[News] Flames recall Klapka and Barrie

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Don't think anyone is arguing that.

Just saying there are two problems that together need a lifting presence.

I don't think the young token AHL plug in can do it.

I don't either, but I'm not arguing that. I am (and have been for a while) arguing that they desperately need to upgrade on Rooney.

They need another C, and then some of the other pieces will fall into place

[Karl]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

I wonder if something is nagging Rooney. Though he only played 33 games last season, he looked good overall - much better than expected. This year he gets hurt again, but has not looked even close to the form he was in last season. I think it is certainly arguable how bad he really has been, but really hasn't seemed to be a player doing a lot of positives out there either, but he did so last season.

Hopefully he can find his game again, as that 4th line really seemed to have lost whatever it had early on this season when it was looking like a great line.

I highly doubt it. I think this is just what Rooney is. No good.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

I don't either, but I'm not arguing that. I am (and have been for a while) arguing that they desperately need to upgrade on Rooney.

Agreed, he'd be the target.

But it's not in the AHL if they leave Lomberg on the fourth line.

[Karl]

To me Lomberg should be a part time player (Maybe only 50% of games played the rest of the way if that).

Rooney has no business being on any NHL team at all anymore. Spengler Cup or CHL (Champions Hockey League) should be in the very, very near future for Roondawg.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I grabbed all the team's line for the year.

Eliminated all the top 9 lines.

Eliminated fourth lines with less than 20 minutes.

To me that's the way to go because Lomberg without Rooney is Lomberg with better players as well as it's Lomberg on the fourth line with equally poor players.

Whereas we don't see Rooney without anyone but fourth liners.

So that skews the data in my mind if you're looking for "blame".

I assigned all the forwards to two piles ... "fourth line" and "top nine". When you look at total ice time Lomberg has 100 more minutes with good players, and 14% more of his ice time with better players.

It's so tough for sure because they play most of their time together - but really Lomberg hasn't gotten that much time with better players away from Rooney outside of a couple combinations.

One thing I liked to look at was combinations where the wingers were the same but only Kirkland and Rooney flipped.

Lomberg - Kirkland - Coronato: 67.2% xGF. 3 GF - 0 GA

And you look at the same combo with Rooney instead of Kirkland...

Lomberg - Rooney - Coronato: 23.0% xGF. 0 GF - 1 GA

And the other combo was:

Lomberg - Kirkland - Klapka: 43.8% xGF. 1 GF - 0 GA

Lomberg - Rooney - Klapka: 14.7% xGF. 0 GF - 0 GA

So in both cases the lines were way less effective with Rooney. It's all small sample sizes so it's tough to get a lot of insight into this, but to me it's pretty clear that the biggest problem here is Rooney...with Lomberg still not really helping but don't think he hurts nearly as much.

Originally Posted by Bingo

Agreed, he'd be the target.

But it's not in the AHL if they leave Lomberg on the fourth line.

Well overall the only real center answers we might have in the AHL are Kerins and Morton...so not a lot of options regardless.

But Zary comes back and pushes Pelletier out of the top 9 then I feel like something like Pelletier - Kerins - Lomberg could maybe work. It's tough to say for sure.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Karl

To me Lomberg should be a part time player (Maybe only 50% of games played the rest of the way if that).

Rooney has no business being on any NHL team at all anymore. Spengler Cup or CHL (Champions Hockey League) should be in the very, very near future for Roondawg.

Lombo isn't sitting any time soon if ever. That dude is the literal heart of this team.

[Ba'alzamon]

To be fair, most of Lomberg's time away from Rooney is with Sharangovich as his C lol.

[Bingo]

Lomberg has had 20 or more minutes with all of;

Rooney
Kirkland
Duehr
Klapka
Coronato
Pelletier
Kuzmenko

Kadri
Backlund
Pospisil
Sharangovich
Mantha

Rooney has had 20 or more minutes with ...

Lomberg
Duehr
Kirkland
Pelletier
Kuzmenko

Lomberg with way more time with better forwards.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Karl

To me Lomberg should be a part time player (Maybe only 50% of games played the rest of the way if that).

Rooney has no business being on any NHL team at all anymore. Spengler Cup or CHL (Champions Hockey League) should be in the very, very near future for Roondawg.

poor take

[Karl]

Originally Posted by dino7c

poor take

Oh well. C'est la vie...

[gvitaly]

Paging Conroy, please call up one of our D prospects next time. *cough* Kuznetsov *cough*

[Buff]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

Paging Conroy, please call up one of our D prospects next time. *cough* Kuznetsov *cough*

Barrie had to come back up soon. He was down there on a conditioning stint and those are always very short.

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by Buff

Barrie had to come back up soon. He was down there on a conditioning stint and those are always very short.

Yeah I understand that. I'm pretty sure he agreed to go down for the 2 home games. I didn't think the Flames were going to make him ride buses in the AHL.

I just really like both Solo, and Kuzy for the Wranglers this year. Poirier is also coming back to his old pre injury self.

[FlamesAreOne]

Get Barrie some games damn it.

[dino7c]

Barrie looked dominant at the AHL level after not playing in a month...its still a pretty big gap. I am excited for some of the young dmen too but lets not get ahead of ourselves based on AHL play.

[Snuffleupagus]

Could be just one game for Klapka as Washington is the biggest team in the league.

[GioforPM]

Everyone loves Lomberg, but the plain fact is he's just as bad at hockey as Rooney, plus he doesn't play centre or PK.

There's no one to replace Rooney at centre right now. Kerins was just not good enough on the draw and like it or not, faceoffs are a big part of coach's decisions these days it seems. When Zary comes back Rooney is out I bet. You can have:

Huberdeau-Kadri-Pelletier
Coronato-Backlund-Coleman
Kuzmenko-Zary-Sharangovich
Lomberg/Hunt/Kerins/Strongren/Bishop-Pospisil-Klapka

Pelletier can replace Rooney on the PK.

[NegativeSpace]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Everyone loves Lomberg, but the plain fact is he's just as bad at hockey as Rooney, plus he doesn't play centre or PK.

There's no one to replace Rooney at centre right now. Kerins was just not good enough on the draw and like it or not, faceoffs are a big part of coach's decisions these days it seems. When Zary comes back Rooney is out I bet. You can have:

Huberdeau-Kadri-Pelletier
Coronato-Backlund-Coleman
Kuzmenko-Zary-Sharangovich
Lomberg/Hunt/Kerins/Strongren/Bishop-Pospisil-Klapka

Pelletier can replace Rooney on the PK.

Honestly, I think that they should start the PK with Backlund and Coronato and then move to Coleman and Pelletier. From there you can have Huberdeau and Kadri. Gives the option of both sides for the faceoff then another strong duo on the change and the last shift to a more offensive PK.

[Yanda]

Its too bad we lost Cole Schwindt on waivers in October, we likely wouldnt need to play Rooney if we didnt.

[Reggie Dunlop]

I thought they'd just Barrie that contract in the minors.