What to do with T.J. Brodie...

[locsofblu]

Fire him..... out of a Canon directly at the Sun! But you know what will happen? Absolutely nothing cause GG is an inadequate coach and shouldn't even be in charge of a peewee team.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

I left this in the PGT, but I see this thread now:

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/ji...ut-being-a-gm/

Remember how good Brodie was 2 years ago? Really remember how good he was. Now, in your honest opinion, how much is that player worth on the trade market? 2 firsts?

I doubt many would have been happy to trade Brodie back then for two first round picks - what would be the chances you get a player as good as Brodie? How many years of development?

Look, this isn't just Brodie. I think Giordano is the ONLY consistently good defencemen, and I think he has carrying Hamilton right now too. Hamonic is playing poorly. Stone has his ups and downs. I won't even count the rotating 6th D.

This team is playing consistently atrocious defence, interspersed with games that make you think they are coming around. Before you trade a Brodie or Hamilton, you make a coaching change.

Just because you have gone through a bunch of coaches doesn't mean that isn't the problem. Flames have gone through a bunch of goalies too, so I guess Hiller wasn't a problem? I guess the Flames should have stuck with Elliott?

The Flames are not improving. They are outside of the playoffs right now, sitting in the 5th worst position in the west, with the 9th worst GA in the entire league, and they are not improving defensively. All of this while having a legitimately strong goalie playing almost every single game and rarely allowing a poor goal.

I have made up my mind on what needs to be changed, and I would gamble that Brodie and the rest of the defencemen are not the problem.

in 2014/15 Brodie was the best Flames player , maybe 2nd best behind Gaudreau. He was playing the left side with Engelland as his partner.

Engelland, it turns out, is a better player than Hamonic and possibly Stone.

It seems that the apple cart was upset when the Flames got Hamilton and declared him the future Norris Trophy winner. On a thin resume and poor defense game (and styling his play on the Jay Bouwmeeester model of limited physical contact) they gave him a much better contract than Brodie and then got his brother to play with him. They did everything possible to make Hamilton succeed. They found out that the only guy good enough to cover for Hamilton was Gio.

There is a reason that Hamilton doesn't kills penalties or is on the ice late with the Flames ahead by 1. Hamilton kills penalties at the same rate as Bartkowski. Both Gutzlan and Hartley have near zero confidence of Hamilton's ability in the defense zone.

The big problem is that Trevling and the current Flames brain trust biggest moves have been bringing in Hamilton and Hamonic. These have turned out to be bad moves and recognizing them as such would mean that the Trevling would be fired. If Gutzlan were to put Brodie back with Gio it would expose Hamilton as a power play specialist.

[TheScorpion]

ricardo, I don't even know what to say to you at this point, other than -- "you're wrong."

Dougie Hamilton is not the problem. He is yet again among this team's leaders in possession and is scoring at around his usual rate. He's on a real cheap contract and would go for far more than what the Flames paid for him if he was traded today.

[Flamefan1]

Definitely we need to keep Brodie. Hamilton for most of the game was horrible last night. Giordano and Brodie should be reunited and Hamilton tested with one of the other 4. His possession stats will soon drop when Gio is no longer protecting him. Hamilton seems like he has no drive or competitive spirits or much of the games.

[OldSam]

Square peg in round hole. As long as "Brent Sutter" Gulutzan insists on "my way or the highway", the Flames will win some and lose some and never become the team they can.
I remember many discussions over the years about having your desired system but adjust it to fit the talents of your players. Just imagine Johnny Hockey in Brent Sutter's system. No, don't, it makes me cry. I think GG is focussed more on his win/loss record than actually seeing the players he has. TJ is a shadow of his former self. No doubt about it. First pairing Team Canada candidate losing his incredible skating and passing and PP skills, you get the message. He is such a unique player. If the club trades him, I guarantee you with the right coach he will return to he player we all loved. Stubbornness can be a good thing sometimes. It can also be really stupid. This "leave them together and make it work" isn't working. The question is "have the coaches learned anything from this tire fire of a D organization. I will say no.

[PlayfulGenius]

What's the theory behind the lefty-righty thing on D?

I get there are advantages to this... but disadvantages too... what's so bloody important about it that there's no room for variance, whatsoever?

[mikephoen]

Originally Posted by PlayfulGenius

What's the theory behind the lefty-righty thing on D?

I get there are advantages to this... but disadvantages too... what's so bloody important about it that there's no room for variance, whatsoever?

Mike Babcock believes it, and now an entire generation of coaches want to be Mike Babcock, so they believe it too.

[PlayfulGenius]

Originally Posted by mikephoen

Mike Babcock believes it, and now an entire generation of coaches want to be Mike Babcock, so they believe it too.

Does Babcock have a firm, never-ever deviate policy?

Has Toronto never had a 5-on-5 shift with a D on their opposite side?

And currently, which Top 4 NHL D currently play on their off-side?

[mikephoen]

Originally Posted by PlayfulGenius

Does Babcock have a firm, never-ever deviate policy?

Has Toronto never had a 5-on-5 shift with a D on their opposite side?

And currently, which Top 4 NHL D currently play on their off-side?

All good questions that I don’t know the answers to. I just remember at the last olympics Babcock had it written in stone that he only wanted left and right handed pairings, and nothing else. Prior to that I don’t remember it ever being an issue in hockey.

[Gaskal]

Is it the coach? Possible, but he's had some of the best games of his career playing under Glen.

Is it being on the left? Maybe, but he was the best defenceman in the 2014-15 playoffs playing on the left with Engelland. And if his struggles are directly tied into him being on his side then wouldn't it make sense that when he was put back on Gio's right he'd do just fine and they'd be an elite pairing again?

We tried that last year after the Grossman experiment thankfully ended and it didn't help - Brodie was still terrible. So I can understand why Glen would be hesistant to try it. It's only really an option to try with Giordano, and you'd be breaking up one of your better possession units in Gio/Dougie just to try a fix that has already failed in the past, and who knows what the state of your other two defence pairings are going to be.

The longer Brodie's struggles go on though and Glen might start experimenting again, especially if it's costing the team wins.

[Love]

In a heartbeat for Marner or Nylander if that were possible. Dougie too tbh.

I'd only advocate for trading one of them though. Not both

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by Love

In a heartbeat for Marner or Nylander if that were possible. Dougie too tbh.

I'd only advocate for trading one of them though. Not both

Careful, you might anger the no trade brigade who think that Brodie is untouchable and much more valuable than Marner, a 60 point rookie.

[Rejean31]

If we trade Brodie, it is going to be the Marc Savard situation all over. Get rid of the coach that can't adapt his system to the talent on the team!!!

[Galakanokis]

My take on Brodie.

As an old school defenseman the biggest key between partners is chemistry and we are now on our third partner that has pretty bad chemistry with Brodie. Partners need to be able to read off of each other and Brodie is extremely tough to read. Long stretch pass, spin o-rama and reverse, dump into the corner, pass behind the net? You never know what Brodie is going to do and it's tough as the other D as you don't know where to be. With Giordano, he was the dominate of the two, Brodie fed off of him and away they went. Plus, Giordano is really, really good and could make up for Brodie's miscues. With Brodie's new pairings he is considered to be the dominate and Stone, Hamonic have to read off of him and it is just not working. No clue how to fix that part of it but that is my take anyways. I don't mind the Hamonic trade still as my gut tells me Brodie is the problem on the pairing.

I still want a Giordano-Hamonic top, shutdown pairing. I think they would be really good together. Stone and Brodie would be fine as well. Not sure a Hamilton-Kulak pairing is capable but I honestly don't mind Kulak's game but he is prone to pinch's and mistakes and there is no way Hamilton can cover. Something has to change that I am certain off, just not sure how you do it.

I would start by shrinking his minutes though. Giordano is still our best defenseman and should be played as much. Put him back on the top PP and get Brodie down to under 20mins a game.

[The Original FFIV]

Originally Posted by Rejean31

If we trade Brodie, it is going to be the Marc Savard situation all over. Get rid of the coach that can't adapt his system to the talent on the team!!!

Holy overreaction Batman. Depends on what you get in return. Unless your crystal ball works better than mine.

[IrishSpring2013]

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[RoughRiderRowdy]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

ricardo, I don't even know what to say to you at this point, other than -- "you're wrong."

Dougie Hamilton is not the problem. He is yet again among this team's leaders in possession and is scoring at around his usual rate. He's on a real cheap contract and would go for far more than what the Flames paid for him if he was traded today.

Do you even watch the games? How is he playing defensively?

[The Original FFIV]

Originally Posted by Galakanokis

My take on Brodie.

As an old school defenseman the biggest key between partners is chemistry and we are now on our third partner that has pretty bad chemistry with Brodie. Partners need to be able to read off of each other and Brodie is extremely tough to read. Long stretch pass, spin o-rama and reverse, dump into the corner, pass behind the net? You never know what Brodie is going to do and it's tough as the other D as you don't know where to be. With Giordano, he was the dominate of the two, Brodie fed off of him and away they went. Plus, Giordano is really, really good and could make up for Brodie's miscues. With Brodie's new pairings he is considered to be the dominate and Stone, Hamonic have to read off of him and it is just not working. No clue how to fix that part of it but that is my take anyways. I don't mind the Hamonic trade still as my gut tells me Brodie is the problem on the pairing.

I still want a Giordano-Hamonic top, shutdown pairing. I think they would be really good together. Stone and Brodie would be fine as well. Not sure a Hamilton-Kulak pairing is capable but I honestly don't mind Kulak's game but he is prone to pinch's and mistakes and there is no way Hamilton can cover. Something has to change that I am certain off, just not sure how you do it.

I would start by shrinking his minutes though. Giordano is still our best defenseman and should be played as much. Put him back on the top PP and get Brodie down to under 20mins a game.

Very good take. Question for you. Is Brodie the type of D that thrives in a position where he is the man and if so, have the additions we’ve made messed with his head a bit, thereby negatively affecting his game?

[RoughRiderRowdy]

Would be nice to actually have a defenceman who can play defence

[IrishSpring2013]

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