[PGT] All hail Lord Zebulon! Flames win it 2-1

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by Radio

This guy's posts are so painful to read

Angry typer.

[Reggie28]

Originally Posted by MrMike

Lucic has been fantastic all year long. I can only remember possibly one off game. He’s doing everything asked and expected from him. Tough, defensively sound, hard working. Love having him on this team.

And he is doing just enough to make every player in the league take notice.

The punch on Zadorov.
I thought Zadorov was taking liberties in the playoffs last year. Lucic said enough.

The punch where he took the suspension
Kid was running around hitting guys. Lucic said enough.

The cross check to the neck. Just a trickle of blood from the nose.
Lucic said enough.

I’m glad he is a on our team. I bet our skilled players think the same.

[Samonadreau]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Seeing guys saying having $10 million in the bottom six is a bad thing.

Role players playing their roles well are valuable, no matter how much they cost. As long as they help the team win hockey games, I don't care if they make $5.25 million and play on the fourth line.

The Blues last year had Alex Steen at $5.75 million and Tyler Bozak at $5 million playing in the bottom-six, didn't matter. They helped the team win. I don't care how much Backlund makes if he's an effective 3C

We need to add another top 6 F so he can actually be slotted properly as an elite 3C tho.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

That Tkachuk hit was hilarious.

That whole sequence was bizarre. Hawks player shoots the puck into his own net after the goal (which never happens; pretty sure that’s a big faux pas) and then gets blown up by a player who is not even trying to hit him.

Still funny every time though

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by zamler

NSFW!

Love the little Kipper tribute in the corner. I was at that game the other day and almost had a tear in my eye. Are they finally coming to their senses and planning to raise his jersey where it belongs?

[handgroen]

Originally Posted by keenan87

Of course one of the biggest Flames fanboy on this forum would post this. He brought up a good point. Not every fricken post in the PGT needs to be stupid GIFS.

Originally Posted by keenan87

Nah, Lucic's contract sucks but I am not too worried. Its Backlund who is pretty awful and one of the most overrated players ever on the Flames. If you are going to call us out, at least get it right as the conversation was about Backlund

Anyway, goodnight!

[Locke]

Originally Posted by JurassicTunga12

I'd thank this twice if I could. That is...inappropriate? Intense? Horrific desecration of a beloved childhood character?

All in all, absolutely amazing.

[Otto-matic]

Talbot better get the start on Thursday, he's been the better goalie as of late.

[puckedoff]

Originally Posted by Otto-matic

Talbot better get the start on Thursday, he's been the better goalie as of late.

Who starts Saturday tho

[CsInMyBlood]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Not a great game but it's a lot easier to win when your goaltender isn't spotting the opposition soft goals. Kind of worried about Backlund's decline. The remaining four years on that deal is very worrisome.

Originally Posted by keenan87

Nah, Lucic's contract sucks but I am not too worried. Its Backlund who is pretty awful and one of the most overrated players ever on the Flames. If you are going to call us out, at least get it right as the conversation was about Backlund

Anyway, goodnight!

Same guys always complaining about Backlund. I swear some people don't actually watch the games, or simply don't understand hockey. Here are some cold hard stats over the last 20 games.

In the last 20 games Backlund is playing at a .60 points per game clip.

20 GP, 3G, 9A, 12 PTS.

Thats 4 less points than Monahan. 5 less points than Gaudreau and Lindholm. 2 less goals than Tkachuk.

He leads the Flames with a +6 over this span. Lindholm is a -6. Tkachuk is a -4.

He leads the team with 21 takeaways in this span. 12 giveaways.

Tkachuk has 11 takeaways and 26 giveaways. Johnny has 12 takeaways, 24 giveaways.

He is second among the forwards penalty killers with a 8.19 GA per 60.

Jankowski leads with a 4.22 (only 14 games) Ryan is at 8.38. Lindholm is at 9.46. Rieder 9.56.

He has scored 2 SH goals in this span, one of them two men down.

I just don't understand the bitching about Backlund. Never mind for the first time in his career he is playing on the wing which obviously takes adjustment.

What do you people want? Seriously annoying.

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Big win. Keep rolling.

Ribbit!

[Erick Estrada]

I've always felt Backlund was overrated to an extent here but I don't think I overly complain about him relative to a lot of posters here. I don't think his overall play is terrible but his lack of finish is concerning. I'm not sure anyone can deny a that a lot of very good scoring opportunities have died on his stick this season. We are all here to discuss hockey and the Flames so if you find differing opinions to yours annoying maybe you should make up your own forum that has specific rules that everyone must agree on everything.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by WhiteTiger

This was a hilarious snippet from the Oil Salt. But they continue to pay to watch the Coilers...

I wonder if he paid to watch the Flames stomp the Oil 5-1 a week and a half ago?

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I've always felt Backlund was overrated to an extent here but I don't think I overly complain about him relative to a lot of posters here. I don't think his overall play is terrible but his lack of finish is concerning. I'm not sure anyone can deny a that a lot of very good scoring opportunities have died on his stick this season. We are all here to discuss hockey and the Flames so if you find differing opinions to yours annoying maybe you should make up your own forum that has specific rules that everyone must agree on everything.

I think there's a difference between plays dying on a player's stick and just not finishing.

The former impedes the ability to have the scoring chance, the latter is a player adding to the scoring chance but not being able to finish it.

I see Backlund as creating, but until recently not finishing.

He's 6th on the team in expected individual goals, and 5th on the team in individual high danger scoring chances.

So it's more a finish thing than a losing his game and having plays die on his stick

Bottom line though he's going to regress. Hopefully not that quickly.

[SuperMatt18]

Yeah Backlund is still a very effective 200 ft player that is great at driving play and generating chances.

His issue has always been his lack of finish, and that's been magnified even more this year as he seems to have lost his shooting ability all together.

Still though the team always seems to come out ahead when he's on the ice.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by CsInMyBlood

Same guys always complaining about Backlund. I swear some people don't actually watch the games, or simply don't understand hockey. Here are some cold hard stats over the last 20 games.

In the last 20 games Backlund is playing at a .60 points per game clip.

20 GP, 3G, 9A, 12 PTS.

Thats 4 less points than Monahan. 5 less points than Gaudreau and Lindholm. 2 less goals than Tkachuk.

He leads the Flames with a +6 over this span. Lindholm is a -6. Tkachuk is a -4.

He leads the team with 21 takeaways in this span. 12 giveaways.

Tkachuk has 11 takeaways and 26 giveaways. Johnny has 12 takeaways, 24 giveaways.

He is second among the forwards penalty killers with a 8.19 GA per 60.

Jankowski leads with a 4.22 (only 14 games) Ryan is at 8.38. Lindholm is at 9.46. Rieder 9.56.

He has scored 2 SH goals in this span, one of them two men down.

I just don't understand the bitching about Backlund. Never mind for the first time in his career he is playing on the wing which obviously takes adjustment.

What do you people want? Seriously annoying.

Most reasonable people would like a little bit extra offense out of him, but I will admit a lot of posters are overly dramatic about the criticism.

It's nice in the last 20 games he has 5 less points than Johnny, but Johnny hasn't exactly been lighting things up. Johnny has only 35 points thru 45 games. I wish Backlund produced more offensively since he is the 2C on this team until Lindholm becomes C full time. I also concede that he has great ability away from the puck which is very valuable also.

[GioforPM]

Backlund is headed for a subpar year, but only very slightly compared to his career averages. Last year was great at 21 goals. But the year before he had only 14, and this year isn't far off that mark (and I can chalk a few missed chances down to puck luck and confidence). He bracketed the 14 goal seasons between two season over 20 goals so the chances of a bounceback aren't bad. He's still only 30 and doesn't play a wear and tear game.

He's got a long contract that won't be valuable at the end, but I think his cap hit will be reasonable against his usage for 3 more years at least.

ETA: He was signed for less than Henrique, who is having a better year this year production wise but who never did before. Also less than Turris who is falling fast and has less production than Backlund.

[Huntingwhale]

Spoiler!

Link


Link

Good win! Played a good road game and wow, Talbot looked like a beast out there. Give the man more starts!

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Backlund is headed for a subpar year, but only very slightly compared to his career averages. Last year was great at 21 goals. But the year before he had only 14, and this year isn't far off that mark (and I can chalk a few missed chances down to puck luck and confidence). He bracketed the 14 goal seasons between two season over 20 goals so the chances of a bounceback aren't bad. He's still only 30 and doesn't play a wear and tear game.

He's got a long contract that won't be valuable at the end, but I think his cap hit will be reasonable against his usage for 3 more years at least.

ETA: He was signed for less than Henrique, who is having a better year this year production wise but who never did before. Also less than Turris who is falling fast and has less production than Backlund.

His 1st and 2nd assist rates are spot on with his good seasons. He's just not scoring goals (until recently). Hopefully the streakiness continues and he ends up with 15 goals and 40 points ...

A 40 point forward comes in at 4.65M cap hit.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Bottom line though he's going to regress. Hopefully not that quickly.

That's the juggling act for a GM. The NFL model used by successful teams is that once aging players start to decline a team will move on regardless of him being a fan favorite, locker room intangibles, etc. NHL GM's aren't afforded the ability to just cut players with guaranteed contracts so a GM has a lot of variables to consider. Do you try to move him while he's still a useful player and weaken your team in the short term to avoid the long term pains? The GM job is much more difficult than most fans think it is. You see players like Lucic, Glencross, Frolik, Neal, Brouwer, etc decline quickly as they age and a GM can't afford to have too many of these guys associated with their roster while trying to build a contender. In regards to Backlund I do agree with what FDW said earlier in this thread in that he will assume the role Stajan did which is fine but the reality is that the team had a hole in it's top 6 with Backlund and with his drift to bottom 6 it's now created two holes in the top 6.