[News] Gaudreau will have surgery to repair fractured finger (out ~6 weeks)

[icarus]

Originally Posted by AcGold

So take the instigator.... unacceptable that he's been slashed pretty much every game. The reason being because the Flames allowed it.

Exactly, I'd rather be down Engelland a couple minutes than Johnny 4-6 weeks.

[GomerPile]

If I am in Flames management I would tread lightly. You may or may not believe in the Wideman conspiracy and the Flames being in the ref's doghouse. You also had Brouwer admit after the game that, "ya he does it to" with regards to slashing other teams best players hands.

I would just casually send a video of the multiple slashes and ask if that applies to:
Rule 61 – Slashing
61.1 Slashing - Slashing is the act of a player swinging his stick at an
opponent, whether contact is made or not. Non-aggressive stick contact to the pant or front of the shin pads, should not be penalized as slashing. Any forceful or powerful chop with the stick on an opponent’s body, the opponent’s stick, or on or near the opponent’s hands that, in the judgment of the Referee, is not an attempt to play the puck, shall be penalized as slashing.


Now, if I were coaching, I would just tell Johnny to have a couple 100 flex sticks to carry around the odd shift and retaliate himself, penalty or not. If he starts chopping guys with purpose and lets it be know that he, himself, will not stand for it. It may either get penalties, start getting called both ways, and slow down chopping in general. This is probably the reason I am not a coach in any major hockey leagues.

[gargamel]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Since it was also posted way earlier in the thread, it is. What should he have said?

"We're gonna get Staal" (get ready for the suspension).
"The refs are blind" (like the Flames don't already have enough of a problem with the officials).
"The refs are out to get us" (see all of the above).
"We're screwed if Johnny is taken out" (that oughtta play well for the team's morale).

I think he's playing it like "Johnny's out, we have to deal with it". And leaving it to management to deal with the larger issue.

His salary is based in part on the idea that he's a great captain. If he isn't going to show leadership on the ice with regards to his teammate getting slashed repeatedly, he needs to be willing to give up some of that salary by taking a fine if that's what it comes to. I'll give him a pass if he's following direct orders from the coach (which is very possible), but otherwise, that's pretty disappointing.

[burn_this_city]

They're arguing about this on the Fan on the way home. Wills believes there should be a suspension if you injury a guy with a slash on the hands. Pat and Will think it's part of the game.

From my perspective the league wants to protect sticks more than players hands. You rarely see a slash called for anything other than a broken stick.

[burn_baby_burn]

Slashing is part of the game? Since when? Enforce the rules NHL.

[Murph]

So who are we calling up?

[Bandwagon In Flames]

Honestly some oiler fans have been classless trash and we already knew that. It's the same narrative on r/hockey. Everyone is up in arms about this incident and even lots of oiler fans are outraged because they feel the same thing is happening to McDavid right now.

But there is a subset of oiler fans which are always vocal and make themselves and their fellow fans look like complete losers. This isn't a typical rivalry you see across the NHL. The oilers are special in every sense of the word.

I really don't think the NHL can ignore this. That's a good thing, but obviously it's really unfortunate Johnny was the one who had to take the bullet for this.

[DJones]

What he says to the media is probably way different than what he tells the team

[flamesfan1297]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

From my perspective the league wants to protect sticks more than players hands. You rarely see a slash called for anything other than a broken stick.

With the price of sticks nowadays can you blame them?

[Tbull8]

Originally Posted by gargamel

His salary is based in part on the idea that he's a great captain. If he isn't going to show leadership on the ice with regards to his teammate getting slashed repeatedly, he needs to be willing to give up some of that salary by taking a fine if that's what it comes to. I'll give him a pass if he's following direct orders from the coach (which is very possible), but otherwise, that's pretty disappointing.

Not sure how him being suspended and fined would help the team in any way. I don't really care what any player on the team says, the only way to make things better is to go out and be tough to play against. The team rallied when Gio went down and made a push for the playoffs, let's hope someone steps up now. Bennett maybe?

[UnitedFlames]

I'm sorry this has happened to Johnny. The refs need to starting calling it. But .... they're not going to be able to see everything, and to expect Engelland or some other Flame to skate around protecting Johnny like a school yard bully protector is crazy.

I agree with this:

Originally Posted by GomerPile

Now, if I were coaching, I would just tell Johnny to have a couple 100 flex sticks to carry around the odd shift and retaliate himself, penalty or not. If he starts chopping guys with purpose and lets it be know that he, himself, will not stand for it. It may either get penalties, start getting called both ways, and slow down chopping in general. This is probably the reason I am not a coach in any major hockey leagues.

The fans treat Johnny as if he's a child. he's not. He's playing a man's game for man's money. He's going to have to start sticking up for himself.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by DJones

What he says to the media is probably way different than what he tells the team

And is no doubt what the players are telling the league.

But watching all of the interviews on That's Hockey, every Flame player interviewed said basically the same things. It's pretty clear they've been told not to throw fire and brimstone out in the media.

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by GomerPile

Now, if I were coaching, I would just tell Johnny to have a couple 100 flex sticks to carry around the odd shift and retaliate himself, penalty or not. If he starts chopping guys with purpose and lets it be know that he, himself, will not stand for it. It may either get penalties, start getting called both ways, and slow down chopping in general. This is probably the reason I am not a coach in any major hockey leagues.

Or it may make Gaudreau an even bigger target. If a guy like Burrows knows that Gaudreau will lose his mind, he will chop Johnny even more to try to goad him into penalties. Burrows will be better at getting away with it than Gaudreau as well because Burrows has been slashing guys his entire life.

The only real answer is for the league to Crack down on it but there doesn't seem to be any interest in it.

[Enoch Root]

lol at Giordano being criticized for being honest (and as Resolute said, was possibly told to keep it down).

All he said was there isn't much you can do about it, which is true.

The way you deal with it is out on the ice, not squawking to the media. And there is lots of time to deal with it on the ice.

[Enoch Root]

Yeah, the only way things get better is if the league decides it wants to crack down on this kind of thing. And there is nothing to suggest that they do.

IMO, the biggest problem that the league faces is with the quality of the officiating. And I have absolutely no doubt that these are the best refs on the planet. The problem is that it is their mandate to manage the game, instead of officiate infractions.

I believe a penalty should be a penalty every time - first period, OT, first time, 20th time. It's a penalty or it isn't.

Officiating to manage the flow of the game is ruining the game. And the irony is that the game already has more competitive balance than it ever has. Teams are really evenly matched now, with the salary cap. Let them play.

And if a team takes 20 penalties and loses a game 10-0, so what? The occasional blow out never hurt anyone. It's a long season.

[Erick Estrada]

There's a fine line between being vocal about concerns and total whiners like the Canucks were under Gillis. If you go the route of the Canucks you run the risk of alienating your team from the rest of the league and receive no favours from the NHL. We have seen Crosby take some dirty head shots leading to concussions and plenty of other star players go down over the years so it's one of those things all fan bases have to accept in a contact sport. Now that doesn't mean the Flames can't voice their concerns to the league and send them tape but you don't want to become "that team" that expects major changes just because your star player got hurt.

[Flash Walken]

Hockey player interviews are about as interesting and informative as navel lint.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

Or it may make Gaudreau an even bigger target. If a guy like Burrows knows that Gaudreau will lose his mind, he will chop Johnny even more to try to goad him into penalties. Burrows will be better at getting away with it than Gaudreau as well because Burrows has been slashing guys his entire life.

The only real answer is for the league to Crack down on it but there doesn't seem to be any interest in it.

Guys like Burrows are the problem created by the lack of NHL balls to enforce the rules and to take away the ability of self police.

Gutless idiots who have been taught that they can go over the line cheap shot and hide behind the rules and bad officiating.

I tend to think that the first time that his actions and style of play lead to him drinking food through a straw for 6 weeks or watching someone drive his star player through the boards that kind of play would stop.

The best solution would be for the refs to actually call the rules and penalize idiots like him out of the game.

I also tend to think that a system of retroactive penalties using replay might be in order.

How would the Wild feel if they started the game killing 10 minutes of 5-3 at the start of the next game against the Flames because of the slashes from their previous game against the Flames.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I will wait to pass judgement on what Giordano told the media until I see the next game vs the Wild. I am not expecting fights or slashes back, but I would expect a much more gritty, hard-nosed and emotional game out of the Flames. That is what I want to see as a response, and it is something I would expect to see.

[hockey.modern]

News Update

Elliotte Friedman on Hockey Central: "They're mad, Glen Gulutzan was very calm and respectful but behind the scenes, the rest of the organization is furious."

https://streamable.com/v9sr