[News] Lambert: Why Calgary Flames window could slam shut

[Love]

Originally Posted by SebC

A lot of ad hominem attacks in this thread. All the "Lambert sucks" posts do nothing to contribute to quality discussion on CalgaryPuck. If he's as dumb as you say, it should be easy to tear him apart using actual things from the article posted.

Hold yourselves to a higher standard, CP.

Hey Ryan didn't know you posted on here

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by SebC

A lot of ad hominem attacks in this thread. All the "Lambert sucks" posts do nothing to contribute to quality discussion on CalgaryPuck. If he's as dumb as you say, it should be easy to tear him apart using actual things from the article posted.

Hold yourselves to a higher standard, CP.

Lambert deserves headline news of suckage but all we got is CP, his lip service against the flames is becoming a total joke, Someone should tell Norris winner Brent Burns it's all down hill now since he's only a year younger than Mark(very old) Giordano

He's a hack and if I could, I would write him a message in pink lipstick on his windshield telling him so

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by SebC

A lot of ad hominem attacks in this thread. All the "Lambert sucks" posts do nothing to contribute to quality discussion on CalgaryPuck. If he's as dumb as you say, it should be easy to tear him apart using actual things from the article posted.

Hold yourselves to a higher standard, CP.

Lambert is more than one bad article. We're talking about the same guy who argued that Mark Jankowski, leading scorer of his team and the first Friars player to hit 40 points in 13 years, and Hockey East 1st All-Star, NCAA All-Tournament Team, two-wayer center........................... was a 3rd liner on his team whose coach didn't trust him.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Freeway

If the idea was Treliving didn't want to gamble a year of his core "going for it" on an untested starting goaltender, the guys available were basically Ben Bishop, Marc-Andre Fleury and Mike Smith. He went with the guy he knew the most with the lowest acquisition cost.

Smith is a gamble too though IMO, without a lot of upside. Many starting goalies and established backups have changed teams during Treliving's tenure. He has had a ton of options.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by SebC

A lot of ad hominem attacks in this thread. All the "Lambert sucks" posts do nothing to contribute to quality discussion on CalgaryPuck. If he's as dumb as you say, it should be easy to tear him apart using actual things from the article posted.

Hold yourselves to a higher standard, CP.

You should really re-read some of the past things he's written that were posted in this thread. At some point, lack of credibility will plague any journalist. If you haven't built up any credibility, you don't deserve the privilege of having intelligent debate.

If and when Lambert finally decides to write a balanced article with accurate analysis, I'll begin to debate the points he makes without reservation. Until then, he gets a big fat middle finger from me.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Five-hole

Outside of the top 6, the Flames will struggle to score.



.... Yeah.



Just like every other team.

Except they won't because they sure as hell didn't last year. The Flames were one of only two or three teams with +10 goal scorers to register +10 goals. I maintain that the Flames' most glaring issues with scoring the past season had to do with a "good," but far from "great" year from their top line.

I think concerns about scoring are overblown.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

If I were a Calgary fan I'd be upset with the goal tending solution as well.

I think the writer wasn't wrong in identifying that the Flames are in a window to potentially put themselves over the top and they defaulted to a what is in my opinion a goal tending solution with very limited upside.

Giordano likely has 1-3 years left as an impact player if we go by the general history of NHL players of all types. Father time gets them all.

If the Flames are wanting to push to win while he is still a top 10-20 D-man, they need to do it now. There is no guarantee that either Brodie or Hamilton develop into that guy.

I think they would have been better served paying the price and getting a good young goalie with upside. It would have cost a lot for sure, but would have been worth it IMO.

The Flames have the top rated goaltender outside the NHL in Parsons and another top goaltending prospect in Gillies. I'm lukewarm on Smith but at the same time the acquisition cost was fairly low and it's fair to assume the Flames have a franchise goaltender in waiting so how much do you really want to give up for another team's backup goaltender that may or may not be able to handle the load of a starting goaltender?

[codynw]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

The Flames have the top rated goaltender outside the NHL in Parsons and another top goaltending prospect in Gillies. I'm lukewarm on Smith but at the same time the acquisition cost was fairly low and it's fair to assume the Flames have a franchise goaltender in waiting so how much do you really want to give up for another team's backup goaltender that may or may not be able to handle the load of a starting goaltender?

Okay Jay Feaster. He looks real good so far, but can we see him play at least like half a season in the AHL before throwing out stuff like that? Goalies are weird. Remember when Jack Campbell was the top rated goalie prospect in the world?

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by codynw

Okay Jay Feaster. He looks real good so far, but can we see him play at least like half a season in the AHL before throwing out stuff like that? Goalies are weird. Remember when Jack Campbell was the top rated goalie prospect in the world?

Was Jack Campbell ever actually well thought after his draft? It seems like he went from hero to absolute zero in the course of like 2 months.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by codynw

Okay Jay Feaster. He looks real good so far, but can we see him play at least like half a season in the AHL before throwing out stuff like that? Goalies are weird. Remember when Jack Campbell was the top rated goalie prospect in the world?

Hockey News has him as the top goaltending prospect in their future watch issue. I feel like this guy will translate because he's not only a good goaltender, he's a winner winning at every level.

[1991 Canadian]

If this sort of article was written about the Flames in the mid to late 2000s, I would have agreed with it. Kipper, Iggy, Regehr weren’t getting any younger. The Flames were trading away futures to “win now” at a time when the prospect base was pretty mediocre. The door was closing and management was doing everything they could to keep it propped open.

But this article is 3 to 5 years too soon for this current iteration of the Flames. For the next 3 years the Flames are in great shape, and likely a few more after as well.
-They have a young, cost controlled core
-Gio is likely going to be able to perform up to his contract for the next 3 years (after that, who knows)
-They have great defensive and goaltending prospects, and the odd forward prospect that could surprise some people. Tkachuk is producing like a $5 million dollar player, yet he’s on an ELC for the next two years. Jankowski and Foo will likely outproduce their ELC’s. The defensive prospects will provide solid depth value when they start cracking the lineup for the Flames.
-Goaltending is a concern, but if Smith/Lack don’t work out, hopefully one of Parsons, Gillies or Rittich does. This is one area where I am jealous of the likes of Edmonton and Toronto as they have their starter for the foreseeable future.

There will come a time when the pundits can write “the door is closing” articles about the Flames again. But the Flames aren’t at that stage in the development cycle.

[Geeoff]

Most of this was opinion but the part about "not spending to the ceiling" is factually inaccurate, since the Flames routinely spend over the ceiling...

[Major Major]

Originally Posted by SebC

A lot of ad hominem attacks in this thread. All the "Lambert sucks" posts do nothing to contribute to quality discussion on CalgaryPuck. If he's as dumb as you say, it should be easy to tear him apart using actual things from the article posted.

Hold yourselves to a higher standard, CP.

Lambert is Eric Francis on steroids. I, like many cpers, can only comment on the quoted part of the article out of a refusal to support him or any website he is related with for that matter. He has a pattern of inflaming a fan base from an uneducated vantage point. He amuses himself by cultivating half truths or blatant lies about a team he clearly hates to frame them negatively at every step.

So does anyone here need to do anything with a Lambert article other than dismiss it and him as complete garbage? Nope

With that said, I'm to understand from the quoted bits that his central point is the flames management wasn't ambitious enough this off season? Larf. Made biggest acquisition and best trade of any team. Somehow, Lambert doesn't think that upgrading wideman with Hamonic did anything. It was as big a hole as was in net and I think bigger. Wideman was by far the worst player on the team last year every single game. As soon as he stopped playing EVERYONE on the team got better. Goalies, dmen and forwards all improved measurably at that exact moment.

He makes stuff up about the age of our core, ignores that we have one of the strongest prospect groups in the league, and tries to make an argument for us being worse without chiaisson.

Ya, I get it, some here wanted tre to trade for Price. It's definitely an issue that persists. I feel like we went over about 30 options in net, and all of them sucked. Smith/lack is a lateral move or mild improvement. And it fits the flames timeline. They can be a great team with an average goalie and every other position has been improved.

So ya, that article sucks like all the rest of his. Next time I see his name pop up, I will attack him ad hominem, read the quoted bits and roll my eyes with disdain.

[Sainters7]

Sounds like an American hockey blogger who knows how to get clickbait in the dog days of hockey summer: pick on the Canadian teams. I look forward to his Top 10 Reasons Why Auston Matthews Will Request A Trade This Summer article next week.

[bzoo02]

Uhhh

[Harry Lime]

Lambert managed to write an article about the Flames window closing, on the eve of the Flames window opening for about the next three years. He is trying to take the wind out of sails, and if he was on the other side he would write an article titled, "McDavid, It's all Downhill from Here".

[FlamesFanTrev]

Originally Posted by Major Major

Ya, I get it, some here wanted tre to trade for Price. It's definitely an issue that persists. I feel like we went over about 30 options in net, and all of them sucked. Smith/lack is a lateral move or mild improvement. And it fits the flames timeline. They can be a great team with an average goalie and every other position has been improved.

Too right. And that's another issue with this article. One might even say that it was the kinda move a GM would make when he saw the window starting to open, not already closing. We have goalie prospects expected in the next year or two. Why trade a member or two of the young core or good prospects to get another teams castoff goaltender, that they couldn't protect during expansion? You cant plug a hole by making another one. Instead he got two other teams to pay a portion of our goaltending costs this year, and give some time to the young guys coming up. People think that it never occurred to Treliving that's its probable that Smith gets injured? Or that there is a at least a 50% possibility that Lack is the craptastic Lack of the last two years? I don't think Treliving is that secure in his position as GM, that he's essentially putting this entire season down on 1 spin on the roulette wheel, all in, on 22 Black. This years goalie tandem, I think, shows that the Organization has great faith in the three guys coming up, that they have lots of things they can try, should things not go according to hope. And if Smith and Lack both play alright, it gives the flames a little more time to evaluate Gillies and Ritich, and see which one your moving this year (guessing for a prospect right winger).

To me, this is the exact move a savy GM makes when he sees the contention window legitimately opening, not this upcomming season, but next season. I'm sure Treliving expects them to push and make some noise no doubt, but he strikes me as a realist. Does a realist actually expect to see a cup in Calgary this year? No, too optimistic. He has cost certainty on his main core for 5+ years, and the supporting cast for 3+ (with the notable exception of Bennett and Backland at the moment). Seems like he's put all the ingredients in the pot, and this year is about letting the flavours come together. Me, I'll bet on Trelivings Plan vs. Laberts Prognostication any day of the week. If he was any good at seeing the future, as he claims to be, he would be working for a hockey club, gazing into his crystal ball 20 hours a day, making mad money. Instead, we have a collection of digital flaming trash that proves, chrologically, that he is no Kreskin.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Freeway

If the idea was Treliving didn't want to gamble a year of his core "going for it" on an untested starting goaltender, the guys available were basically Ben Bishop, Marc-Andre Fleury and Mike Smith. He went with the guy he knew the most with the lowest acquisition cost.

Exactly ...

He needed to find a fine line between bolstering the goaltending spot, but not blocking the way for the stable of prospects to emerge for the next 7 years.

The Smith thing if you read between the lines is about mental toughness. Elliott was very inconsistent last year (tough start, tough finish, great middle), and from what I've heard it was mental. He wanted it so bad that he churned himself into a mess.

Smith is older, no doubt about it. There is risk in that he breaks down. But there is far less risk in his mental toughness to be a starter and give the team what they need; a solid goaltender, not the game's first star every night.

The numbers suggest a lateral move, though high danger shots suggest an upgrade, but the real change is putting a true starter in net that can provide more consistency to the position and let the rest of the roster do their thing.

I think he's done that, and I was saying Smith well before they actually went out and got him.

[Enoch Root]

Very well said, Bingo. And I agree with you 100%

Anyone simply analyzing this by the numbers and calling it a lateral move hasn't considered where the Flames are at this point in their progression.

[---Hatrick---]

First off I'd like to say, Wow... I've never read an article that screamed TROLL so loud and clear. He really seemed to reach on several points and either he is incredibly un educated with The Flames or he is trying to paint an extremely murky picture of the team for other uneducated Flames fans to read.

What really blew my mind was that he mentions the Flames lack of ability to develop players and lack of quality players in the system developing currently. Any educated Flames fan would know that a number of quality players are on the roster currently that were drafted by the Flames. Part of this is simply due to the quality of player drafted and you can call some of them "sure thing" NHLers, however players like Ferland, Brodie, Bouma, Backlund all had to earn their spot on this team as well as their ice time.
Also, no mention of the 4 potential top 4 D men, one of who is being compared to Gio himself, who we have recently drafted and are developing rather niceley I would say. So, yes. Gio may be getting old and will likely become significantly less effective in the comming years and that will really suck to lose him. Having these 4 players developing and constantly improving will soften that blow. Not to mention that they can also become very nice trade chips.

The potential of Gillies, and more so Parsons in my opinion of becoming a good number 1 for us is a very real possibility. We will have to wait and see what we have in them, but it feels damn good to have them both in the system.

As there are no sure fire blue chip forward prospects in the system, you have to like how Jankowski has developed. He's a player that can really bolster our lineup if he translates his game to the NHL. Guys like Shinkaruk, Mangiapane, Porrier, Klimchuk, Foo, Phillips, Hathaway can all potentially become effective NHLers one day as well.

To conclude, the Flames are still no Detroit when it comes to developing bonafide everday NHL players, but to say they have nothing in the pipeline, as this Lambert suggests is completely laughable and shows how unlnowledgable he is of this team, or just how much of a troll he is