[GDT] Flames @ Stars, 6:30 PM MST. Sportsnet West, Fan 960

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Man some of you guys need to chill ...

Bennett on the top line basically had Gaudreau playing on his off side, not Bennett. I'm guessing they don't feel that was working for Gaudreau and don't want Bennett on his off wing in his own zone.

So it's promote Frolik or Hathaway until Ferland is back or try Stewart.

I'm not all that hopeful, but I get the thinking.

I don't think the coaching staff has earned the right to be above criticism on player usage.

1st line produces, team wins 2 games in a row since change happened.

Get RHS waiver wire pick-up, let's just go ahead and disrupt the 1st line and oh yeah - that young player you're developing, let's just demote him when he's earned the right to continue to play on that top line because that's how we reward youth on this team.

Should we also expect to see Stewart on PP1 while Dougie gets shuffled back to PP2?

[dash_pinched]

https://twitter.com/user/status/968542621776965633

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

https://twitter.com/user/status/968542621776965633

Yes, let's set up the waiver wire pick-up guy for success. Let's ignore the young developing player who does nothing but perform when given the opportunity, and double down with a waiver wire pick-up who wasn't good enough to stay in the line up on a team we're competing with.

[Kovaz]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

I don't think the coaching staff has earned the right to be above criticism on player usage.

1st line produces, team wins 2 games in a row since change happened.

Get RHS waiver wire pick-up, let's just go ahead and disrupt the 1st line and oh yeah - that young player you're developing, let's just demote him when he's earned the right to continue to play on that top line because that's how we reward youth on this team.

Should we also expect to see Stewart on PP1 while Dougie gets shuffled back to PP2?

Yeah, I just don't get it.

You've got a player in Bennett that's still got a lot of potential, but he's not good enough to consistently produce offence from anywhere in the lineup, and he's heavily affected by confidence. So you give him a try on the top line and he looks great. As someone that wants to see Bennett break out more than any other player on the Flames, I'm thinking "finally, he's earned an extended look."

So it's jarring to see that taken away despite Bennett's good play. And I really don't see the upside in putting Stewart there - the guy's an inconsistent depth scorer that spends a ton of time in his own zone. For a team that relies on our top line as heavily as we do, we can't afford for them to go cold. And if the RHS is a big deal, why didn't we see Brouwer, Lazar or Hathaway promoted in Ferland's absence? It's not like we had a shortage of mediocre righties to promote.

[ComixZone]

Fun take from Twitter.

@Kent_Wilson
What is your take on Stewart?
‏

@EvolvingWild
How much time you got

@EvolvingWild
In all seriousness, his only positive attribute is (from everything I’ve seen and heard): he’s a great locker room guy, everybody loved him on the team. Also is weirdly ok in 3/4 shootouts...
‏

@EvolvingWild
But as for everything else, I’ll just say I think he’s been certifiably the worst player I’ve watched on the Wild in at least 6 years...


@Kent_Wilson
Wonderful.

This is a hell of a message to send to a young, developing player who has been performing in the position he stepped into 2 games ago. What a garbage message.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Man some of you guys need to chill ...

Bennett on the top line basically had Gaudreau playing on his off side, not Bennett. I'm guessing they don't feel that was working for Gaudreau and don't want Bennett on his off wing in his own zone.

So it's promote Frolik or Hathaway until Ferland is back or try Stewart.

I'm not all that hopeful, but I get the thinking.

You brought logic into the discussion.

You never bring logic to discussion here.

Maybe the way GG wants to match lines against the Stars, it makes way more sense to do things this way?

You would think there is no ability to change things up if it isn't working or that Stewart is is stapled to that line the rest of the season the way some are going apoplectic over a very very minor roster decision. Again one that can last 1 or 2 shifts if it isnt looking like it is working.

Its truly humorous.

[djsFlames]

It's probably the easiest spot to put Stewart who is unfamiliar with systems etc, where he can be useful.

People shouldn't take this as an insult to Bennett, and they very well could swap Bennett back up top depending on how the game progresses. Nothing's set in stone for the full 60+ minutes.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Kovaz

Yeah, I just don't get it.

You've got a player in Bennett that's still got a lot of potential, but he's not good enough to consistently produce offence from anywhere in the lineup, and he's heavily affected by confidence. So you give him a try on the top line and he looks great. As someone that wants to see Bennett break out more than any other player on the Flames, I'm thinking "finally, he's earned an extended look."

So it's jarring to see that taken away despite Bennett's good play. And I really don't see the upside in putting Stewart there - the guy's an inconsistent depth scorer that spends a ton of time in his own zone. For a team that relies on our top line as heavily as we do, we can't afford for them to go cold. And if the RHS is a big deal, why didn't we see Brouwer, Lazar or Hathaway promoted in Ferland's absence? It's not like we had a shortage of mediocre righties to promote.

Brouwer had his shot with those guys. Lazar and Hathaway have even less offence than Stewart.

I can see not wanting Johnny on RW. However, I'd just make Bennett play RW for now.

[mrdonkey]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Fun take from Twitter.

Sounds like a top line player to me!

[dieHARDflameZ]

I understand the logic behind the decision but I don’t necessarily agree with it when Bennett is playing so well up on the top line. Nothing worth losing ours minds over though.

If Bennett isn’t mentally tough enough to understand why it’s being done or deal with it accordingly, that’s on him. Like Haynes said, it will probably be a short leash.

[blender]

Originally Posted by Rollin22x

The game thread will be near empty with all of these people that are done

Looking forward to it.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by dieHARDflameZ

If Bennett isn’t mentally tough enough to understand why it’s being done or deal with it accordingly, that’s on him.

This right here is how you ruin player development. You know what good coaches do? They back their young players. They give them breathing room to make mistakes, and give them the confidence to get right back out there. They don't demote them for performing well because they picked up someone on waivers.

This move is a great example why I sincerely hope Gully is gone after this year. If he's back next year, I hope we trade Bennett - because Gully clearly has Hartley-Baertschi levels of disdain for the kid.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

I think we are freaking out too much on Stewart getting the 1st line job. We need to see if he can have really good chemistry with our best two players offensively to really get him going. GG is also pretty anal about the stick handedness, so i am assuming Stewart will be dropped to the 3rd line with Ferland and Jankowski when Ferland returns. At this point we try another experiment on the first line and have the Bennett - Jankowski - Hathaway line get another crack since those three are already familiar with each other.

That is only in respect of D. Ferland and Frolik are both LH. I suspect this is more a combo of "who is most like Ferland" and "who can give Stewart a good start".

[Toonage]

Comix:
I don't think GG hates Bennett, but I think (and I believe you may have made this suggestion at one time, which I agree with) is that he doesn't see players for their individual talents so much as pieces that can play in his system.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

This right here is how you ruin player development. You know what good coaches do? They back their young players. They give them breathing room to make mistakes, and give them the confidence to get right back out there. They don't demote them for performing well because they picked up someone on waivers.

This move is a great example why I sincerely hope Gully is gone after this year. If he's back next year, I hope we trade Bennett - because Gully clearly has Hartley-Baertschi levels of disdain for the kid.

One game of being bumped down, which may not even last an entire game isn't going to ruin Bennett's development. Put a bandaid on your butt.

[EVERLAST]

Stewart up on the top line is interesting. Will he keep up? Maybe the game works out with Stewart starting on the top line and finishes with Bennett up there.

I hope both Bennett and Stewart stay out of the penalty box unless of course they need to steamroll somebody and get the rest of this team engaged.

Id like a win for sure but I want to see them seriously compete and for this to be close at least.

Pretty excited to watch tonight as for me this is the playoffs already and I really think this team can make it.

Hope to see more hitting tonight and everybody ready to play , no passengers , Glen needs to be on his toes and make good decisions. No more favoring certain players and let guys earn their playing time is the way this team will win.

[Kovaz]

Originally Posted by transplant99

You brought logic into the discussion.

You never bring logic to discussion here.

Maybe the way GG wants to match lines against the Stars, it makes way more sense to do things this way?

You would think there is no ability to change things up if it isn't working or that Stewart is is stapled to that line the rest of the season the way some are going apoplectic over a very very minor roster decision. Again one that can last 1 or 2 shifts if it isnt looking like it is working.

Its truly humorous.

Why do you feel the need to say one side has "logic" and the other doesn't? Bingo's post defended the logic of Stewart on the top line. Some people have different opinions - why does their logic not count? I've posted this elsewhere, but mocking posters or posts with different opinions is usually what starts the adversarial, toxic discussions we see a lot on this site.

Stewart on the top line has a ton of potential to be a bad move, and the best case scenario is no better than Bennett has been there so far. So we've got a move that, the way I see it, has a ton of potential to make the team worse, and very little potential to make the team better. Is it not logical to argue against that?

If we rolled out a top pairing of Bartkowski-Hamilton and bumped Giordano to the 3rd pair, would it be illogical to question that? In theory, you could argue something like "Bartkowski is a faster skater, and Dallas is a fast team", but do we really need to try it to know it's a bad idea? There's a huge difference between "there exists a line of reasoning that can defend that idea" and "it's a good idea."

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

One game of being bumped down, which may not even last a game isn't going to ruin Bennett's development. Put a bandaid on your butt.

You don't reward good performances with demotions. Good teams don't do it.

Then again, we saw Stone generate a PP goal last game after Dougie left - only for Stone to get sat on the bench in favour of Brouwer on the next PP. So, basic logic in rewarding performance clearly is beyond this coaching staff's grasp.

[Beninho]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Wes Gilbertson @WesGilbertson
Looks like RW Chris Stewart makes his #Flames debut tonight with a couple decent linemates — guys named Gaudreau and Monahan.

Is this a joke?

[calumniate]

Stewart is taking the top spot simply because Ferland is out, so I don't see too much cause for commotion