Should Kylington be getting more playing time?

[kyuss275]

Now that we are out go ahead. That said I rather they put in Mackay first.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by EVERLAST

I don't wanna see it turn into a situation like it did with Kulak. He ended up a pretty d man after all.

Sure but looks aren’t everything.

[timbit]

Three coaches and 3 seasons ago, the Flames put up their second best regular season in team history...2nd best in the NHL, led the Campbell Conference.

With the exception of Brodie and Smith...it is basically the same core. Yes, Gio has slipped some, age related. What is the excuse for the rest of the core?

Very disappointing season.

They’ve dropped off like an anchor.

Is it really coaching and management?

Most businesses/ corporations place the most accountability on their top paid people.

I guess guaranteed contracts leave accountability aside.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

It's the same reason as Bennett in the past.


They've "pre-selected" their guys (Hanifin+Valimaki / Monahan+Backlund) and don't really employ a meritocracy.

Darryl Sutter basically admitted as such previously, saying that "there's nothing Kylington's doing wrong, but we're just playing ".

Valimaki/Hanifin are better players

[Harry Lime]

Kylington is comfortable on the right side, playing off-wing like Brodie.

I don't remember Sutter ever caring about righty/lefty, but wouldn't the player that outperformed be Stone? Also, it might be a case of not wanting two rookies on one pairing, which makes a Valimaki/Kylington pairing difficult.

Things could change if the Flames are mathematically eliminated.

[heep223]

No. He hasn’t been good. Every organization has Kylingtons. Even if he played well he wouldn’t move the needle. Keep developing him and cross our fingers.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by timbit

Three coaches and 3 seasons ago, the Flames put up their second best regular season in team history...2nd best in the NHL, led the Campbell Conference.

With the exception of Brodie and Smith...it is basically the same core. Yes, Gio has slipped some, age related. What is the excuse for the rest of the core?

Very disappointing season.

They’ve dropped off like an anchor.

Is it really coaching and management?

Most businesses/ corporations place the most accountability on their top paid people.

I guess guaranteed contracts leave accountability aside.

I do think sometimes we under estimate the value of a star player and the impact they have on everyone. I truly believe a big reason for the slip is because Gio was really that good. His nearly ppg pace and great 2 way play elevated everyone on the team.

If we could just get a star and not give up anyone on our core and make the cap work I could see these guys returning to form. But that type of player isn’t available and if we did get one the cap won’t work without moving guys out. Then you have to factor in this team was short of being a contender with a Norris Gio. We need to draft a star and it’s the only solution. But I do think some of these guys are very good players and I wouldn’t be surprised if we traded some that we see more Sam Bennett scenarios play out and they excel elsewhere

That’s why I’m ok with Sam tearing it up as maybe other teams want in on this action and our guys could be the missing piece

[DoubleK]

No. He's had chances and hasn't taken advantage. Probably could benefit from a change of scenery similar to Bennett.

[Poe969]

NO, he has to earn it! So until he has at least 2 solid games, he's not getting into any games!

There's no way these "kids" should just given ice time over proven vets like Nesterov! They trade picks and prospects like him every year, why should he be treated differently?!?!

[codynw]

No. He hasn’t been good. Every organization has Kylingtons. Even if he played well he wouldn’t move the needle. Keep developing him and cross our fingers.

At this point the only way to develop him is to play him. He's not developing in the press box.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Yes, he should. They miss Brodie, and Kylington is a Brodie clone.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by New Era

Yes, he should. They miss Brodie, and Kylington is a Brodie clone.

I don’t disagree that they need more offence from the back. It’s funny how Brodie isn’t that in Toronto though. 1 goal, 13 points. 4th place among their D. Obviously, Toronto needs something different out of him, and he’s changed his role.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Should Kylington be getting more playing time? Yes. For a few reasons:

1) Valimaki is getting playing time, and he has not looked any better most nights than Kylington, with plenty of mistakes being made. If the Flames are comfortable with Valimaki, they should be comfortable with Kylington.

2) Kylington has put in his time. He's spent several years in the organization working on some fundamentals in his game and has improved a lot from where he was drafted. He's still flawed, but I think he's NHL caliber at this point and deserves a spot.

3) Some players need to play in order to get more comfortable with decision making and flow of the game. To me, this is Kylington's biggest weakness, and it will never get any better watching from the pressbox. If he does get his decision making up to NHL speed, he could be an excellent PP quarterback/bottom 2 pair guy for the rest of his career.

I see a lot of Bennett in Kylington: Doesn't quite have the confidence to do what comes naturally to him because it's been coached out of him. I worry that a player like this will either never have the NHL career they could have had, or they will find a way to do it in a different organization.

I honestly believe the bottom pair should have been a rotation of Valimaki, Nesterov, and Kylington. I don't include Stone because he came out of nowhere to look like an NHL defenseman again, but the first 3 should have been the plan from the start.

[btimbit]

I haven't seen a lot from him, but, there's no reason not to try it and see what happens

[1qqaaz]

I guess I would rather see Connor Mackey since he might actually end up being a long term piece.

[shadowlord]

In last night's 4-1 loss to the Oilers, I saw Nesterov was on PP2. If I'm reading Natural Stat Trick correctly, he logged 1:43 of PP time in the game.

If Nesterov is our best option for PP2 while pushing to tie up the game, surely we can at least play Kylington in few games.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

I do think sometimes we under estimate the value of a star player and the impact they have on everyone. I truly believe a big reason for the slip is because Gio was really that good. His nearly ppg pace and great 2 way play elevated everyone on the team.

If we could just get a star and not give up anyone on our core and make the cap work I could see these guys returning to form. But that type of player isn’t available and if we did get one the cap won’t work without moving guys out. Then you have to factor in this team was short of being a contender with a Norris Gio. We need to draft a star and it’s the only solution. But I do think some of these guys are very good players and I wouldn’t be surprised if we traded some that we see more Sam Bennett scenarios play out and they excel elsewhere

That’s why I’m ok with Sam tearing it up as maybe other teams want in on this action and our guys could be the missing piece

This is a good post. Going from "Norris Gio" to "Top 4 Dman Gio" makes a big difference.

One star is a big deal. Imagine if we added a truly top tier RW. Something like Gaudrea-Lindholm-Prime Iginla would be a spectacular first line, and would have a huge impact on that lines production as well as the quality of competition faced by the other lines. Obviously Hart quality players don't grow on trees, but with the parity in the league a single player having a major trophy quality season makes a big difference.

[bigrangy]

Yes.

[ForeverFlameFan]

I don't understand why Valimaki gets a longer leash than Kylington.

Kylington deserves more than this organization is giving to him, and I guarantee that he is going to be a decent 4/5 when giving the opportunity to do so.

[Nelson]

I’ve heard great things about Mackey, and I’m glad the Flames have him. However, Kylington is 8 months younger, and he had a similar if not better AHL season in 18-19 compared to the AHL season that Mackey just had.

At the very least, I don’t see why they shouldn’t be given equal opportunities to earn a job.