[PGT] St. Pats 6, Flames 2

[VilleN]

In the absence of real scoring power, Backlund is very important to this team. We win by playing tight defensively - and he is our best forward in that regard. The team wins games by pretty thin margins, and without Backlund that becomes more difficult.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

Is he still injured?

Apparently, he made a tweet a week or two ago that said he was rushed back too soon and that he was just waiting for the season to end so he can properly heal.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1901820402017706180

[taxbuster]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

I believe the high danger chances were 10-1 in the first. The Flames were absolutely terrible.

And yet…the score was 1-1. Flames played hard, stifled a lot of play but are still stuck with that pop-gun offence.

AND, for whatever reason, they keep cycling back into their own zone when they are in the neutral zone…and then fumble the puck. Much like they do in the offensive zone but they bobble the puck right at the line and/or overpass and lose it. Frustrating.

[Scrambler]

Originally Posted by Hockey_Ninja

Turned the game off after the Leafs got the 6th goal. Someone else scored? Cool I guess

You had better staying power than me. After the disallowed tying goal followed by Leafs scoring to go up 3-1, I was done for the night.

[Royle9]

Originally Posted by Jetfire

It's a bit depressing that they rely so heavily on an aging defensive center, and it also highlights how thin they are at that position and that it's the number one thing they need going forward through the rest of this rebuild, no doubt. I hope they can rebound from this and finish the year strong because they've generally worked really hard, but I'm not optimistic at all in that regard. Get well soon Backs.

I'm by no means ####ting on Backlund with my reply, and I honestly don't doubt it by any means as Backlund has always been our strongest defensive center.

But with that said, I want to reiterate that this team is missing far more than Backlund to make them good. There's a lot wrong with them as whole which I feel plays a bigger impact than just the fact that Backlund is out for a while here.

1. No superstar - This team went downhill when we lost Johnny and Matthew in the same season. This team needs something, someone who can carry this team on their back on those nights where its just not clicking. All the good teams have this, and yes most of these teams drafted these types of players which means most of them bottomed out/got lucky at some point.
   
2. The wrong system - I'm not a Huska hater by any means, but this system just doesn't work for this team. We have a number of skilled east/west players that are great with possession and we do not use their skillset to our advantage. Huska insists on a hardnosed dump to the corner style of forecheck and we don't have the speed or size to get there.
   
3. On the topic of Huska, our offensive numbers are down significantly this year and guys appear (to me at least) to be playing outside of their strengths. I don't mind being defensively minded, but you need to let your best players do what they do with the puck in the o-zone. Frost and Huberdeau have extremely strong east/west play making abilities, lets use that to our strength and that starts with MORE SKATING and people trying to get open. You watch the Flames in the o-zone and they just continue that cycle around the perimeter with a weak shot from the point and nobody around for the rebound. I cant for the life of me understand what we're trying to accomplish.
   
4. We have the best rookie goalie in decades in the NHL and he's single handedly carried this team to a playoff spot alone. Without Wolf we're not even in the realm of losing our 1st pick this year and likely where we were slated at the beginning of the season which is bottom 10.
   
5. Special teams continues to be an absolute nightmare. Our PK has flashes of being quite good, but our PP remains embarrassingly terrible. Why on earth is this a repetitive problem? It looks terrible, players dont move nearly enough and we don't put players in the right spots to maximize their strengths. For how much they supposedly practice it, I remain absolutely stunned how bad it is.

Losing 8 of your last 10 in a stretch where your fighting for your playoff livelihood shows you just how poorly this team is constructed. The game against Vancouver sealed it for me, if they couldn't get hyped up for that game and couldn't compete in that scenario they really aren't going anywhere.

I do wonder if guys will have a change of heart after this collapse to end the season, I can't see how the 3-4 guys who bring it most nights would want to come back to a team who has no direction, no desire and no compete.

This team is the same team we've rotated through for the last decade plus. Just a mediocre hockey team, not bad enough to pick well and not good enough to compete. That mediocre middling, flash of skill but ultimately not strong enough against the good teams.

Lets not waste our years of Wolf, we're clearly not going full re-build so lets build around him and a few of your younger guys and bring in a system and playstyle that works to our strengths. If you want that to be the hard nosed dump style then we better get bigger and faster. Or let our guys play east/west transition style and play the possession game, you simply cant play the speed/size game with the roster we have constructed today.

/end rant sorry.

[Rhett44]

Not selling assets at the deadline really hurts. I don't know what management sees in this team.

We have no 1st line talent. We need to tank.

We are one Wolf away from being below the Sharks in the standings.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

Not selling assets at the deadline really hurts. I don't know what management sees in this team.

We have no 1st line talent. We need to tank.

We are one Wolf away from being below the Sharks in the standings.

Sell what assets? This question continues to get asked and largely ignored.

Apart from Andersson who else should they and could they have sold?

Coleman.

That's it? That's the list.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

I shudder to think what these PGTs would be like in that alternate world where the team ‘tanked.’

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by Flames Fan, Ph.D.

I shudder to think what these PGTs would be like in that alternate world where the team ‘tanked.’

I'll be honest, I think it would be very positive. I think most people on this forum want one direction or the other.

[CroFlames]

They absolutely lost focus after the overturned goal and the Leafs showed their quality.

That was such a bull#### call.

[Robbob]

After it went to 4-1 I pulled the chute. Checked the score on the app a little bit later and it was 5-1. It was no good.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

I'll be honest, I think it would be very positive. I think most people on this forum want one direction or the other.

I disagree but realize it’s a hypothetical so who knows.

But the team does have a direction; disagree with you saying it doesn’t. It’s just that some people don’t like the direction.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by Flames Fan, Ph.D.

I disagree but realize it’s a hypothetical so who knows.

But the team does have a direction; disagree with you saying it doesn’t. It’s just that some people don’t like the direction.

I don't mean long term direction, but it is best if the team either wins our or loses out. I get that's extreme, but so is the concept of tanking.

Going .500 post deadline is not what the Flames need.

The team limping to 86 points and transferring the 11th overall pick to Montreal? That's where we are trending right now. It's close to worse case scenario - of course people are frustrated.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by Flames Fan, Ph.D.

I disagree but realize it’s a hypothetical so who knows.

We've already seen people who want to the team to bottom out complain anyway about losing earlier in the season when the team has gone into a slump so I doubt it would be very positive.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

Not selling assets at the deadline really hurts. I don't know what management sees in this team.

We have no 1st line talent. We need to tank.

We are one Wolf away from being below the Sharks in the standings.

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Sell what assets? This question continues to get asked and largely ignored.

Apart from Andersson who else should they and could they have sold?

Coleman.

That's it? That's the list.

Exactly... what assets?

Typically the selling of an asset is when they're UFA at the end of the season. Here's the list:
Mantha
Rooney
Kirkland
Hunt
Hanley
Vladar

What are the Flames supposed to get for that to increase their chances of getting a top 5 pick that will turn into the generational pick that so many people are expecting the Flames to draft 2 of in each of the next 3 seasons?

Okay, lets push it out to the next season. Some of those players who have an extra year left are typically the next likely to be sold off.

Backlund
Frost
Lomberg
Andersson
Bean
Miromanov

Frost is not the guy you trade to further the rebuild. He's part of the rebuild, he'll be the veteran when drafted players start making the team. Backlund is most likely to retire a Flame. Andersson is the one guy to trade. It didn't have to happen at this trade deadline. There is desire to keep him around but from what I've read on this forum, they don't want to lock him in long term at a high price. He's likely sold off before next trade deadline.

Not much else that will get the Flames very much. Maybe Coleman if someone wants a player like him with more term.

The Flames didn't screw up this trade deadline by not selling off all their veterans. They didn't have the veterans to sell off. They did that the previous year when they got rid of Hanifin, Lindholm, Markstrom, Tanev, Tofolli and Zadorov. Some people seem to refuse to see that and think about the situation the Flames are in. They just want to see trades for the sake of seeing trades but those trades have to fit their very specific criteria.

[dustygoon]

Does our team have a different plan in offensive zone other than rip it around the boards, hopefully win 50/50 puck battle, pass back up to D, then rip it around the boards, hopefully win 50/50 puck battle, pass back up to D.....

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by VilleN

The offside review needs to either be eliminated or revamped. The offside rule is to prevent cherry picking, and force teams to strategically enter the zone - in my opinion it's not a rule of inches, rather a rule that forces teams to play a certain way - the blueline is not the goal line. I think a reasonable compromise would be that the refs are allowed 2 minutes to review the play - if it is inconclusive the call on the ice stays.

There are so many way to fix the offside challenge rule, and the league just refuses to do so.

That call yesterday should be a death knell for that rule, but it won't be.

The call being right or wrong doesn't even matter any more - the entertainment product is just so bad.

[Robbob]

I see the Frost and Farabee trade as one to get the veteran group younger if that makes sense. Basically place holders or players to fill in top six positions when Backlund and Coleman move on. I see them as upgrades to the peripheral core (also in that group but you could argue straddling the line to be core players are Coranato and Zary). The Core for me right now is Wolf and Parehk. Flames are kind of in that transitory stage where they are waiting for the younger players to pan out and move into the core group or push themselves to that out group around the core.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Robbob

I see the Frost and Farabee trade as one to get the veteran group younger if that makes sense. Basically place holders or players to fill in top six positions when Backlund and Coleman move on. I see them as upgrades to the peripheral core (also in that group but you could argue straddling the line to be core players are Coranato and Zary). The Core for me right now is Wolf and Parehk. Flames are kind of in that transitory stage where they are waiting for the younger players to pan out and move into the core group or push themselves to that out group around the core.

Calling an untested rookie part of the core group shows how little long term talent the Flames have.

[Burning Beard]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Calling an untested rookie part of the core group shows how little long term talent the Flames have.

Isn't that the point of a re-whatever you wanna call it that they started undertaking last season? To draft and develop a new core?