Your rankings also don't reflect a team that's worst in the league. 13 players either a A or B don't reflect one of the worst teams in the NHL especially when they are mostly our top guys.
Does anyone other than A Flames fan really think Monahan has been an A- this year? He's been good but A's are for players who are great imo and Monahan has had way too many off nights for him to be considered an A.
I went back and forth on Monahan's grade for a while, but in the end he's still so young and learning to play against the top competition from other teams. Most nights he does all the little things right, but they're not sexy things, so it goes unnoticed. Pretty hard for him to play center with two smaller wingers in Gaudreau and Hudler all year. Most of the defensive zone responsibility falls on him.
I thought of it this way. If his numbers are roughly comparable to last year when we all thought he had an A or A+ campaign, is it really fair to drop him a letter grade just because the rest of the team had horrible years?
To me, the problem this year hasn't been our best players, it's been the supporting cast. It simply hasn't been effective all year long save for Backlund and Frolik. Throw in awful goaltending and you have a recipe for a team having a terrible year even though they have some very good players.
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Your rankings also don't reflect a team that's worst in the league. 13 players either a A or B don't reflect one of the worst teams in the NHL especially when they are mostly our top guys.
Does anyone other than A Flames fan really think Monahan has been an A- this year? He's been good but A's are for players who are great imo and Monahan has had way too many off nights for him to be considered an A.
Well some of the guys with a B+/- are guys who can't be fairly graded, such as Hathaway and Nakladal. They've played well in their roles. Most of the guys given a B+/- grade or better were our best players in their respective position:
Gaudreau A+ (our best forward)
Brodie A (our best defensemen)
Giodano B- (our second best defensemen)
Hamilton B- (Came into a new locker room cold, but turned it around)
Nakladal B+ (Fantastic performance in his role)
Monahan B+ (25 goal scorer at 21 years old)
Frolik B+ (Came into a new locker room and provided secondary scoring)
Backlund B+ (Career year)
I don't think you can blame these guys for the Flames being in their position. All the Cs, Ds, and Fs are the reason. The guys with good grades are the reason the Flames were only a few points out of a playoff spot just before the deadline.
Gaudreau A+
Brodie A
Giodano B-
Hamilton B-
Engelland C+
Jokipakka C
Nakladal B+
Monahan B+
Bennett C+
Frolik B+
Backlund B+
Bollig D-
Raymond F
Colborne C-
Jones D
Wideman D-
Russel C-
Hathaway C+
Jooris C-
Granlund C-
Hudler C
Bouma C-
Ferland C
Ortio C
Hiller Z
Ramo C
Ok this is my list. It disappeared for a while but now it's showing again.
Well some of the guys with a B+/- are guys who can't be fairly graded, such as Hathaway and Nakladal. They've played well in their roles. Most of the guys given a B+/- grade or better were our best players in their respective position:
Gaudreau A+ (our best forward)
Brodie A (our best defensemen)
Giodano B- (our second best defensemen)
Hamilton B- (Came into a new locker room cold, but turned it around)
Nakladal B+ (Fantastic performance in his role)
Monahan B+ (25 goal scorer at 21 years old)
Frolik B+ (Came into a new locker room and provided secondary scoring)
Backlund B+ (Career year)
I don't think you can blame these guys for the Flames being in their position. All the Cs, Ds, and Fs are the reason. The guys with good grades are the reason the Flames were only a few points out of a playoff spot just before the deadline.
I agree with whose guys. You originally had Monahan at A- which I disagree with. He's still young and learning and there have been bumps in the road which is to be expected. I had him as a B+ as well.
Very rare you see goals like this. I remember when Iginla would do one of these every now and then. Glencross use to get some snap shots in from the rush too.
I appreciate the rankings but there are definitely a few generous grades.
Hudler was a C- at best if you ask me. Played like a guy who didn't want to get injured so he could pick it up in the last quarter of the season to get paid.
Jooris is a D for dud this season. Not the same player after his adrenaline filled entrance into the NHL. Guy can't produce without Gaudreau/Monahan on his line and doesn't have the same jump he did last season.
Smid is a D as well. He's too beat up to play his game and needs to retire. Couldn't stay in the line-up at any point in the season.
Bollig gets an F. He's been terrible at everything this season and hasn't been protecting our players nearly enough.
I'm torn on Ramo, but with his inconsistent play and the all-round messiness in the back-end this season, none of our goalies deserve anything above a C.
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Very rare you see goals like this. I remember when Iginla would do one of these every now and then. Glencross use to get some snap shots in from the rush too.
Gaudreau A+
Brodie A
Giodano B-
Hamilton B-
Engelland C+
Jokipakka C
Nakladal B+
Monahan B+
Bennett C+
Frolik B+
Backlund B+
Bollig D-
Raymond F
Colborne C-
Jones D
Wideman D-
Russel C-
Hathaway C+
Jooris C-
Granlund C-
Hudler C
Bouma C-
Ferland C
Ortio C
Hiller Z
Ramo C.
There is more of a gap between Giordano and Engelland than a single step down imo. I'd likely slightly lower grades for Hamilton, Hudler, Jooris, Bouma and maybe Jones. Slightly higher for Colborne and Russel.
I'm not sold on Ortio and Ramo getting average grades either. C-
I appreciate the rankings but there are definitely a few generous grades.
Hudler was a C- at best if you ask me. Played like a guy who didn't want to get injured so he could pick it up in the last quarter of the season to get paid.
Jooris is a D for dud this season. Not the same player after his adrenaline filled entrance into the NHL. Guy can't produce without Gaudreau/Monahan on his line and doesn't have the same jump he did last season.
Smid is a D as well. He's too beat up to play his game and needs to retire. Couldn't stay in the line-up at any point in the season.
Bollig gets an F. He's been terrible at everything this season and hasn't been protecting our players nearly enough.
I'm torn on Ramo, but with his inconsistent play and the all-round messiness in the back-end this season, none of our goalies deserve anything above a C.
Hudler has arguably been worse in Florida than he was in Calgary. I do not think for one second that he intentionally dogged for some weird contract strategy. He was battling a nagging groin for most of the year, so his quickness was affected.
Jooris has nothing but ''jump" to his game. He's been sunk by a terrible shooting percentage at just 5.3% which was markedly down from his 13.5% last year. It's not like he hasn't hustled, and it's not like he's significantly worse than he was last year, but I will grant you he hasn't been as effective, hence the poor grade.
When healthy, Smid was a very effective bottom pairing d-man who played with lots of jump. He battled harder any given night than any other player. If his body can't hack it anymore that's another thing, but he still contributed in a solid way. I don't think he deserves to be ripped for having his body break down.
Bollig played a safe and solid game in his limited 4th line minutes. He still has by far the most penalty minutes on the team, but yes, I wish he would have mixed it up a little more. Unfortunately, referees knew what he was out there to do and were looking to make a call on him early on. He didn't want to put his team short-handed, so he adapted his game to what was happening. Sucks for someone like Bollig, who has just one purpose, and the referees were preemptively punishing him for merely the assumed intention.
Again, I'm not being overly generous with anyone. Players have different roles to fill, so expectations need to be adjusted accordingly. I can't possibly analyze Bollig the same as I would Gaudreau.
I also don't really want to defend my choices all night, as there will always be people who see things more positively and more negatively. I'm just trying to be as neutral as I can be when writing.
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"You know, that's kinda why I came here, to show that I don't suck that much" ~ Devin Cooley, Professional Goaltender
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Hey Cali please don't take any comments too negatively
I am sure we all appreciate your rankings. I know I do.
they generate discussion at a much needed time. That's all this is - discussion.
Thanks for your posts
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There is more of a gap between Giordano and Engelland than a single step down imo. I'd likely slightly lower grades for Hamilton, Hudler, Jooris, Bouma and maybe Jones. Slightly higher for Colborne and Russel.
I'm not sold on Ortio and Ramo getting average grades either. C-
