[GDT] Preseason #7. Flames @ Jets 6pm MT. calgaryflames.com

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Wastedyouth

The team, not matter the lineup, hasn't looked good for most of the preseason.

Yep, it's preseason. It is by and large meaningless.

Exactly.

But there are two games left and the team looks a little lost. This is a team that needs to be firing on every cylinder if it wants to compete. And that starts in preseason.

It's not encouraging and i am a pretty positive fan.

This discussion happens every pre-season and as far as I can tell there has never really been a satisfactory resolution to the question of what constitutes a "good" or a "poor" pre-season for a NHL team. Some teams pretty frequently will dominate the pre-season only to look like garbage in the regular season, and to finish at the bottom of the standings. Just as often there are teams that play like crap in the pre-season—barely eaking out a win or two—and then go on to play like a top team once the regular season begins.

To be honest, I am not entirely sure that if "firing on every cylinder ... starts in pre-season," then what I am actually watching and processing from what is going on in pre-season games is providing any useful information about how far along a team is in the being ready. But I do trust that a coach like Darryl Sutter knows what he is doing, and will have the team as ready as they can be for when the season starts.

[PepsiFree]

Tampa and Colorado have looked pretty bad in preseason.

Boston and St. Louis have looked real pedestrian (similar to the Flames).

Edmonton, Arizona, and Seattle are near the top.

Does anyone honestly think these things hold?

Tampa went 2-3-2 in the 2019-20 preseason and went on to win the Cup. The last two times the Penguins won the cup they went 3-5-0 and 3-3-0.

These games don't mean anything. They're practice.

[SuperMatt18]

Big thing for the Flames this year is that it's a full week between their last pre-season game and their first regular season game...honestly that makes these games even less relevant than usual.

Sutter will have a full week of practice with only the 22/23 players that are on the full time roster to get this team together and into game form prior to opening night against the Oilers on the 16th.

[DeluxeMoustache]

So the preseason doesn’t matter or mean anything. Okay. Although they do use it to prepare for the season opener, no?

The first game of the year does count just as much as the other 81, though, and if I’m not mistaken, the last time they won one was in 2009.

[Toonage]

Do we expect the last cuts today?

[getbak]

Here are the current preseason "standings" (spoiler for size)...

Spoiler!

Best record in the league? Florida, 5-0-0. Next best? Tie, Edmonton and Columbus, 4-1-1; then Arizona, New Jersey, and Toronto, 4-1-0.

Worst record in the league? Tampa, 1-4-0. Next? Colorado, 1-3-0; then Washington and Buffalo, 1-3-1.

[Weitz]

Wins and losses don't matter. But I am sure coaches would tell you HOW a team plays is important to some extent.

[Toonage]

^ Very.

And the Flames starts must be giving Sutter fits.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Tampa and Colorado have looked pretty bad in preseason.

Boston and St. Louis have looked real pedestrian (similar to the Flames).

Edmonton, Arizona, and Seattle are near the top.

Does anyone honestly think these things hold?

Tampa went 2-3-2 in the 2019-20 preseason and went on to win the Cup. The last two times the Penguins won the cup they went 3-5-0 and 3-3-0.

These games don't mean anything. They're practice.

The NHL pre-season has got to be the biggest waste of time in all of sport with most significant players barely factoring into the equation until the final 2 games. Which begs the question - why exactly do we need to endure 8 pre-season games??

Turn 2 of these into intra-squad games and wipe another 2 completely. 4 meaningless "games" against your competition should be more than enough to evaluate and practice for the season with a week or two of training camp built in.

[Savvy27]

Preseasons shouldn't be considered as a whole anyways. The line ups are different every game, coaches are trying out new things, new players are getting used to systems, veterans and rookies are putting in varying levels of effort.

I think it's fair to look at individual players and how they have performed over 3+ games. Take Zadorov for example. He has struggled for the most part and even as a perpetually optimistic fan I think that having him slotted in the top 4 heading into the season is really troubling. Bad penalties almost every game, questionable positioning, absurdly terrible passing accuracy... it's been pretty bad and if he is simply able to flip a switch then I will be very surprised and impressed.

On the other hand there are more positives than negatives:
-Dube is flying out there, especially at C
-Mangiapane looks confident
-Tkachuk is making great plays and is scoring at an all star pace
-Gaudreau looks incredible
-Vladar has given us reason to believe he can be counted on
-Kylington looks like an NHL regular and his skill is downright impressive
-Lucic has been engaged and effective
Markstrom looks dialed in
-Tanev and Hanifin seem to have carried over their stellar play from last season

So for me, the preseason has been a qualified success despite the results. The extra week of practice may be a blessing in disguise in order to get the new players meshing in the system and get these shots against down.

Hopefully tomorrow's game is the one where everything clicks and they can prepare for Game 1 feeling confident and positive.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Wins and losses don't matter. But I am sure coaches would tell you HOW a team plays is important to some extent.

Definitely.

To an extent.

But what does the coach make of it when he plays his best players 30 minutes a night?

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

The NHL pre-season has got to be the biggest waste of time in all of sport with most significant players barely factoring into the equation until the final 2 games. Which begs the question - why exactly do we need to endure 8 pre-season games??

Turn 2 of these into intra-squad games and wipe another 2 completely. 4 meaningless "games" against your competition should be more than enough to evaluate and practice for the season with a week or two of training camp built in.

NFL

Just try not to get hurt

[djsFlames]

Its easy to be dissatisfied with preseason efforts and yet they're hardly ever indicative of what happens when the games start to matter.

Its a weird place to be in as a fan. Cause we could easily be eating our words in a week even if they go out with a whimper against the Jets.

[ricardodw]

It was hard to recognize Hanifin. Did he become that much slower?

He had a CF% of 28.57.


Where does Andersson fit in? Last night a CF% 35.71.

for the exhibition games

Player - GP - TOI - CF%
Christopher Tanev - 4 - 71 - 61.83
Oliver Kylington - 4 - 66 - 61.32
Connor Mackey - 2 - 28 - 46.15
Erik Gudbranson - 4 - 57 - 45.28
Nikita Zadorov - 5 - 81 - 43.38
Noah Hanifin - 2 - 37 - 41.67
Rasmus Andersson - 5 - 87 - 41.18
Michael Stone - 1 - 12 - 40.91
Juuso Valimaki - 2 - 30 - 39.22
Andy Welinski - 1 - 15 - 33.33

[Samonadreau]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

It was hard to recognize Hanifin. Did he become that much slower?

He had a CF% of 28.57.


Where does Andersson fit in? Last night a CF% 35.71.

for the exhibition games

Player - GP - TOI - CF%
Christopher Tanev - 4 - 71 - 61.83
Oliver Kylington - 4 - 66 - 61.32
Connor Mackey - 2 - 28 - 46.15
Erik Gudbranson - 4 - 57 - 45.28
Nikita Zadorov - 5 - 81 - 43.38
Noah Hanifin - 2 - 37 - 41.67
Rasmus Andersson - 5 - 87 - 41.18
Michael Stone - 1 - 12 - 40.91
Juuso Valimaki - 2 - 30 - 39.22
Andy Welinski - 1 - 15 - 33.33

I think you need to wait for a sample size in the regular season.

And Hanifin has something lingering which is why he has only played spot duty so far

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by Samonadreau

And Hanifin has something lingering which is why he has only played spot duty so far

Thanks ... He does not look ready.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

It was hard to recognize Hanifin. Did he become that much slower?

He had a CF% of 28.57.


Where does Andersson fit in? Last night a CF% 35.71.

for the exhibition games

Player - GP - TOI - CF%
Christopher Tanev - 4 - 71 - 61.83
Oliver Kylington - 4 - 66 - 61.32
Connor Mackey - 2 - 28 - 46.15
Erik Gudbranson - 4 - 57 - 45.28
Nikita Zadorov - 5 - 81 - 43.38
Noah Hanifin - 2 - 37 - 41.67
Rasmus Andersson - 5 - 87 - 41.18
Michael Stone - 1 - 12 - 40.91
Juuso Valimaki - 2 - 30 - 39.22
Andy Welinski - 1 - 15 - 33.33

Hanifin has played two games.

He was 66% xGF against the Oilers and 22% against Winnipeg.

Looked great in the Edmonton game, not as good in the second one.

Either way hardly the guy to pick on with only 36 minutes of ice time to date.

[djsFlames]

I've liked both Kylington and Mackey. Its too bad at least one will be buried in Stockton or the pressbox because stupid offseason signings.

Hanifin is coming in cold, I think he's earned some leeway
Not sure I like bringing him in so close to the season but eh..

Kylington needs to be our #4, Zadorov needs to be sheltered, Stone needs to be the mainstay on pairing 3, and Gudbranson needs to be used sparingly.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

It was hard to recognize Hanifin. Did he become that much slower?

He had a CF% of 28.57.


Where does Andersson fit in? Last night a CF% 35.71.

for the exhibition games

Player - GP - TOI - CF%
Christopher Tanev - 4 - 71 - 61.83
Oliver Kylington - 4 - 66 - 61.32
Connor Mackey - 2 - 28 - 46.15
Erik Gudbranson - 4 - 57 - 45.28
Nikita Zadorov - 5 - 81 - 43.38
Noah Hanifin - 2 - 37 - 41.67
Rasmus Andersson - 5 - 87 - 41.18
Michael Stone - 1 - 12 - 40.91
Juuso Valimaki - 2 - 30 - 39.22
Andy Welinski - 1 - 15 - 33.33

this guy and his cherry picking...he has played 2 games, both against full NHL rosters. One great, one poor...like the rest of the team

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Definitely.

To an extent.

But what does the coach make of it when he plays his best players 30 minutes a night?

Coach makes of it he still has zero depth despite being capped out for the next 5 years