Call up Phillips! Now!

[Mathgod]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

If you’re worried about his size wouldn’t the best place for him be opposite Lucic?

Lucic-Ruzicka-Phillips 4th line. Now that would be a sight to behold.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

Was signed to a one year contract knowing he would be a UFA at the end of the contract unless he played pretty much the whole season with the big club? Was a make it out of camp contract. Didn’t happen. You can do the math.

If you're suggesting they won't call him up because of his contract, I don't know what to say to you. They will call him up if they think he can help the team. Or they won't, if they don't. His being a UFA is completely irrelevant to that decision.

[Mindtravellee]

You need to be given a shot to show you make it out of camp. I don't think he even played with Pelletier, Rose and himself. Playing with 4th line plugs and not NHL Ready players isn't really showing anything.

Iirc Phillips got the most preseason games ever at 2...

[TheScorpion]

You'd think the Flames would have simply cut ties with Phillips outright last summer if they were as disenchanted with him as Lanny suggests.

[FormerPresJamesTaylor]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

Was signed to a one year contract knowing he would be a UFA at the end of the contract unless he played pretty much the whole season with the big club? Was a make it out of camp contract. Didn’t happen. You can do the math.

Is that based on NHL game played or something? Most sites list him as an RFA at the end of the year.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by FormerPresJamesTaylor

Is that based on NHL game played or something? Most sites list him as an RFA at the end of the year.

Yeah because he'll be 25 with fewer than 80 career games played, he'll be a Group 6 UFA. Same situation as how Michael Bunting left the Coyotes to sign with Toronto.

Originally Posted by CapFriendly

What is a Group 6 UFA?
A player whose contract is expiring and meets all of the following conditions will become an unrestricted free agent (UFA):
The player is 25 years or older (as of June 30th of the calendar year the contract is expiring).
The player has completed 3 or more professional seasons - qualified by 11 or more professional games (for an 18/19 year old player), or 1 or more professional games (for a player aged 20 or older). This can include NHL, minor league, and European professional league seasons played while under an SPC.
The player has played less than 80 NHL games, or 28 NHL games of 30 minutes or greater for a goaltender.

[Mindtravellee]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

You'd think the Flames would have simply cut ties with Phillips outright last summer if they were as disenchanted with him as Lanny suggests.

Yep, instead of giving him a payrise

[442scotty]

Philips certainly has NHL skill. No one doubts that. Can he up his speed to NHL levels though. That’s the only thing other than his size that I think would hold him back. He needs to come up and work with the big club. Hes maxed out in the A

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

You'd think the Flames would have simply cut ties with Phillips outright last summer if they were as disenchanted with him as Lanny suggests.

I don’t think they are disenchanted with him either. Sutter reacted to a silly question, as others have said.

I wouldn’t be shocked if he signed here again, with a nice fat AHL salary. Even if I don’t see him the way you do I’d agree he’s going to get a 2 way deal somewhere. Local kid. Good citizen working with the prospects.
And lots can happen between November and April.

For he and the team this is probably way less contentious than fans think. Teams don’t throw away picks. They invested in him and he knows it. He’s developed about as well as you can expect a guy his size to. I imagine both sides will be pretty rational.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by Bend it like Bourgeois

I don’t think they are disenchanted with him either. Sutter reacted to a silly question, as others have said.

I wouldn’t be shocked if he signed here again, with a nice fat AHL salary. Even if I don’t see him the way you do I’d agree he’s going to get a 2 way deal somewhere. Local kid. Good citizen working with the prospects.
And lots can happen between November and April.

For he and the team this is probably way less contentious than fans think. Teams don’t throw away picks. They invested in him and he knows it. He’s developed about as well as you can expect a guy his size to. I imagine both sides will be pretty rational.

Phillips is going to go where his best chance to make the NHL is and it’s currently very obvious this is not Calgary. This is probably more contentious than fans think, but on one side only (his, not the Flames) as he’s done everything he’s been asked for.

I think if the Flames want to re-sign him, they have about a month or two to call him up before he likely gets so disenchanted he likely looks elsewhere purposefully and with a strong desire to leave.

[Reggie Dunlop]

If he's offered the Wranglers' captaincy after Brett Sutter retires, he'll probably stay.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

If you're suggesting they won't call him up because of his contract, I don't know what to say to you. They will call him up if they think he can help the team. Or they won't, if they don't. His being a UFA is completely irrelevant to that decision.

Completely disagree. I think his contract status will influence who they call up. Phillips is not guaranteed to come up and be a scoring machine like some are suggesting. It is more likely a player of his stature comes up and does very little, unable to compete with the quicker and much bigger players. The road to the NHL is littered with small players in the exact same situation, including last season's AHL scoring champ, Andrew Poturalski. I think the team would much rather invest that possible development time in a player that has potential to help out in more roles and will be with the team longer term, learning from the call up. I would think they are better off with Zary, Jones, or Pelletier getting the time, and are better options to help the team now and in the future. If they are looking to call up a player with a limited shelf life, Zahorna can play multiple positions in multiple roles and is the big body that Sutter loves to rely upon.

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

You'd think the Flames would have simply cut ties with Phillips outright last summer if they were as disenchanted with him as Lanny suggests.

I didn't say they were disenchanted with him. I said they didn't think he was an NHL player. I said they were giving him one last chance on a show-me contract. Phillips was given a one-year two-way deal at league minimum with an AHL salary of $140K, knowing he would be a class 6 UFA at its end, which is not a ringing endorsement of the team's confidence in his chances. If they felt he was going to be an NHL player they would have given him a more substantial offer with some term, no?

[TheScorpion]

When Andrew Poturalski was Phillips' age, he was an undrafted player two years out of a low-level NCAA program who scored 49 points in 76 AHL games. Not really comparable.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

Completely disagree. I think his contract status will influence who they call up. Phillips is not guaranteed to come up and be a scoring machine like some are suggesting. It is more likely a player of his stature comes up and does very little, unable to compete with the quicker and much bigger players. The road to the NHL is littered with small players in the exact same situation, including last season's AHL scoring champ, Andrew Poturalski. I think the team would much rather invest that possible development time in a player that has potential to help out in more roles and will be with the team longer term, learning from the call up. I would think they are better off with Zary, Jones, or Pelletier getting the time, and are better options to help the team now and in the future. If they are looking to call up a player with a limited shelf life, Zahorna can play multiple positions in multiple roles and is the big body that Sutter loves to rely upon.



I didn't say they were disenchanted with him. I said they didn't think he was an NHL player. I said they were giving him one last chance on a show-me contract. Phillips was given a one-year two-way deal at league minimum with an AHL salary of $140K, knowing he would be a class 6 UFA at its end, which is not a ringing endorsement of the team's confidence in his chances. If they felt he was going to be an NHL player they would have given him a more substantial offer with some term, no?

They gave him a show-me contract, and he showed them. So…

[FlamesAddiction]

How often do players get recalled if it isn’t an injury replacement? For Phillips to get called up, it will probably mean that one of the top 6 is injured.

[Mr.Coffee]

If you run an organization with meritocracy, and you should as best you can in the face of CBA / contract issues, it shouldn’t only require an injury to call people up and send people down.

[Naitix]

You can't compare two players to each other just because they have similar height, the only thing that matters is how they play the game, and personally I think that Phillips has the necessary tools to succeed in the NHL.

[bubbsy]

Phillips will get his chance. I don't understand why folks are freaking out about this.

He's a good prospect, who also isn't the magical answer to the team's issues. Folks were freaking out about kylington last year too but sutter knew what he was doing there, and I don't see any reason to freak out about other prospects.

[Mathgod]

FWIW... Trey Fix-Wolansky just had a 4-game callup with the Jackets. During those 4 games he actually statisically outperformed his linemates. He played 1 game on the 3rd line and 3 games on the 2nd line, so they weren't exactly sheltered minutes either.

What's more, his GF/60 was 4th among forwards, behind only the three players on the Gaudreau-Jenner-Nyquist top line.

He was scratched after that, which is puzzling. You'd think he would get a longer look than what he got.

But if we're looking for a Phillips comparable, this might be it.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

Sutter was asked about him and had nothing positive to say about him, actually intimating they were looking at other options on the farm. Serious diss. Add in his contract status and what do you think they have in mind?

Possibly erroneous stubbornness? I don't know.