Living among the annoying canuck fans, there are some who I get along with stick with the team even when they haven't had a whiff of playoffs in years. This is the worst market for bandwagoners and they're the reason why I feel the hate rise when their team gets better.
Travis Greene deserves some credit for this--after the Blues took games 3 and 4, most were writing off the Canucks, but he made it tough for the Blues to line match by scrambling things in a way that worked--probably some luck there--and he seems to have pushed the right buttons even when they're down by two or a key d-man is hurt and they have to run with 5 guys for long stretches.
As for Markstrom--I would avoid throwing a lot of money to get him to come to the Flames. He was a borderline NHLer for years and really only came into his own when Canucks goalie coach, Ian Clark, got hold of him. Clark is credited with completely changing his game, and when he starts to lose his edge--it's the sessions with Clark that seem to fix him. Other goalies have also apparently improved under his guidance.
There's no cap for coaches, and just like the braintrust of Aquilini and Benning alienated or drove out Laurence Gilman, Linden and Judd Brackett, rumours of icy relations with Clark are there and he's only on a one-year contract I believe.
Throw a good offer at Clark, let Talbot go, and pry one of either Georgiev or Shestyorkin from the Rangers who will be much cheaper (they can't both end up as #1s there) and let Clark develop the young goalie and also work on Rittich's game. Markstrom is great this year, but he's aging and there are too many examples of over 30 goalies sinking fast once they get their big contracts.
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