polak]

I actually kinda like the idea of leaving Gio exposed in the expansion draft if this continues.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by polak

I actually kinda like the idea of leaving Gio exposed in the expansion draft if this continues.

So you'd feel good about going into the 2017/2018 season right now with a D of
Brodie
Hamilton
Kevin

And not much else?

That is god awful.

In what way would that be a sensible approach?

[jayswin]

nm

[FlamesNation23]

If the flames wantes to expose gio, why wouldnt they trade him instead? Just ridiculous

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by Dion

Porier has been a huge disappointment and only Klimchuk seems to be close. Compare that to our d men prospects on the farm and i'm willing to bet a few of them make this team before any our wingers.

Sure, I don't disagree. But what were your expectations? That every single draft pick works out? No organization has that occur, no matter how good. The cupboards were completely bare 3 years ago. I'm not saying this management team hasn't made any mistakes, but the fact that our expectations for this season are playoffs shows how ell they've done. Expecting that every gap we have should have been filled by now is not remotely realistic.

[automaton 3]

Kulak was decent, noticeably quicker than Grossman or Wideman.

Imo he should stay in the lineup.

[polak]

If he keeps playing like this? No question.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by FlamesNation23

If the flames wantes to expose gio, why wouldnt they trade him instead? Just ridiculous

Agreed, Gio isn't an asset you give up for nothing.

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Better learn to read a stat line, or stop making #### up. Either will do.

Well he was definitely a -1 when I checked last night. They must have edited it.

[SportsJunky]

Originally Posted by polak

If he keeps playing like this? No question.

Play like what? Giordano had a terrific game on D last night.

[csnarpy]

I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but is there any video for Hrudey's rant on the refs?

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Flames are starved for offense when they can't cheat all game on the defensive side of things.

Desperate for any kind of offensice finish on the bottom 6.

No kidding hey?

Only 8 goals in 3 games, which is a pace for 218 over the course of the season - way off the pace of 229 they had last year.

218 would have dropped them all the way to 16th last year (exactly middle of the pack).

/sarcasm

8 goals in 3 games with an absolutely invisible top line, and a team struggling to get on top of a new system.

You are barking up the wrong tree

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

I haven't seen many comments on Kulak's game in this thread.

What are everyone's thoughts? I had company over, so missed parts of the game.
I did notice 1 play that he botched and it resulted in a turnover, but he worked his bag off and actually recovered the puck back from the Nuck he turned it over to. Other than this, the kid just seemed to play a quiet, responsible game on the 3rd pairing, which is everything we could have asked for.

Kulak has to know that if he has just 1 bad game, he'll be back up to the press-box in favor of Wideman. For now though, the ball is in Kulak's court... Let's hope he doesn't give it back to Gulutzan.

My thoughts are that he noticeably struggled to adapt to the NHL speed of things for the first part of the game, but he had enough footspeed to make up for it. Once he got used to the pace and general player speed, he started to anticipate plays more and not be caught off-guard, but he still needs time and coaching. Give him 20 games and he'll blend right in as an NHL defenseman. He's got the tools to be an NHLer, it's just a matter of experience at this point.

As long as you can take some growing pains, it makes more sense to have Kulak play on the 3rd pair than it does for Grossmann or even Wideman to play. Even if we want offense from Wideman, I'm sure that Kulak can do as well or better if given the opportunity.

[MisterJoji]

Originally Posted by BigFlameDog

Exactly, if fans thought they were going to come out of the gates on fire and look like a power house they need their GD heads examined. They also didn't have their two best forwards for pretty much the entire preseason.



This is pretty much the start I expected although I thought a win in the home opener. Short flashes of what they will be and periods of hot garbage as they learn systems and teammates.



The flashes will get longer and the garbage shorter over the next couple of months but they were always going to have their work cut out for them to make the playoffs this year.....they weren't going to be a lock, put it that way.



They won't, but some need to chill the heck out.

No one expected them to be world beaters out of the gate but losing your first 3 games, in that fashion, against teams of that quality is worrisome. Johnny/Mony/Gio/Brodie/Hamilton have taken a lot of heat, some of it justified, some not. That said, there appears to be some gradual improvements. Johnny, Gio and Dougie looked somewhat better last night, but Brodie and Mony are still struggling bad and all 5 need to get better real quick. After Buffalo and Carolina (which we absolutely need to take one if not both) we have STL, CHI, STL, OTT, WAS, CHI, SJ, LA, ANA, DAL, NYR, and MIN. If they play those games as well as the last 3 we'll be out of the playoff race by mid-November. Our core needs to shake the rust off and the whole team needs to get a grasp on the new system fast. In all likelihood things should come together and they will improve but there's no denying that their current level of play is concerning and they have to dig themselves out of a mini-hole already.

[Roof-Daddy]

Changing up the right winger on the top line will do nothing.

Gaudreau and Monahan make that line tick, and until they get going it doesn't matter who the right winger is out of the guys we have to choose from.

Versteeg IMO will be just fine complimenting those guys once they shake the rust off and figure out the new system.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Changing up the right winger on the top line will do nothing.

Gaudreau and Monahan make that line tick, and until they get going it doesn't matter who the right winger is out of the guys we have to choose from.

Versteeg IMO will be just fine complimenting those guys once they shake the rust off and figure out the new system.

Exactly, Gaudreau even had two glorious chances that he just missed. Those go in and we'd talking about the top line is back.

And once we're talking about how the top line is back then people will be talking about Versteeg fits in perfectly and what a great, cheap signing it was.

[wired]

I have said it before.
The top players on the team were not even in training camp.
This is a major factor in the teams slow start.
0-4 to start the year.