The Athletic coming to Calgary

[CofR]

So today we have that Wheeler piece on prospects, a statistical analysis of Sam Bennett, a piece from Wilson on five Flames who can make history this season... all to go with the mid season prospect rankings Pronman did, and that Ferland piece from yesterday.

Really good time to join for anyone still on the fence.

[nomad]

I subscribed a few months ago on one of those promo deals. Well worth it.

[longsuffering]

This is the thing that drives me nuts about The Athletic and why I'm not inclined to renew my subscription. January 17th and 18th they published a number of good Flames related articles - the one on prospects, a piece on Bennett and a great piece on Ferland. Since then four going on 5 days later, with 2 games in the books - NOTHING. Why?

Maybe it's just me but it looks like the Oilers get a lot more coverage with articles published almost daily. Why does the 25th place team get better coverage that a team that rattled off a 7 game win streak and has picked up points in 9 of 10 games? There's plenty to talk about.

The Flames are almost an afterthought and their coverage, despite having Duha and Kent Wilson covering them, is second rate. It GMG. Duha hasn't written a Flames piece since January 10th!

To boot, their Stampeders coverage this past season was non-existent.

I don't understand why The Athletic services the Calgary market so poorly.

[Freeway]

I'm 110% biased because I know most of the people involved in a few markets, but let's play Devil's Advocate here: Who should the Athletic hire to do daily Flames stuff? The media market here was small to begin with, and the buyouts and cutbacks throughout the market have really thinned out the bench. There were a lot of people to choose from in places like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Heck, even Edmonton. A lot less here.

[Table 5]

I'm not a subscriber, but it's pretty clear that The Athletic is to be seen as more of a magazine than a newspaper. It's there to give you more insightful long-form content that takes time to research and craft. It's not feasible to get that everyday without a massive staff.

If you want news and quick hits, that's what TSN/Sportsnet/CP is for.

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by Freeway

I'm 110% biased because I know most of the people involved in a few markets, but let's play Devil's Advocate here: Who should the Athletic hire to do daily Flames stuff? The media market here was small to begin with, and the buyouts and cutbacks throughout the market have really thinned out the bench. There were a lot of people to choose from in places like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Heck, even Edmonton. A lot less here.

That's the line Mirtle likes to throw out. Hiring writers isn't my problem, it's his but off the top of my head George Johnson might be one name to look at. I can't imagine he'd prefer to stay with CSEC.

Bottom line for me is that the Calgary market is under serviced by The Athletic and if they can't be bothered to address it they shouldn't expect subscribers from the area.

[sec304]

I saw an ad on fb saying "Today only 50% off"!!

[Toonage]

Ask and ye shall receive.

New article up now outlining which "ugly ducking" the Flames could target for RW

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I'm not a subscriber, but it's pretty clear that The Athletic is to be seen as more of a magazine than a newspaper. It's there to give you more insightful long-form content that takes time to research and craft. It's not feasible to get that everyday without a massive staff.

If you want news and quick hits, that's what TSN/Sportsnet/CP is for.

Agreed. I guess it's a fundamental disconnect on what people expect from The Athletic before signing up. I don't need a write-up on every game anyways...that's what the internet spews out by the dozens.

[driveway]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Ask and ye shall receive.

New article up now outlining which "ugly ducking" the Flames could target for RW

tl;dr of the article:

Wilson defines an "ugly duckling" as someone young and currently undervalued by their team, who could turn into a "swan" later. Provides Marc Savard as the prime example the Flames traded away and references Mikael Backlund as an example of one they kept.

Then lists potential targets for the Flames: Pavel Buchnevich (NYR), Josh Ho-Sang (NYI), Ondrej Kase (ANA), Joonas Donskoi (SJS), Martin Frk (DET).

Personally I'd trade any D prospect not named Fox + any other prospect for Buchnevich.

edit: not Parsons. I'd exclude Parsons as well.

[Flashpoint]

I subscribed to The Athletic on account of this thread, and boy, it's worth it for just Eric Duhatschek alone. What a great place for smart hockey articles.

It's like HBO vs broadcast TV, and for like $60/year. Love it.

[chummer]

Originally Posted by Flashpoint

I subscribed to The Athletic on account of this thread, and boy, it's worth it for just Eric Duhatschek alone. What a great place for smart hockey articles.

It's like HBO vs broadcast TV, and for like $60/year. Love it.

Duhatschek is worth the price of admission.

If I was the Flames I would ask him what he was making and offer him a job at triple his salary. His knowledge is amazing.

[Svartsengi]

Originally Posted by chummer

Duhatschek is worth the price of admission.

If I was the Flames I would ask him what he was making and offer him a job at triple his salary. His knowledge is amazing.

Wasn't there some talk many years ago of doing just that?. I think it was when Craig Button was GM and having Duha as Assistant GM or am I mixing it up. Would like to add Eric to the staff for sure.

[Table 5]

FYI I see a 50% off promo ad on Instagram today.

[savemedrzaius]

Really good interview with Scrivens. He mentions how he could have got a spot in the NHL but as a 3rd string goalie this season but went to the KHL because it was a lot more money.

Talks about playing in Russia and the politics involved.

[CofR]

The Bourne piece from yesterday about the Flames collapse on Tuesday was really really good

[CofR]

And coverage in Cincinnati, New York, and Dallas is launching this month as well

[Tinordi]

The shocking decline of TJ Brodie:

https://theathletic.com/226473/2018/...-of-tj-brodie/

The task for the Flames organization now is to try to understand if Brodie can be salvaged or not. Would switching him back to the right help him be more comfortable? Is he the type of defender who can still excel with a high-quality partner, but can't anchor a pairing on his own? Or is he on some kind of irreversible slide downwards?

[curves2000]

I can't help but take the players at their word in a few of these cases instead G.G's who I personally think is way over his head in terms of coaching.

A few seasons ago when Gio and Brodie were considered a top pairing and were getting lots and lots of attention league wide both players were honest. Gio was selected to go to 2 All-Star games and was in constant "Norris Trophy" caliber conversations and in many interviews I saw him give, he would ALWAYS praise just how good his D partner (Brodie) was and how much of the heavy lifting he did.

In interviews with Brodie he would always talk about how much he prefers to play on his off-side and how comfortable he was there despite it being different than what most players are used to.

Bob Hartley ran with these two guys and would play them 25+ and sometimes almost 30 minutes a night and they were successful. We now keep seeing and reading about results that don't align with a player who was deemed to be excellent a little while ago and now seems lost a lot of the nights out there. Do I think Brodie's hockey sense and abilities disappeared off a cliff? I doubt it but there has to be something that is causing the decline.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

The shocking decline of TJ Brodie:

https://theathletic.com/226473/2018/...-of-tj-brodie/

This one needs it's own thread IMO.