Francis: Tire Fire

[442scotty]

Yikes! Johnny and Mony don’t care about winning?

[CliffFletcher]

He's right about the leadership. The Flames have too many core guys who, while skilled, don't elevate their games and aren't tough to play against. And it won't be fixed by bringing in a third liner. The core needs to be changed up.

[Ashasx]

Lack of leadership and buy-in from the young guys

This is utter nonsense. If the team actually thinks this, who are they referring to?

Gaudreau?
Tkachuk?
Hamilton?

You mean the few players that actually played to their caliber or better this season?

If the team actually thinks this, things are never going to get better. We bring in "character guys" like Brouwer, Stajan, Hamonic, etc., who are supposed to be key leadership pieces (because they certainly haven't benefitted this team anywhere else), yet the team falls apart because players aren't buying in? It seems this is a team built around players who are seen as good locker room guys with intangibles, but they can't do the one thing they are here to do?

It's time to completely re-think this. The problem with this team is that some decision makers value character above skill.

Johnny Gaudreau isn't the problem with this team. Wasting cap space on somebody like Brouwer is.

This is absolutely infuriating.

[Igottago]

Not sure what the leadership issues are unless you're talking about Brouwer, who really didn't bring anything in my eyes, although I don't know what he's like in the room. To me the team lost a lot of its fighting for eachother mentality when he basically told Gaudreau to "deal with it" when all the slashes happened last year.

Gio was a warrior all season, his captaincy shouldn't be in question at all.

[shermanator]

Don't think Francis is wrong on any of these points to be honest.

[Geeoff]

I was gonna disagree with the bullet point on Gaudreau and Monahan but that's not even what Francis said. He said that Gaudreau and Monahan need to start blocking shots, which was a pretty weird thing to suggest IMO. I disagree that these two should be sacrificing their body, we need them on the ice and scoring.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by colbym72

I have not been around Alberta long enough to know the Francis hate. Other than being a propaganda machine for the Flames in arena talk, can someone explain why else he is so unpopular?

Well... for starters being a propaganda machine is enough of a reason in and of itself (and FYI he's not just a propaganda machine in regards to the arena he's in the tank for them on pretty much everything... he's a bootlicking toady of the highest order), he's also pretty bad at his job (he's a poor radio personality, a worse TV personality, a terrible writer, and I won't even give him the dignity of being called a journalist), A job which he got on the grounds of basically nothing but nepotism.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by burn_baby_burn

Was Iggy a great leader though? Flames were floundering around basically in the same spot during his whole time here, with the exception of 2004, as the team is now. Hovering between 8-10th or worse in the west. Same crap for almost 30 years now.

I obviously don't know first hand because I didn't spend any time around Iggy but from numerous stories and articles about him he was an exceptional leader. The Flames didn't suck because Iggy wasn't a great leader but because the talent level just wasn't very good back then. I still think that Iggy would have been the perfect mentor for Johnny, Monahan, Thackuk, Bennett and Ferland. Even if it was just a single year I think they would have benefited a lot from having him in the dressing room and on road trips.

[thymebalm]

This was Eric Francis at his most insightful. Don't hate the messenger. Hate the garbage club.

[The Big Chill]

If we had a system that used our mobile dmen more, and we had forwards that could finish, would we still be lacking leadership? I doubt it.

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by colbym72

I dont care if Ghandi is your frickin captain. If you dont have a good enough team, your leadership can only do so much

If Ghandi is your captain, I think a soft team is guaranteed. No killer instinct at all.

[GioforPM]

It's not nonsense. I don't think the team values leadership over skill. None of the three guys you mentioned where brought in because of only skill and intangibles. Boruwer and Stajan were considered legit top 6 guys at the time and Hamonic was (and is) a terrific defender.

The point is that the skilled guys need some work on their compete level, including Johnny and Hamilton IMO. Tkachuk not so much - but he was born into it. IMO you want skilled guys with buy-in and leadership, otherwise you have Edmonton. Or Buffalo, arguably.

This is not to say that Johnny, Monahan, Hamilton, Jankowski, Bennett can't all improve their level - they can. Look at Hall. Look at Brett Hull. Look at Mackinnon. Look at Kessel. They all, IMO, improved their level of competitiveness. Johnny has it in him, we've all seen it. I think the others do too. I think it's been hard on Monahan in the last few weeks and we're going to hear about his injury soon.

But don't tell me the skilled guys brought it the last few important games - they didn't.

[Beninho]

How about questioning managements willingess to throw away draft picks on a team that’s clearly not ready to contend.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Beninho

How about questioning managements willingess to throw away draft picks on a team that’s clearly not ready to contend.

Getting Dougie Hamilton and Travis Hamonic is not "throwing away draft picks".

And despite the disappointing season, IMO this team is close. They wouldn't be the first team to stumble on the way to being a really successful team.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

It's not nonsense. I don't think the team values leadership over skill. None of the three guys you mentioned where brought in because of only skill and intangibles. Boruwer and Stajan were considered legit top 6 guys at the time and Hamonic was (and is) a terrific defender.

The point is that the skilled guys need some work on their compete level, including Johnny and Hamilton IMO. Tkachuk not so much - but he was born into it. IMO you want skilled guys with buy-in and leadership, otherwise you have Edmonton. Or Buffalo, arguably.

This is not to say that Johnny, Monahan, Hamilton, Jankowski, Bennett can't all improve their level - they can. Look at Hall. Look at Brett Hull. Look at Mackinnon. Look at Kessel. They all, IMO, improved their level of competitiveness. Johnny has it in him, we've all seen it. I think the others do too. I think it's been hard on Monahan in the last few weeks and we're going to hear about his injury soon.

But don't tell me the skilled guys brought it the last few important games - they didn't.

If Hamonic is a terrific defender, I'm certainly not seeing on the ice and it's definitely not showing up in the underlying numbers. Brouwer had been on the decline for several seasons. Stajan keeps getting any ice time at all.

This team has more wasted cap space than any other team in the league.

I'll say it again, these guys are supposed to be providing leadership, because they aren't providing any other positive for this team. Our 4th line gets ice team when the team is trailing late in the 3rd period. Brouwer gets more powerplay time than Tkachuk or Hamilton.

If you think somebody like Gaudreau is a problem at all for this team, your evaluation is simply wrong. How many players contributed more to their team's offence this season? How many teams have as wide a gap between their 1st leading scorer and their 2nd?

This team is going to absolutely blow it. We make fun of the Oilers trading Hall and Eberle for nothing and it looks like the Flames are going to do something they'll regret this summer.

[soulchoice]

Originally Posted by colbym72

I have not been around Alberta long enough to know the Francis hate. Other than being a propaganda machine for the Flames in arena talk, can someone explain why else he is so unpopular?

I have no issues with Eric Francis and his insight these days.

[EVERLAST]

Your name doesn't have to be Eric Francis to know this.

I don't think this team can be handled by another inexperienced coach nor can washed up vets change anything.

Time to clean house and in a big big way. If Gio and Smith cannot be the voices in the room then the answer isn't in the room.

Even if Jagr was the answer ( he wasn't) he had to have run screaming from this team back home after witnessing first hand from the top down something wasn't right.

Has anyone who has watched the flames for 25 + years ever seen a mentally weaker team than this one???

We took some big steps backwards and if they can identify the issue they need to perform an exorcism, blood sacrifice whatever to right this thing before training camp next year.

Forget respecting certain things and just start throwing people under the bus, launching others into the sun .......just fix this ####.

I for the life of me cannot understand the disease this team has that we fold so easily when the simplest adversity occurs.

Some of these guys were here when Bob had them playing tight hard fought battles and how the hell this team came off the rails like they did is??????

Please flames get some help!

There's help out there.....and yeah. .....NOW it's go time.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by soulchoice

I have no issues with Eric Francis and his insight these days.

You'd better hope he's wrong about his arena takes.

[Ashasx]

Funny how this team goes from being perceived as mentally strong under Hartley and becomes mentally weak under Gulutzan.

But yeah, let's blame this on the young guys not buying in.

####, this team is dumb.

[automaton 3]

Originally Posted by Geeoff

I was gonna disagree with the bullet point on Gaudreau and Monahan but that's not even what Francis said. He said that Gaudreau and Monahan need to start blocking shots, which was a pretty weird thing to suggest IMO. I disagree that these two should be sacrificing their body, we need them on the ice and scoring.

Yep. That said, I don't know why they aren't using Monahan on the PK more often. He's pretty effective at it, and I belive someone posted stats confirming that.

As Rhett said (paraphrasing)- GG can't say he rode his best players.