The Good and Bad early on this season

[Imported_Aussie]

Good:
Smith - finally, a starting calibre goaltender! Gives the team a chance to win
Hamonic - stability allows Brodie to play his natural game
3M line - still the best trio
Giordano - doing Giordano things, and doing them well

Bad:
Discipline - call it the Wideman Effect as much as you want, if the players know they will be under more scrutiny, then give the zebras less to look at. Smith and the PK unit can only bail the team out for so long

The "needs more time to assess"
Bennett - needs some more time to find his way at C with hopefully some more consistent linemates. If he doesn't sort it out by Christmas, get him on the wing. Too early to change now.
Jagr - can't wait to see him when he is in shape, but right now, he looks exactly like a veteran in early preseason.
Jankowski situation - let's give Treliving time to sort this out, not make a rash move. But he is NHL calibre and needs to end the season playing playoffs in Calgary. not Stockton

[united]

Tough to judge anything based on six games.

Good:
- First of all, Mike Smith has been incredible. Sample size is far too small to draw any conclusions yet, but it's been really encouraging and fun to watch that's for sure.
- Giordano + Dougie have been outstanding considering the opposition they face. And I think they will get even better as the season goes on.
- Brodie has looked more comfortable this season.
- 3M have been sewered on zone starts again yet outplay the opposition night after night. They are simply unbelievable.
- Troy Brouwer has looked like a competent bottom six utility player which is an enormous improvement on last season's disaster. Still not worth the $ of course.
- Tanner Glass hasn't been awful, and anything above awful is a welcome surprise. Hope he keeps it up.
- Special teams have been encouraging. I still don't like the powerplay setup (lack of one-timer options), but it's working.

Bad:
- The third pairing has been a liability, as expected. I don't think Stone and Bartkowski have developed much chemistry with each other yet and individually neither is capable of carrying a pairing. The addition of a good (but cheap) depth defenceman would do wonders.
- Ferland had all the opportunity and made a mess of it. Hopefully with some time down the lineup and a full recovery from his injury returns his confidence.
- Sean Monahan, while putting up points, has been poor in his own end. Reminds me of last season, which he turned around by season's end and into the playoffs. Looking forward to him re-committing to being solid at both ends again.
- Sam Bennett, who I thought would explode out of the gates, has done nothing. No points, poor possession metrics, undisciplined...I hope it's just an early season cold streak, but he needs to find some form quickly.

[GioforPM]

Good:

Smith(!)
Gio is Gio
Tkachuk is Tkachuk
Hamonic is really solid, and helps Brodie a lot
PK is good (just could use a rest)
They freakin' won in Anaheim !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3 GWG from Monahan already.
4-2 record. That's pretty good I say.
The D is settling in overall IMO.
Brouwer is playing better. Production will come - baby steps folks.
Hey, Jagr is a Flame.
The team looks more engaged to me as a whole.

Bad

Meh, it's all good, since the "bad" stuff is mostly fixable or temporary and they won anyway.

[flameester]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Hmmm. My order has been Gio, Hamonic, Hamilton and Brodie (tie) as far as an all around game goes. Gio has been the best Dman by far IMO. Hamonic has been solid. Brodie has been very inconsistent, even within games. Hamilton the same. Last game Brodie skated well at times, but he also took two penalties (the same number and type that "undisciplined" Sam Bennett took. Brodie looked terrible in the first game (I know everyone did, but was really bad). he looked bad in the first half of the Winnipeg game, then turned it around. He was great against Anaheim, OK against LA. I didn't notice him as much last game.

He took one slashing penalty and one penalty when there were 8 players pushing and shoving after a whistle. Really undisciplined.

I hope he turns many games around to get 2 goals and 2 assists.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I fundamentally reject this. The only one of the Flames wins that I would characterize as "fortunate" was in LA.

Flames were lucky that Mason in the WPG game and Vancouver were equally terrible. An average team deals the Flames a loss in the Vancouver game with all the PP time they did nothing with. Similarly if the Jets had a decent NHL goalie, the Flames probably don't come back in that one.

The fact they had the benefit of facing some mediocre teams helped them get to their hot start and believe me I'm not complaining about the results. I just want to see those results continue once the team starts facing quality.

[sketchyt]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

The fact they had the benefit of facing some mediocre teams helped them get to their hot start and believe me I'm not complaining about the results. I just want to see those results continue once the team starts facing quality.

Didn't they shut out Anaheim?

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

Flames were lucky that Mason in the WPG game and Vancouver were equally terrible. An average team deals the Flames a loss in the Vancouver game with all the PP time they did nothing with. Similarly if the Jets had a decent NHL goalie, the Flames probably don't come back in that one.

The fact they had the benefit of facing some mediocre teams helped them get to their hot start and believe me I'm not complaining about the results. I just want to see those results continue once the team starts facing quality.

Flames have beat the Kings, Ducks, Jets, and Canucks. The Canucks are the only weak team there.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Am I the only one who is a little underwhelmed by D. Hamilton's performance so far? He has been quiet, and I have found myself expecting more from him most games.

This start is much better than how he started two years ago. Difference is there were built in excuses last two years, new team then new system. Maybe it's just him and he's a slow starter.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Flames have beat the Kings, Ducks, Jets, and Canucks. The Canucks are the only weak team there.

He is right to call Kings and Jets mediocre as they both missed the playoffs. But yeah doesn't mean Flames should apologize for winning those games.

[PugnaciousIntern]

For everyone saying that Ferland f'ed up his chance, do you think he had a lingering lower body injury (muscle strain of some kind?) leading up to him now missing games due to a lower body injury? Or was it more of an acute injury?

[Love]

Great:

Hamonic
Brodie
Gaudreau
SMITH
Gio
Chucky

Could be better:

Bennett
Ferland
Versteeg

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Need a couple games where they allow something in that 20-24 shots against range to bring down that average a bit closer to normal.

They actually did that quite a bit last year. The goalies were just leaky as all heck.

Yeah but that takes time. They'll get there. They're trending in the right direction, that's what's important.

Good:

Mike Smith. I've been getting Dwayne Roloson vibes from this move all off season, and Smith is doing nothing to disprove that early on. He doesn't let in the leaky goals, he battles, he's kind of a head case, and he keeps them in games. He buys them time to get their act together. That's what I expect from a #1 goaltender. His puck handling has been as advertised. Those wondering if his miscues outweigh the benefits need only count all the successful zone exits that Smith creates vs the glaring errors that result in goals against.

TJ Brodie. After opening the year with a public torching at the skates of Connor McDavid (seriously, who names a kid Connor), Brodie responds with a 4-point game and has been absolutely dominant ever since. I haven't noticed Hamonic at all this year, and I notice Brodie seemingly every shift. The eye test is telling me that's a very good thing. When Brodie can skate 26 minutes a night, it allows Gulutzan to spy the Gio pairing against the other team's top lines almost minute for minute. Brodie playing at this level makes the Flames a very dangerous team.

Johnny Gaudreau. He's top 5 in league scoring. He's moving his feet. He's shooting more. I think he's still a little gun-shy about guys slashing him, but the more the refs call the game the way they have been, I think he'll really hit another level. People have said Gaudreau isn't an elite talent on this forum, but he's absolutely capable of winning an Art Ross trophy. He is one of the most talented offensive players in the game, and his game needs to reach a new level for the Flames to take the next step. He's off to a good start.

The Bad

Micheal Ferland. It's not your fault, Micheal. You're not a 1st line winger. You're the best of a series of unfortunate options. A top line RW remains the team's biggest need.

Sam Bennett. Not generating much. With Mark Jankowski ripening on the vine in Stockton, he has to know the time is now for him to produce as a centre. I'm fine with giving Bennett 20 games to find his way. If he doesn't produce, you have to put him on the top line as a winger and bring up Jankowski to play #3C. Jaromir Jagr is not the solution on the top line, and this is coming from someone who thinks he'll put up 40 points.

The only other truly concerning thing to me is our inability to contain Connor McDavid. I get that he's so fast he makes fast people look not fast. Mikael Backlund is on the roster - have him shadow McDavid. McDavid's anxieties should have to ask Backlund before they give Connor a nightmare.

This is a really good team. It's the strongest they've looked to start a season that I can recall. I think this is a team that can go on a run to the finals, but I don't like them against any of the powerhouses in the East. I could absolutely see the Flames losing to Tampa again. With that said, this team got pretty close to victory with oceans less talent than they have now.

Hockey's back. Go Flames.

[Gaudfather]

Good:

Flames are 4-2
Oilers are 1-3

'Nuff said!

[Enoch Root]

The Kings have been anything but mediocre so far this season.

I agree that Hamilton has been just okay, but he started slowly last year as well - I am not concerned.

Overall, it's mostly good, though there is plenty of room for improvement. And I am still not at all concerned about Bennett - he just needs a confidence boost.

Much has been made about giving up lots of shots, and I agree that they need to tighten up defensively, but I think shots can be among the most deceiving stats in hockey...

If you look at the 7 teams that have given up the most shots per game so far (all of whom are being out-shot badly), they have a combined record of 24 - 10 - 3.

If you look at the 6 teams that have given up the fewest shots, and all of them except Boston are significantly out-shooting their opposition, they have a combined record of 10 - 15 - 2

Also, it's early and most teams' numbers will normalize substantially from here.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Good: Flames are winning more than they're losing.

Nothing else matters. Just win baby.

[simonarea]

Good
Jagr!!!!
Gio's solid with his stick

Bad
Ferland .....needs to throw his body around more
Gio's passes are horrible.... long outlet passes always get intercepted
I much prefer Dougie to "quarterback"
We need a pest.... lomberg/Hathaway

[Jetfire]

Originally Posted by simonarea

...We need a pest.... lomberg/Hathaway

Tkachuk/Ferland? More-so Tkachuk. We're already in penalty trouble, plus we have the skill to beat teams as it is without another one of that kind of player.

[GreenLantern]

As someone who hasn't been able to watch a lot of games or play attention so far this year I really enjoy this thread, thanks everyone.

[Vulcan]

The Ugly: the Flames are giving up too many one on goalie situations. They need to clear this up if they want to go deep into the playoffs.

[FireGilbert]

The good:
-Smith being an early Vezina candidate
-Breaking the Anaheim curse
-Gaudreau in top form 4th in league scoring
-Monahan being clutch again
-Lots of offence from the defence, especially Brodie who looks great playing with Hamonic
-Seeing Jagr in a Flames jersey
-Lazar improving
-The PK

The bad:
-Team defence giving up way too many shots.
-Ferland struggling on the top line, being demoted, and then getting injured.
-The PP.

The ugly:
-Discipline
-The Edmonton and Ottawa games, especially the 3rd periods