[News] Flames recall Ortio

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Dr. Doom

Can someone explain the rationale to me here?

Hiller is not signed beyond this season.
Neither is Ramo...
There is NO OTHER plan to have any NHL goaltenders that we are aware of...
We are far enough out of a playoff spot.

....................

so that leaves Ortio to be given a run to prove whether he's capable of NHL or not.
And yet we aren't starting him and giving him a bunch of games here?

Count me extremely confused and dumbfounded. It defies logic to me.
Please tell me they aren't considering re-signing Hiller, PLEASE!

It baffles me that people expect the coach to dress players as if he was the GM. He isn't the GM, he's the coach. He's paid to win NHL games, not test drive players mid-season to see what we've got. He's a professional and he's gonna ice the best lineup possible until he's forced to not do so. Until we drop out of the race completely or Treliving admits the season is done we will continue to see Hartley put his best lineup out. And given the careers of Ortio and Hiller it's pretty clear that Hiller deserves the net until he proves he doesn't. Now Hartley does like to juggle goalies sometimes and Hiller certainly has the capability of putting a couple stinkers in a row so I think there's still some chance we do see a bit of Ortio before we pull the plug on the season.

But yeah, everybody who wants us to test drive players right now is just gonna have to be patient and wait a week or two or three until we're actually out of the playoff race because we aren't yet. Hartley is a professional coach who isn't test driving players mid season like this is preseason, he's paid to win NHL games and he's going to try and do his fricking job. Once they officially pull the plug on the season Treliving can mandate that Hartley test out all the guys we wanna see. Until that point expecting him to dress Nakladal ahead of Engelland or Ortio ahead of Hiller isn't realistic.

[Da_Chief]

The problem is if they still believe they have a chance at playoffs then go out and get a goalie. Hiller doesn't do anything except suck.

But if they're being honest with themselves and know playoffs are a long shot then play Ortio, if he stinks send him down and give Poulin a shot. See if either has future of more then an AHLer.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

The problem is if they still believe they have a chance at playoffs then go out and get a goalie. Hiller doesn't do anything except suck.

But if they're being honest with themselves and know playoffs are a long shot then play Ortio, if he stinks send him down and give Poulin a shot. See if either has future of more then an AHLer.

And there's still time to do that after we've pulled the plug on the season post trade deadline. Maybe I'm mistaken but I thought there was over a month of the season left after the trade deadline. Plenty of time to test drive a lot of players.

As for acquiring a goalie, that move may happen at the deadline but is probably more likely to happen in the offseason.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

The problem is if they still believe they have a chance at playoffs then go out and get a goalie. Hiller doesn't do anything except suck.

But if they're being honest with themselves and know playoffs are a long shot then play Ortio, if he stinks send him down and give Poulin a shot. See if either has future of more then an AHLer.

I am personally not ready to accept this reality. Rolling over and dying with 30 games to play does not sit well with me.

Sending the message to the players that it's OK to lose because we're still young, learning, and rebuilding can be a dangerous formula that can ingrain a losing mentality into the young players minds.

Granted, the Flames have sucked for many years, but purposefully sucking they have not done.

[Da_Chief]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I am personally not ready to accept this reality. Rolling over and dying with 30 games to play does not sit well with me.

Sending the message to the players that it's OK to lose because we're still young, learning, and rebuilding can be a dangerous formula that can ingrain a losing mentality into the young players minds.

Granted, the Flames have sucked for many years, but purposefully sucking they have not done.

This notion of playing younger guys equals losing is quite irritating. They will still have Giordano, Brodie, Hamilton, Monahan, Gaudreau, Backlund, Bennett.

How is that saying roll over and die? Hiller at this stage of his career is no better then Ortio/Poulin. Playing Hiller is accepting the season is toast. We've seen what he is and what the Flames will get out of him.

Players aren't stupid, they know the situation the team is in. Trading the like of Russell, Hudler etc isn't going to all the sudden make the remaining players question the management's motive. They know these guys are UFAs and might not come back, so might as well get an asset if they can.

The core of this team, led by the captain isn't moving. The complimentary pieces have to be better then what they are right now. If the core of this team, which is going to cost the Flames roughly ~35 million next year, cannot get the complimentary pieces around them to be better then they need to re-evaluate.

A lot of people want to model the Flames after the Hawks. Guess what? they trade out complimentary pieces every summer, does that mean they are accepting a losing season? Granted the Flames are no where near the Hawks status but if a top team can afford to try younger players, why can't the Flames? what is that going to hurt? We might lose 20 of the remaining 30 instead of 15? Or the young guy might just take the opportunity and run with it and become an important piece for next few years.

Prime example is Engelland and Smid pairing, they sucked in San Jose, they sucked in Arizona. The team allowed 9 goals in those 2 games. Instead of seeing Nakladal a chance to see if he's any better, Hartley wants to keep going back to the lineup that is 4 points out of last in the NHL.

We have been losing all year, except December, with this lineup. You might think it's time for a change.

Lastly, I haven't heard Hartley say "Always Earned, Never Given" in awhile. Cuz quite frankly, he wouldn't be able to.