Top guys excuses

[Dr. Doom]

Monahan - he must have been hurt no?
See a lot of bashing and trade talk but I don't think he's this soft and invisible.
He also got the most rest leading to playoffs.
If he wasn't very limited playing hurt I'll by very surprised.

I think this screwed up Gaudreau and put even more pressure on him to perform. Proving he's too small and needs to work on his conditioning even despite playing so many minutes he was visibly gassed and shaken.

Gio - is it just me or was he not the same since almost breaking Connor's leg. All of that weird apologetic talk in the media I think he lost his edge and he lost his mojo with the rest of the team being captain as well. That and his age may have finally caught up with him in the playoffs.

Tkachuk was shell shocked by the playoffs and Avs. No rough stuff or getting under anyone's skin. Inexperience here IMO...

Our Carolina guys were soft as hell. Lindholm bounced off of opposing players going at full speed. Not for a lack of effort but he's small and should be traded on a high...

Overall rest strategy going in really made things worse.

Was there something else that happened on or off the ice after the all Star break? Be interesting to know

[madmike]

I don’t know. Even if he is hurt that means he’s injury prone and not someone the team can rely on as a 1C. Monahan is a great 2C in my opinion. But he’s a weak 1C. It’s not his fault the Flames never managed to find a real 1C. But it’s not like 1Cs grow on trees.

The Flames won’t find anyone better on the market. Maybe they could try Lindholm or Bennett as the 1C but I’m not sure they’re better. And then where does Monahan slot in? They’re likely just better off rolling with Monahan one more year. If it’s not better then maybe it’s time to say goodbye.

[Vinny01]

Trade Lindholm? Brutal idea

[EldrickOnIce]

There are no excuses, and they aren't making any.
The only question is 8f they are capable of learning from this. I am not sure.
9 Flames played in their first playoff game this year.

[Redliner]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Trade Lindholm? Brutal idea

This.

Lindholm was the best player on that line by far. The offence wasn’t really there but he was engaged, skated hard, and was one of the most physical players on the team. Seemed to be one of the only Flames players who remembered how to play defense too. I would have like to see him put up more points but if we talking about trading people he’s one of the last places I’d start.

[Resolute 14]

The one excuse I want to hear is Tkachuk's. After game 1, the most notable thing he did was a Ribiero-esque acting and quitting job on a play last night. I was decidedly unimpressed with him, and in a just world, he's knocked his contract value down by about $500k-$1 million.

The tough thing about Monahan is that he performed in his first two playoff experiences. I think we all suspect he's playing injured again, but that would force us to ask a whole host of extra questions.

[PaperBagger'14]

Horrifying but accurate

Spoiler!

[ricardodw]

You don't surround your top guys that happen to play soft with soft support guys.

Zadarov on the regular system had close to as many hits as all the Flames D-men combined. Hanifin the Flames toughest d-man would have the 5th ,ost hits on the Avs roster.

The Flames premier shut down physical d-Man Hamonic seldom was in a situation where he would knock someone off the puck..... only 44 hits in 62 regular season games.

The Flames played far more physical in this brief series .... it was a huge jump from their comfort zone.


Gio should not be captain.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Gio should not be captain?
Why?

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

Gio should not be captain.

[Fire It Up]

One of issues is that Bennett never panned our as a 1C. That should have bumped Monahan to 2C and Backlund to 3C. That is center great depth. Monahan is a good player but I think this series proved he isn’t a top line center. Further to this, I think it’s time the team explore ending the Monahan Gaudreau pairing. Yes they put up points in the regular season but when they dry up, this team can’t rely on that to get us deep. I think D, goaltending and wingers are less of an issue but can use tweaking. I’d let Brodie go and explore our youth now that they proved they are NHLers (Andersson Valmaki).

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Fire It Up

One of issues is that Bennett never panned our as a 1C.

A shame we never truly exhausted that idea

- When he rarely did center Gaudreau, it was also with AHL caliber chumps like Jooris, Chiasson, and Lazar. And even then, one of those stretches centering Gaudreau just happened to be a rough individual stretch for him period in terms of puck luck.

- He was never as good at faceoffs as he was this year, and yet this year he didn't play a lick of the position

- He only ever centered Tkachuk for about five games when Tkachuk was an 18 year old rookie still adjusting to the speed of the game. And even then, the winger opposite was Troy Brouwer.

- He hasn't seen top PP time since the old days of Bob Hartley

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Gio should not be captain?
Why?

as captain 1-8 record in the playoffs no goals 3 assists -5.

His playoff record will likely keep him out of HOF consideration.

His team played well below expectations and potential.

[madmike]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

A shame we never truly exhausted that idea

- When he rarely did center Gaudreau, it was also with AHL caliber chumps like Jooris, Chiasson, and Lazar. And even then, one of those stretches centering Gaudreau just happened to be a rough individual stretch for him period in terms of puck luck.

- He was never as good at faceoffs as he was this year, and yet this year he didn't play a lick of the position

- He only ever centered Tkachuk for about five games when Tkachuk was an 18 year old rookie still adjusting to the speed of the game. And even then, the winger opposite was Troy Brouwer.

- He hasn't seen top PP time since the old days of Bob Hartley

I don’t think it would be the worst idea to explore the option of Bennett as a C again. I think Monahan and Gaudreau need to be broken up. Move Monahan to 2 and Backlund to 3 like you said. I think Jankowski is as good as gone after that playoff performance. He has his moments, but the consistency and drive just doesn’t seem to be there.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

as captain 1-8 record in the playoffs no goals 3 assists -5.

His playoff record will likely keep him out of HOF consideration.

His team played well below expectations and potential.

Terrible way to assess if he's a good captain or not.
Uninformed scape-goating.

[cannon7]

This "Monahan is playing hurt" excuse is getting laughable at this point. If he sucks this bad playing hurt then stop playing him hurt, duh. He was a liability and sandbagged his line and it likely cost us the series. We can stop pretending he's a warrior now. If he needs more surgeries this offseason, might I suggest a heart transplant?

[Strange Brew]

Monahan was still getting over a cold if you believe the coach during the regular season.

Gio’s playoff record isn’t what’s keeping him from the HOF. He is a very good player and exemplifies the difference between having a great season vs being a great player. Gio gives all he has most every night and I don’t think there’s any more to give in the playoffs. He’s not above criticism IMO as having the Norris winning defenseman should be a distinct advantage in a 7 game series and it wasn’t. At all.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Terrible way to assess if he's a good captain or not.
Uninformed scape-goating.

In your opinion was Gio a Norris trophy calibre defenseman in any of the 5 games?

Did he have a streak of 5 games of the same level at any point in the regular season?

Your captain needs to play better in important games. Gio has absolutely no history of stepping up in big games.

[boogerz]

No one is talking about Frolik...where was he the entire series. 50 career playoff games (including a cup ring) and is supposed to be a fast, hard forechecking player that would have been important in countering the Avs, yet he was almost as much as a non-factor as Neal.

Originally Posted by ricardodw

The Flames premier shut down physical d-Man Hamonic seldom was in a situation where he would knock someone off the puck..... only 44 hits in 62 regular season games.

The Flames played far more physical in this brief series .... it was a huge jump from their comfort zone.

Peters also had Stone at his disposal as a big, physical dman that he chose not to use...

[ricardodw]

Landeskog (C) MacKinnon (A), Johnson (A) >>>>> Gio (C), Monahan (A), Backlund (A) and Tkachuk (A)

There was a quote in the broadcast to the effect that Bednar lets Landeskog and Mackinnon run the room.