[News] Practice Notes - 11/13

[dammage79]

I like Bennett- up with Backs and Tkachuk. Tkachuk and Bennett really seemed to mesh when Peters slapped them together in the Sj game. And Backlund is like an old comfortable shoe for both of those wingers. I like it.

Now if Backlund can manage to round into better form, we're laughing.

Still not too worried about Neal. I think he's used to being the go to trigger guy on teams. I feel his ego's taking a bit of a hit and he'll have to get over it a little. But He'll come around.

[dammage79]

So who sitting for Dubes return? Czarnik?

[Bingo]

Hopefully this isn't considered "fancy" and therefore creating a brawl.

But simple five on five goals / points by time isn't a bad way of looking at who should be where based on play so far.

Goals/Hour

1. Frolik 1.68
2. Monahan 1.10
3. Hathaway 1.09
4. Lindholm 0.94
5. Neal 0.78
6. Gaudreau 0.73
7. Bennett 0.61
8. Tkachuk 0.50
9. Backlund 0.48

Really shows how much Tkachuk's production has come on the powerplay or with the goalie pulled.

Bennett and Neal are a goal away from moving up towards the top of the list. Hathaway I'd imagine will leak oil from that figure all season.

In terms of five on five goals you have Frolik and Monahan with 5, Lindholm with 4, Neal and Gaudreau with 3, Bennett and Backlund and Tkachuk with 2.

Points/Hour
1. Tkachuk 2.26
2. Monahan 2.20
3. Backlund 2.17
4. Gaudreau 2.14
5. Czarnik 1.74
6. Frolik 1.68
7. Lindholm 1.65
8. Jankowski 1.44
9. Bennett 1.23

Interesting to see Backlund ahead of Gaudreau in five on five production.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by Bingo

And the promotion of Jankowski to the third line is spot on for timing as he's finally shown life on this recent California road trip.

The only Peters things to even discuss in my mind is Czarnik vs Hathaway, and I say that in a up for debate, not saying he's been wrong way.

It should be Czarnik vs Hathaway vs Ryan.

Ryan is a player who often kills many of the offensive plays that he's involved in either through giving the puck away while his line looks half-promising in the offensive zone or being soft on the puck and losing a battle.

I get that he's been pretty good on the PK and he skates well, but for all those good parts of him he is a serious net negative offensively and a turnover machine who loses many offensive puck battles and often ruins offensive opportunities for his line and his serious offensive shortcomings override his relative defensive effectiveness.

Ryan should be sitting in the pressbox when Dube returns.

[Bingo]

Flames top nine forwards vs NHL averages to date five on five

Row Labels	Average of P/60	Flames	Cgy Rate	Difference
1	3.37	1. Tkachuk	2.26	-1.11
2	2.57	2. Monahan	2.2	-0.37
3	2.23	3. Backlund	2.17	-0.06
4	2.01	4. Gaudreau	2.14	0.13
5	1.80	5. Czarnik	1.74	-0.06
6	1.62	6. Frolik	1.68	0.06
7	1.46	7. Lindholm	1.65	0.19
8	1.30	8. Jankowski	1.44	0.14
9	1.09	9. Bennett	1.23	0.14

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Hathaway is really, really terrible and should not be in the lineup over Czarnik OR Ryan

What? He's at times in his career been complacent and non factoring, but to say that now is kind of weird. He's been excellent lately.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Hopefully this isn't considered "fancy" and therefore creating a brawl.

But simple five on five goals / points by time isn't a bad way of looking at who should be where based on play so far.

Goals/Hour

1. Frolik 1.68
2. Monahan 1.10
3. Hathaway 1.09
4. Lindholm 0.94
5. Neal 0.78
6. Gaudreau 0.73
7. Bennett 0.61
8. Tkachuk 0.50
9. Backlund 0.48

Really shows how much Tkachuk's production has come on the powerplay or with the goalie pulled.

Bennett and Neal are a goal away from moving up towards the top of the list. Hathaway I'd imagine will leak oil from that figure all season.

In terms of five on five goals you have Frolik and Monahan with 5, Lindholm with 4, Neal and Gaudreau with 3, Bennett and Backlund and Tkachuk with 2.

Points/Hour
1. Tkachuk 2.26
2. Monahan 2.20
3. Backlund 2.17
4. Gaudreau 2.14
5. Czarnik 1.74
6. Frolik 1.68
7. Lindholm 1.65
8. Jankowski 1.44
9. Bennett 1.23

Interesting to see Backlund ahead of Gaudreau in five on five production.

Thanks Bingo. At first I was shocked by the goals/hour ranks, but when thinking about some more, decided the numbers are so small in the first place that the differences may not mean much, atleast at this point in a season. Almost all the numbers are less than even one. So even one goal changes a players rank rather quickly.

This is an interesting stat to look at over a player’s career.

[Samonadreau]

Hathaway is having a hell of a season so far (For a 4th line grinder). Guy stays in.

#Hathawin

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Karl

It should be Czarnik vs Hathaway vs Ryan.

We've seen no evidence that Czarnik will ever play centre for us. It's somewhat pointless to compare wingers to centres IMO.

So its Hathaway vs Czarnik vs Dube at wing
And its Jankowski vs Ryan vs Dube at centre

I don't know why people are suggesting scratching Ryan for a winger. Then you have to move Lindholm or Bennett to centre.

[btimbit]

Czarnik back in the press box? Not happy about that. Really like what he brings especially to the 2nd pp unit

[1qqaaz]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Hopefully this isn't considered "fancy" and therefore creating a brawl.

But simple five on five goals / points by time isn't a bad way of looking at who should be where based on play so far.

Goals/Hour

1. Frolik 1.68
2. Monahan 1.10
3. Hathaway 1.09
4. Lindholm 0.94
5. Neal 0.78
6. Gaudreau 0.73
7. Bennett 0.61
8. Tkachuk 0.50
9. Backlund 0.48

Really shows how much Tkachuk's production has come on the powerplay or with the goalie pulled.

Bennett and Neal are a goal away from moving up towards the top of the list. Hathaway I'd imagine will leak oil from that figure all season.

In terms of five on five goals you have Frolik and Monahan with 5, Lindholm with 4, Neal and Gaudreau with 3, Bennett and Backlund and Tkachuk with 2.

Points/Hour
1. Tkachuk 2.26
2. Monahan 2.20
3. Backlund 2.17
4. Gaudreau 2.14
5. Czarnik 1.74
6. Frolik 1.68
7. Lindholm 1.65
8. Jankowski 1.44
9. Bennett 1.23

Interesting to see Backlund ahead of Gaudreau in five on five production.

This is why I don't think Czarnik should be benched. Evidently, he's the 5th most productive forward on the team. I am surprised to see that he's even ahead of Lindholm in points/hour.
I don't even think we've seen Czarnik at his best yet.

Hathaway has looked solid so far, but I don't think it makes much sense to play him over Czarnik.

[heep223]

I’d have Czarnik in over Ryan who has been absolute dog ####. Hathaway has been great imo, for what he is.

[dammage79]

At this point I think we could have saved us some money and skipped signing Ryan. Seems like we could have just inserted any farm player into the lineup and been just fine.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

I'm a bit of a Czarnik fan. Probably because he's one of the fastest players on the team and has some decent offensive skills. At least when he's on PP2 it seems to get chances when he's setting things up. Not a fan seeing him scratched so often.

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by dammage79

I like Bennett- up with Backs and Tkachuk. Tkachuk and Bennett really seemed to mesh when Peters slapped them together in the Sj game. And Backlund is like an old comfortable shoe for both of those wingers. I like it.

Now if Backlund can manage to round into better form, we're laughing.

Still not too worried about Neal. I think he's used to being the go to trigger guy on teams. I feel his ego's taking a bit of a hit and he'll have to get over it a little. But He'll come around.

Has Backlund ever had a real nickname? Old Comfortable Shoe isn't bad.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

We've seen no evidence that Czarnik will ever play centre for us. It's somewhat pointless to compare wingers to centres IMO.

So its Hathaway vs Czarnik vs Dube at wing
And its Jankowski vs Ryan vs Dube at centre

I don't know why people are suggesting scratching Ryan for a winger. Then you have to move Lindholm or Bennett to centre.

Because Derek Ryan is a huge black hole of suck offensively and the fact that he's solid defensively doesn't make up for the fact that he's so inept offensively and a guy who gives the puck away rather badly in the offensive zone a lot, so I'd have no problem moving Bennett or Lindholm back to centre.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by dammage79

At this point I think we could have saved us some money and skipped signing Ryan. Seems like we could have just inserted any farm player into the lineup and been just fine.

Disagree with the last part. Our centre depth isn't actually all that great unless you move some players who are currently on the wing back to centre. And that's when we're fully healthy. Imagine Monahan or Backlund goes down for any extended period. Yikes.

Ryan hasn't been great offensively thus far but he is serviceable NHL depth. I like that it allowed us to demote Lazar and help rebuild his offensive confidence.

Too early to say the Ryan signing was a mistake. Lets see how he does over the course of the season and how useful his depth was. I don't really see anybody on the farm I'd rather have centering the 4th line.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Karl

Because Derek Ryan is a huge black hole of suck offensively and the fact that he's solid defensively doesn't make up for the fact that he's so inept offensively and a guy who gives the puck away rather badly in the offensive zone a lot, so I'd have no problem moving Bennett or Lindholm back to centre.

Sounds like a bit of hyperbole is infused into your post.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Disagree with the last part. Our centre depth isn't actually all that great unless you move some players who are currently on the wing back to centre. And that's when we're fully healthy. Imagine Monahan or Backlund goes down for any extended period. Yikes.

Ryan hasn't been great offensively thus far but he is serviceable NHL depth. I like that it allowed us to demote Lazar and help rebuild his offensive confidence.

Too early to say the Ryan signing was a mistake. Lets see how he does over the course of the season and how useful his depth was. I don't really see anybody on the farm I'd rather have centering the 4th line.

I don’t really mind Ryan but you can’t just compare to options on the farm. It’s the opportunity cost of the 3 year deal he received. He is pricey in dollars and term for serviceable NHL depth. As you say it’s still too early to make conclusions.

[iamca]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

I'm a bit of a Czarnik fan. Probably because he's one of the fastest players on the team and has some decent offensive skills. At least when he's on PP2 it seems to get chances when he's setting things up. Not a fan seeing him scratched so often.

Especially since as a team they have scored so few in the last three games.

Really don't understand Peters thinking with Ryan in the lineup, Smith in the starters net, and the whole second PP unit.

All three of these decisions seem like the proverbial square peg in a round hole.