[PGT] Preds 2 Flames 1

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Joborule

I do agree with you that the current iteration of the Flames seems to be generating some apathy within the fanbase. I had a conversation with a friend where they typically go to a few Flames game per season, but has had no interest in doing so this season. And the Flames seem to be doing a lot of food/drinks promotions to try to encourage ticket sales. So I think that's a signal from there end that ticket sales isn't as easy this year compared to previous ones.

This season's Flames team is not an overly compelling or likeable team but winning cures all. If they can finish the season strong and have a little bit of playoff success it will stoke the fires for a time. I do think without Gaudreau and Tkachuk the team clearly lacks star power and kind of illustrates why the Flames probably should have worked harder to sign Gaudreau after the 2021 season. Players that sell tickets are arguably the most valuable thing to a small market organization like the Flames. They don't have that player now and if they aren't playing well and winning, they are a hard sell especially in these economic times.

I don't want to pile on Sutter but I don't think it's helping that he almost trolls fans at times with his player management and over reliance on veteran players in an era where fans really get excited about young prospects. It's okay if the team wins but when they are playing mediocre hockey it's not the way to encourage fans to pay ticket prices.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Hockey_Ninja

Missed this one. Judging by the posts Marky played well, a goal was deservingly called back, and the team didn’t play that badly

True mostly, except the team was really poor for the first 40 minutes, better for the last 20. Zadorov even called the team out after the 2nd period in a candid interview.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by Hockey_Ninja

and the team didn’t play that badly

Zadorov disagrees. You can't take the first two periods off and expect success.

[GioforPM]

Z starting to earn himself a letter.

[JohnnyB]

Yep, Flames are getting better on the ice and in the standings, but they're still kind of boring. The entertainment product is a huge step down from last year.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

This season's Flames team is not an overly compelling or likeable team but winning cures all. If they can finish the season strong and have a little bit of playoff success it will stoke the fires for a time. I do think without Gaudreau and Tkachuk the team clearly lacks star power and kind of illustrates why the Flames probably should have worked harder to sign Gaudreau after the 2021 season. Players that sell tickets are arguably the most valuable thing to a small market organization like the Flames. They don't have that player now and if they aren't playing well and winning, they are a hard sell especially in these economic times.

I don't want to pile on Sutter but I don't think it's helping that he almost trolls fans at times with his player management and over reliance on veteran players in an era where fans really get excited about young prospects. It's okay if the team wins but when they are playing mediocre hockey it's not the way to encourage fans to pay ticket prices.

How much the fans care is usually a pretty direct correlation to how much the players do.

So...

[Jiri Hrdina]

I don't see a lack of care on the team's part. I honestly don't. I see the parts not fitting together in the way everyone would hope.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

This is not, and has never been, remotely close to true, by any metric.

Flames fans are often pessimistic/negative, but this is miles better than the utter delusion and obnoxiousness of Oiler fans.

Twitter aside (on which there are a lot of obnoxious Flames fans), there are posters here even that are no better than Oiler fans. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it isn’t remotely close to true. A loss happens and the turds roll in. If you want to spend time sniffing them up close to see which ones smell worse, be my guest, but that doesn’t seem fun.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I don't see a lack of care on the team's part. I honestly don't. I see the parts not fitting together in the way everyone would hope.

I agree with this, but I think it plays into them getting frustrated and thus playing less hard as the game goes on. It's frustrating to watch them with such terrible chemistry on the ice, I imagine it would be horribly frustrating to play through.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I don't see a lack of care on the team's part. I honestly don't. I see the parts not fitting together in the way everyone would hope.

That was always the worry that having so much change, especially at the top, that it will take a bit. I think what probably frustrates people a bit more is that in the first couple weeks of the season it seemed to have clicked.

The question remains the same, how long do you keep trying, and does making a change work. Nothing can guarantee that bringing someone else in will magically make it click.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Hockey_Ninja

Missed this one. Judging by the posts Marky played well, a goal was deservingly called back, and the team didn’t play that badly

2 out of 3

The team did play badly. Zadorov agrees

You remember when Howdy Doody up north said the Flames threw a lot of pucks on net from the red line to boost shot totals, and lots of people got bent out of shape? The 21 third period shots were like that - if not in physical location, then in spirit. Saros got credit for a couple of pucks thrown on net from the neutral zone, shots he could see easily from the top of the circles.

Oh, I’m sure someone has a heat map, which would include a shot where Mangiapane was too close to the goalie and put it in his logo.

Nothing really dangerous. Saros wasn’t called on to make any highlight reel saves

Or maybe they didn’t play “badly”. Depends how you define it. Again, Zadorov thinks so. But they didn’t play well.

I saw too many dump ins as zone entries under no pressure and without pace to have a good chance to retrieve, easily handled by Nashville. Really ineffective game on the whole.

They earned their dismal 2.6 percent shooting percentage honestly

[Strange Brew]

It's hard to just watch games and conclude how much these guys care. I'd argue that 95% of "care" is measured by how hard they are working between games and in the off season and we are exposed to none of that.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I don't see a lack of care on the team's part. I honestly don't. I see the parts not fitting together in the way everyone would hope.

I never question the effort. Even with the parts that aren’t fitting together, they still show up and work hard every night - and I put a lot of that on Sutter’s presence. He gets his teams work ethic to the absolute ceiling.

I absolutely question the X and O’s of Darryl’s system and whether or not the shot volume approach is the correct path in today’s NHL and I guess we’ll see how that plays out come playoff time (if we make it).

At some point the team also needs to address the PP strategy. Consistently just not starting with the first unit/using players like Zadarov and Lucic on the PP just isn’t a long term solution. You can only get so mad at your best players/try and motivate them by not playing them before you just have to change approaches.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I don't see a lack of care on the team's part. I honestly don't. I see the parts not fitting together in the way everyone would hope.

The chemistry just isn't there right now and it will probably take all season and into next season if this is the roster to get that chemistry.

Lindholm, Gaudreau, Tkachuk all played together since 2018 so they built that chemistry over time. Didn't happen overnight. The same goes for Huberdeau in Florida he came up with the guys on those teams thats why it all clicked for them.

This is a brand new team and players for him. The same goes for Johnny and Tkachuck. Johnny is putting up points on a losing team thats much easier to do and Takchuck has a elite #1 C to play with in Florida and they had lower expectation.

The expectation in the offseason was this team got better, and we are trying to win and fit in new pieces on the team.

I also don't think Kadri is the linemate for Hubeardeau. He just doesn't distribute the puck on time when Hubedeau opens himself up to receive the pass and takes shots on net from the faceoff dots, or passes to the point. I think he had the highest % of passes that went to the point last season.

Huberdeau needs guys who go through the middle and distribute the puck to him so he gets it off his stick quick and to other streaking players. He just isn't being utilized properly right now. Starting to think the best option would be to play with Backlund and Mangiapane. Kadri skates by the boards too much.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I don't see a lack of care on the team's part. I honestly don't. I see the parts not fitting together in the way everyone would hope.

It's a team issue from coaching to the players. I think everyone cares and the players are trying but they haven't been able to adhere to the coach's system consistently and the coach probably isn't having his best season either as some of his decision making has not been great. Still plenty of teams have managed to put things together in the 2nd half of the season so it's a matter of continuing to chip away.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Last year, the Flames were top 5 in the league in both generating rush chances, and defending them

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/analyzi...hances/sn-amp/

Rounding out the top-five in scoring chance generation in transition are the Flames and Avalanche. Calgary ranks fourth in both rush chances and cycle shots, earning them the second seed behind the Panthers in slot shots per 60 with 24.9. Leading the way for the Flames? Johnny Gaudreau who is the best in the league on the rush thanks to his stellar puck-moving play. Andrew Mangiapane and Matthew Tkachuk also contribute to the team’s impressive rate, as they’re both in the top-50 in the league with their attempts.

The Flames limit their opponents to the lowest rate of slot shots off the rush, as they see just 4.55 attempts against per 60. Thanks to their goaltending, they also lead the league with the fewest rush goals against.

The article notes that data is from Sportlogiq, which is a subscription based service for hockey microstats

I would be quite interested to see the numbers this year.

Is anyone aware of public data sources for this type of data?

[Naitix]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Huberdeau needs guys who go through the middle and distribute the puck to him so he gets it off his stick quick and to other streaking players. He just isn't being utilized properly right now. Starting to think the best option would be to play with Backlund and Mangiapane. Kadri skates by the boards too much.

Sounds exactly what Matthew Phillips does

[Toonage]

The above comment about Huberdeau jogged my memory of a play last night that stood out. Issues with how Huberdeau plays and who he plays with right now in a microcosm.

I think it was the 3rd period?

Huberdeau was in the corner and fired a hard fast pass in front of the net where Lucic was, standing with his stick at his waist.

Just standing there. In front. Where he should be. But unprepared for the pass. Just gazing.

This isn't me blaming Lucic or piling on. But this is a problem with the team as a whole. Not clicking, seemingly unprepared, not on the same page.

Its been 5 months (pre-season included where Sutter made sure the vets all played together to seemingly avoid this type of situation).

[Teroy]

The Flames were out worked and out played for the first two periods and not much better in the third.

[Burning Beard]

Shout out to Chris Tanev for sticking with that play on the 4 on 1 and breaking it up when everyone else went off to change. That guy is easily my favorite Flame since Iggy.