Oct 22 Practice Notes

[AC]

@Fan960Wills
#Flames lines and pairings at practice:

Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm
Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik
Bennett-Ryan-Neal
Dube-Jankowski-Hathaway
Peluso-Czarnik

Giordano-Brodie
Hanifin-Andersson
Valimaki-Stone
Prout-Hamonic

Smith (in starter’s net)
Rittich

#CGYvsMTL

@WesGilbertson
#Flames coach Bill Peters says best-case for return of D Travis Hamonic is late next week.

@fan960lou
Look for Brodie and Giordano to start the Montreal game together

[Racki]

Pressure's on Mike Smith now. He better get the job done or there will be second guessing this move. Rittich has been exceptional.

[Strange Brew]

I'm good with Smith starting, but would like to see Rittich at least every third game. Start to work him into a more regular workload.

[Robbob]

I don't know how much I like Hamonic first games being Pittsburgh, Washington or Toronto. Not exactly setting him up to succeed considering he is probably far from game shape.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Racki

Pressure's on Mike Smith now. He better get the job done or there will be second guessing this move. Rittich has been exceptional.

Some pressure on Brodie too. BP showed he isn't afraid to demote players if they aren't playing well. Andersson didn't look out of place either when he got bumped up.

Still, I like how BP has gone back to the Brodano pairing. They've been good for the most part. But Brodie had a bad game vs NY. He has to know that there's other players who can step into his spot if he keeps goofing up.

[Yoho]

Totally disagree with putting Smith in net. You’d never think of pulling Hathaway out after the game he had, so why do it to Rittich? Smith is a 36 year old goalie in his last year of a contract, this isn’t Ben Bishop who is on a long term deal warming the bench.

Let’s see what Rittich can do and reward him like any other player on the roster when he plays well.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Robbob

I don't know how much I like Hamonic first games being Pittsburgh, Washington or Toronto. Not exactly setting him up to succeed considering he is probably far from game shape.

Late next week is Sabres, Avs, Blackhawks.

[bax]

Originally Posted by Robbob

I don't know how much I like Hamonic first games being Pittsburgh, Washington or Toronto. Not exactly setting him up to succeed considering he is probably far from game shape.

He is still skating so his conditioning will be there. There really are no easy games in this league anyways. We beat Nashville, yet lost to Vancouver. Have to be prepared to be at your best no matter which team you are playing.

[Monahan For Mayor]

I don't understand putting Smith in. If he lays yet another egg it looks real bad on Peters. After the monster game Rittich had he deserves the start imo.

[bax]

Originally Posted by Yoho

Totally disagree with putting Smith in net. You’d never think of pulling Hathaway out after the game he had, so why do it to Rittich? Smith is a 36 year old goalie in his last year of a contract, this isn’t Ben Bishop who is on a long term deal warming the bench.

Let’s see what Rittich can do and reward him like any other player on the roster when he plays well.

Goalies are tricky, I'm not so sure it's fair to compare the situation to a forward. We all saw what happened to Rittich last year when he was given a heavier workload. Barring a trade this team will need Smith to be a positive contributor to this team if they are going to make any noise this year.

Smith is a competitor and knows he has a guy chomping at the bit for more games. I don't think there is any need to plant a seed of doubt in his mind right now. Let's see how he responds.

It is nice knowing we can toss Rittich in every 3rd or 4th game or so and get a great performance out of him though.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by bax

He is still skating so his conditioning will be there. There really are no easy games in this league anyways. We beat Nashville, yet lost to Vancouver. Have to be prepared to be at your best no matter which team you are playing.

Disagree, jaw injuries are hard to come back from quickly at near 100%. Difficult to train, uncomfortable recovery process, demoralizing treatment like drinking all your meals.

Hamonic has had a rough couple of weeks.

[Toonage]

^ Sleep patterns have also probably suffered.

[btimbit]

Really want to see Czarnik but not sure who to pull out. Hathaway is the easy choice but not after last night. Ryan? Dube?

[Robo]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Really want to see Czarnik but not sure who to pull out. Hathaway is the easy choice but not after last night. Ryan? Dube?

I'd pull out Ryan the 4th line was really clicking last night

[Flames0910]

Originally Posted by Yoho

Totally disagree with putting Smith in net. You’d never think of pulling Hathaway out after the game he had, so why do it to Rittich? Smith is a 36 year old goalie in his last year of a contract, this isn’t Ben Bishop who is on a long term deal warming the bench.

Let’s see what Rittich can do and reward him like any other player on the roster when he plays well.

IDK, I think it's different for goalies. We've already seen this with the three-headed goalie monster and I don't think anybody wants to return to that. If you start to play the two against each other it changes the relationship.

You don't want Smith looking over his back because what if Rittich can't handle the pressure? If you undermine the starter's position, and the backup isn't ready to steal the job, then we've got a goaltending controversy on our hands.

Reward Rittich with more consistent starts. But don't play him and Smith against each other because then we're in trouble.

[EldrickOnIce]

You start your starting goaltender.
It's what you do.
Nonsense to say coach will have to answer. You start your starter.
Rittich will definitely see more action, given his play. And he may become starter one day. Soon even. But not today.

[dino7c]

Smith shut out the best team in the league...what happened when they abandoned the schedule and put him right back in the next game

Plan all along was to give them each a start on this trip, stick to the plan

Its a marathon, not a sprint

[Toonage]

^ Lesson learned by Peters and we're seeing it now. Go with who you have scheduled.

[Yoho]

Smith in his last year of a contract is the starter by name only. I’m sorry about his feelings but the best players need to be playing period. We have so many questions that need to be answered in short order when it comes to that position. In my opinion the best case scenario is if Rittich wrestles the starting spot away from Smith sooner than later.

[edslunch]

Smith is the number 1 and the Flames need him to be the number 1 this season unless Riddick really proves himself over like 20 games. A few great games by Riddick and a handful of soft ones from Smith doesn’t change that. Keep the rotation on that basis but start making Smith’s leash a bit shorter and Riddick’s a bit longer IF current trend continue.