Kevin Rooney: the Flames' Barclay Goodrow? - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

TheScorpion · 10-04-2022, 02:08 PM

Alright, alright, alright. After a summer of largely ignoring the Kevin Rooney signing — there was a lot of other stuff going on, you might've heard — I finally had my first opportunity to watch the guy in a Flames game last night.

He was great. Excellent, even. Someone mentioned a Barclay Goodrow comparison to me, while my mind immediately went to Garnet Hathaway. He fit in like a glove next to Backlund and Coleman and helped that line dominate.

Rooney is coming off a year in New York where his line was absolutely flattened at both ends of the ice. Before that, he was able to carve out a niche as a strong suppressor with the Devils, where he played with Coleman.

The preseason is the preseason. Tanner Glass had a great camp once upon a time. Rooney might not be any good when the games start to matter. But ... after finally taking a closer look at him — and seeing those wheels on him — I think there's a chance he could represent a decent step up from the underwhelming depth players the Flames have had since Hathaway left as a UFA.

I wrote more about this here ... https://flamesnation.ca/news/kevin-r...cklund-coleman

ForeverFlameFan · 10-04-2022, 02:11 PM

I think he and Ruzicka can alternate 3rd line LW/4th line center with Rooney getting the bulk of the 3rd line duties with Backlund and Coleman.

EDIT: also forgot we have Zohorna too

Reggie Dunlop · 10-04-2022, 02:46 PM

Sutter loves him because he's gritty.

Groot · 10-04-2022, 02:56 PM

Huberdeau - Lindholm - Toffoli
Mangiapane - Kadri - Dube
Rooney - Backlund - Coleman
Lucic - Ruzicka - Zohorna
Lewis

Swap Rooney/Zahorma as needed. Ruzicka and Lewis both take times as the 13th forward.

joejoe3 · 10-04-2022, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

I think he and Ruzicka can alternate 3rd line LW/4th line center with Rooney getting the bulk of the 3rd line duties with Backlund and Coleman.

EDIT: also forgot we have Zohorna too

keep Ruzicka at Center, he didn't perform well as a winger.

Huberdeau - Lindholm - Toffoli
Mangiapane - Kadri - Dube
Rooney - Backlund - Coleman
Lucic - Ruzicka - Zohorna

Paulie Walnuts · 10-04-2022, 03:04 PM

If he can be Goodrow that would be great, but does he play with the same type of game in terms of being physical along the boards? He seems more quiet and checks effectively with positioning and stick work.

The team played with better pace last year, but I didn't think we had fast or quick players for the most part. This year it seems like we have a faster team, maybe not as much on the 4th line but the top 3 lines have speed.

I don't think Lewis will be replaced easily just because Sutter trusts him a lot, and he is a big part of the PK.

SebC · 10-04-2022, 03:07 PM

Did not realise he's already played with Coleman. That should help chemistry a bit.

SuperMatt18 · 10-04-2022, 03:17 PM

Pretty sure I'm the "someone" in your initial post but I think there were two things that Rooney's play really sparked in my mind last night.

1) The Goodrow-Gourde-Coleman line.

I remember being flabbergasted when Tampa gave up the picks they did to get Goodrow. This was a guy who had never scored more than 8 goals or 24 points in a season, didn't have amazing underlying stats, and they gave up a 1st and a prospect for him.

Rooney is a similar size to Goodrow, has similar career stats now to what Goodrow had when he moved from San Jose to Tampa, and think the could fill similar roles on a defensive shutdown line.

2) Garnet Hathaway

I think a big part of this was just the number 21, because I don't see Rooney being as physical or agitating as Hathaway but in terms of size and how they moved around the ice they looked really similar. Looking at the numbers and he throws about half the hits that Hathaway does (7.71 hits per 60, vs 15.24 hits per 60) but he's still somewhat physical (hit rate similar to Bennett, and Goodrow)

Hathaway really developed into a great role player and if Rooney can replicate that then he's a good fit on that line with Backlund and Coleman.

I'd be intrigued to see what he does with better linemates and more minutes this year too...his career shooting percentage of 10.2% is actually very strong for a bottom 6 foward. If he could generate more volume he could pop a bit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SebC

Did not realise he's already played with Coleman. That should help chemistry a bit.

They played 67 minutes together over their two seasons together in New Jersey, so they "played together" and would know one another but it's not like they were frequent linemates.

Tkachukwagon · 10-04-2022, 03:20 PM

I know you don't have control over this Scorp, but the Flamesnation website is tough to read with four autoplay ads running and banner ads taking up half the screen. I think I'd be a much more regular reader without all the 'noise' from the ads.

TheScorpion · 10-04-2022, 03:43 PM

Hmmmm. I'll pass along the concerns. Are you on mobile? We're still working out the kinks from our site redesign

Enoch Root · 10-04-2022, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

If he can be Goodrow that would be great, but does he play with the same type of game in terms of being physical along the boards? He seems more quiet and checks effectively with positioning and stick work.

The team played with better pace last year, but I didn't think we had fast or quick players for the most part. This year it seems like we have a faster team, maybe not as much on the 4th line but the top 3 lines have speed.

I don't think Lewis will be replaced easily just because Sutter trusts him a lot, and he is a big part of the PK.

Exactly - they weren't slow, aggregately, but they weren't a team of burners either, by any stretch. They simply played a fast, uptempo game.

Let's compare this team to last year, for actual speed: in / out (my speed rating in brackets)..

Huberdeau (7) / Gaudreau (8) slight downgrade here
Kadri (9) / Tkachuk (3) from one of the slowest to a burner
Weegar (7) / Gudranson (6) Guds wasn't slow, but Weegar is more mobile
Rooney (8) / Monahan (5) big upgrade
Zohorna (?) / Pitlick, Jarnkrok (6 on avg) another upgrade I think but need to see more of Z

Overall, we lost one fast player (Gaudreau), one good skater (Guds), and a whole bunch of mudders, for a group of guys who can all skate, a couple of which are downright fast.

playing Sutter's uptempo game, with faster players, is going to be FUN!

TheScorpion · 10-04-2022, 03:48 PM

I would have Pitlick at around a 2, for what it's worth. I thought his skating was a huge impediment to the success of pretty much any line he was on.

Enoch Root · 10-04-2022, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I would have Pitlick at around a 2, for what it's worth. I thought his skating was a huge impediment to the success of pretty much any line he was on.

Yeah, I think you're right. I was remembering him as kind of fast, but it's foggy. Jarnkrok was definitely not a burner. On average, maybe they were more of a 5

Paulie Walnuts · 10-04-2022, 03:57 PM

Pitlick was awful yes looked like he was skating in mud. Even Meloche looks to have better boots than Gudbranson.

As for volume and shooting percentage Rooney is in the perfect system for that, if he can cash in on our shot volume his goals should go up. I think we finished 3rd in shots for last season.

Bingo · 10-04-2022, 04:10 PM

Well written article Scorp ... really flowed well.

Dying to know what the line rushes are like tomorrow morning (if they have them). Does Zohorna get a look with the top four lines? Do they stick with the top nine from last night?

Would have to think the Dube experiment in the top six was considered a success.

Harry Lime · 10-04-2022, 04:23 PM

I'd think that they brought is zohorna to play. Also having ruzicka there to smooth over any translation issues should really help. I'm counting on Lewis being a pros pro and ok being the 13th forward.

Lucic-ruzicka-zohorna is a massive and scary line, with some real offensive skill hiding there, as well.

dino7c · 10-04-2022, 04:31 PM

Respect to anyone that was down on the guy but willing to admit they might be wrong and put their bias aside.

Rooney has been one of the best Flames in camp

Even last night as he was dominating the game people were crapping on him in the GT

agulati · 10-04-2022, 04:48 PM

Really liked Rooney’s game watching him live last night. Hopefully he is able to continue showing well on the wing with Backlund-Coleman. Has a 2 year contract as well, so not just here for the season.

bigrangy · 10-04-2022, 04:49 PM

Aside from never being any good anywhere he’s ever played, yeah totally. If Rooney contributes 20 points and ends up with a positive relative goals for % then a parade should be thrown for whoever scouted him.

Even this pre-season he’s been mostly bad in the 3 games I’ve watched. Even last night he was terrible in the first, and then played adequate hockey for two periods and got credit for an assist because Martin Jones isn’t an NHL goalie. He has been noticeably strong on the PK at least which is a positive at least.

But whining doesn’t change anything, he’s here for the rest of the competitive window here so I hope he’s awesome and about to have a later career breakout.

gvitaly · 10-04-2022, 04:53 PM

I think he’s just low maintenance, and Sutter likes his low maintenance players.

I think he will be a good consistent checker. He needs to work a little on his finish, if he improves he could turn into what Lewis was for the Kings(a 10-12goal 3rd liner that pushes the play up the ice, and has an important role).