Pick your Booms and Busts for 2016/2017 Season

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

That's all fine - but there are a lot of assumptions there - including that he plays on the first line.
He is a far more complete player than Hudler. And he's just simply a better player than David Jones
The facts Jones and Hudler are still looking for jobs and may have played their last NHL games.
That says it all

It says that they're both older than Brouwer.

It also says that they've both played on worse teams as of late. If Hudler/Jones and Troy Brouwer swapped teams last season, what would happen? Who would have scored more? Who would have contracts now?

Brouwer has a reputation as a consistently-solid performer because he's never played on a bad team. Hudler and Jones have played for terrible Flames and Avalanche teams in recent years.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

Has it been "filled" though? We still have arguably the worst top two line RW in the NHL and we actually downgraded in point production from Hudler. I mean I can barely think of a team off top of head (maybe NYI/COL/BOS?) that's much worse off at RW and even those teams have right-shot centremen (MacKinnon/Bergeron/Krejci) or high-end RW kids (Rantanen/Strome).

We still have a RW hole.

It isn't great but it's better than if they didn't have Brouwer.
What is the solution apart from paying a UFA?

[activeStick]

I guess it depends what your view of a boom and bust is... For me, a boom is any player who sees a significant improvement in their play or in the case for new roster players, comes in and becomes a key part of the team. For busts, someone that significantly disappoints in terms of their play.

Booms:

Bennett I think develops into a very serious threat to other teams as he battles with Johnny for team lead in points throughout the season.

Wideman performs as the team's number 3 defenceman for the entire season and plays on the top PP unit producing career highs before leaving the Flames as a free agent next summer.

Elliot performs at a number 1 goalie level and leads the league in statistical categories getting nominated for the Vezina and earning a contract extension by January.

Busts:

Wotherspoon disappoints despite being given every opportunity at the start of the year to earn a top 4 spot eventually getting overtaken by Wideman by mid November.

As a side note, I think Gaudreau establishes himself this year as a top 5 player in the league posting career highs in all categories. Not a boom to me though because I fully expect him to become one of the players in the elite category for many years to come, starting with this coming season.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

The expectations for Brouwer should largely be based on his historic performance

How do you explain voting for Ferland as biggest bust? He has 6 career NHL goals.

As for Brouwer I think he can maintain his historical performance for a year or two. It's impossible to know what other options there were for RW. Overpaying for UFA doesn't usually work out though. Particularly for a team that doesn't appear close to contending. But maybe they're closer than I think.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

How do you explain voting for Ferland as biggest bust? He has 6 career NHL goals.

As for Brouwer I think he can maintain his historical performance for a year or two. It's impossible to know what other options there were for RW. Overpaying for UFA doesn't usually work out though. Particularly for a team that doesn't appear close to contending. But maybe they're closer than I think.

Yup agreed with you. I guess the thing is if one's expectation of Ferland is for him to be a fixture in the top 6 then sure, he'll likely be bust, but then the question arises - why are you expecting Ferland to be a top 6 player?

I think the projection is too high for those tagging Ferland as a bust, thus the bust is inevitable.

[Bourque's Twin]

There's so much potential on this team. I feel that many players have a good chance of booming. Ferland, Chiasson, Brouwer, Bennett, Tkachuk, Shinkaruk, Hathaway, Poirier, Jankowski, Jokipakka, Hamilton, Wotherspoon, and more. Busts aren't as obvious as as in previous years. I think Bollig, Stajan, Engelland, and Bouma may have a tough time keeping up with the youth.

Biggest Booms: Ferland, Bennett, Tkachuk
Biggest Busts: Poirier, Stajan, Wotherspoon

[bax]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

It says that they're both older than Brouwer.

It also says that they've both played on worse teams as of late. If Hudler/Jones and Troy Brouwer swapped teams last season, what would happen? Who would have scored more? Who would have contracts now?

Brouwer has a reputation as a consistently-solid performer because he's never played on a bad team. Hudler and Jones have played for terrible Flames and Avalanche teams in recent years.

Are you being serious with this argument? I can't understand how anyone would prefer Jones or Hudler over Brouwer at this point in time.

Maybe Brouwer has played on good teams because he contributes lots of positive things to those teams?

But no, we should have just stayed the course and brought back David freakin Jones.

And then to argue it's because of their age? They are both barely one year older than Brouwer.

Brouwer brings way more to a team game than Jones or Hudler do. There is more to hockey than putting up points.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Which, quite frankly, has not been fantastic.

He's been consistent, yes, but he's been consistently decent, not consistently great. He's never once surpassed 45 points in a season, and we're expecting him to play on the first line, where he has yet to really be slotted in on a team's depth chart in his career. In Chicago, he was on the Bickell line. In Washington, he was on the 2nd line. Last year, he slotted in on the Lehtera line. Now we're expecting him to play with Gaudreau?

If you ask me, he'll be a more expensive, slightly-better-offensively David Jones. I liked David Jones, but he was wildly overpaid and by the end of his contract he was all but useless. Brouwer's the same age right now as Jones was at the end of his deal.

I don't care if you have to pay a premium to build through free agency. I know you think Hudler is small and slow, but he's still better offensively than Brouwer is and in my opinion he'd be a better fit on line one.

In my opinion, Brouwer will be a buyout candidate by year three of this deal.

I'll take that bet.

Brouwer is not David Jones. The only thing they have in common is contracts in the $4M range.

Jones never regained his play, post injuries.

Brouwer is a far more consistent player, as you yourself said. Where you got it wrong is blaming that on the fact that he has been on better teams. Sure he was on better teams, yet he managed to keep his position on 2nd lines. Why? Because he's a more consistent player.

[Bear]

Originally Posted by Bear

Booms:

Bennett - will be the flames best player on the road this season.
Jankowski - breaks camp and puts up massive PP points as a winger on the top line.
Chad Johnson - wins the starters job and is rewarded with a 5 year extension.
Shinkaruk - Puts up 50 points as 2nd line LW playing with Bennett and Brouwer.
Ferland - Has a 20/20 season playing with Backlund and Frolik.

Busts:

Monahan - Hits a plateau. Useful player and bust is too strong but CP begins to moan a bit.
Tkachuk - Looks way out of place in his 4 games in the show. Back to Juniors and puts up ~ 1.00 ppg.
Elliott - Beaten out by Johnson and traded for a 3rd at the TDL.
Gio - shows his age.

Originally Posted by jg13

I will eat pubes if this happens.

Getting nervous on this one yet?

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by Bear

Getting nervous on this one yet?

Aaron Ward hasn't manscaped in years, foaming at the mouth in anticipation.

[Gaskal]

A 5 year extension... interesting. 3 years as the de facto starter and the final 2 for backing Gillies up? I'd imagine Johnson wants to stay in Calgary as long as possible so that kind of term might not be out of the realm of possibility, and the Flames would be saving a bit of AAV. He's putting up very good numbers, slightly younger than Elliott, and clearly bleeds the Flames.