Connor Mackey named AHL Player of the Week

[Reggie Dunlop]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1467916786909646853

Happened yesterday, but I thought it warranted its own thread.

I think Mackey will be called-up at some point this season. I think he better fits the Sutter system (unless Valimaki suddenly figures things out).

Rugged, smart player with a bit of offensive skill.

[Funkhouser]

I'd like to see him get some serious time this year.
Something tells me we may need to move Hanafin this off-season to accommodate our new contracts.

[BigRed]

Originally Posted by Funkhouser

I'd like to see him get some serious time this year.
Something tells me we may need to move Hanafin this off-season to accommodate our new contracts.

Let's dump Zadorov first, shall we? Mackey and Valimaki can compete for his spot. But I hope we don't try to move Valimaki anytime soon. Classic 'sell low' clusterfata. So the Flames will probably do it.

[Monahammer]

Valimaki as a trade chip to bolster the forward core for the playoffs.

[FanIn80]

Valimaki, with 3 points in 2 games, is only 7 points back of the team lead for defencemen.

[MrMike]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Valimaki as a trade chip to bolster the forward core for the playoffs.

Valimaki will be needed next year as a cheap replacement for Gudbranson and Zadorov if we’re finding the money to resign Gaudreau and Tkachuk.

[EVERLAST]

No way Valimaki is going anywhere. If Sutter can fix Kylingon he can reclaim what we first saw from Jusso.

Knew we'd see Mackey do this. He's now ascending to pass Gud and Zadorov.....but to have our D all performing well early with so much promise really makes a Flames fan smile.

[Freddy]

Mackey - Valimaki is our next top 4 pairing in the making, both will be good NHLers and I hope they’re both in Flames uniforms for a long time.

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by Freddy

Mackey - Valimaki is our next top 4 pairing in the making, both will be good NHLers and I hope they’re both in Flames uniforms for a long time.

Sutter likes his lefty-righty pairings.

Hanafin - Kylington - Zadorov - Valimaki - Mackey - Prospects
Andersson - Tanev - Gudbranson - Stone - Kinvall - Welinski - Prospects

For once Tre is not going to have to go dumpster diving for defensive depth at the deadline. Mackey is pretty much forcing his way onto the roster at some point. 25 years old, NCAA route, waiver protected.

[Reggie Dunlop]

The thing with Mackey is that if all he ends up as is an everyday, solid NHLer, he's Found Money and the Flames are ahead.

If he's more that that, all the better.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Sutter likes his lefty-righty pairings.

100% this.

You could replace Sutter with "Good teams".

Unless you are EK65 you can't play a regular 5v5 shift on your off wing in the NHL and have success. You get killed on dzone starts.

IMO this is what happened to Canada at the Turin Olympics. Wayyyyy too many LH Dmen.

[chubeyr1]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

100% this.

You could replace Sutter with "Good teams".

Unless you are EK65 you can't play a regular 5v5 shift on your off wing in the NHL and have success. You get killed on dzone starts.

IMO this is what happened to Canada at the Turin Olympics. Wayyyyy too many LH Dmen.

TJ Brodie says hello!

[bigrangy]

Yeah the strict adherence to RH/LH d pairings is generally nonsense. Everyone saw Babcock praising it and thought it was the new greatest thing. In general, with bad players it makes sense, it’s easier to do things on the right side of the ice. But talented players can play both sides just fine as long as they’re used to it.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by chubeyr1

TJ Brodie says hello!

Cool!

2 out of the 200+ regular NHL Dmen are capable of making a career playing the off side.

Thanks for proving my point.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Cool!

2 out of the 200+ regular NHL Dmen are capable of making a career playing the off side.

Thanks for proving my point.

I don't disagree that you'd prefer to have guys playing their strong side, but I do think the effect is exaggerated at times. Going back to cup winning top over the last decade:

Hjalmarsson (2010/2013/2015) played the right as a lefty, and usually played some tough minutes with Campbell, Oduya, or Keith to give Brent Seabrook more highground.

One of Chara or Seidenberg played the right on the 2011 Bruins' top pair as a lefty. I don't remember who, though.

The 2012 and 2014 Kings had balanced pairings

Daley (2016/2017) Played the right as a lefty on the Penguins' top four. In fact Rutherford even identified him as a guy who played better on the right and went out to get him for that role.

The last four cup winners have had balanced pairings. Though in the case of the Lightning you occasionally had Sergachyev boosted up to a lefty-lefty top pair with Hedman, and the Blues occasionally had a righty-righty top pair of Pietrangelo-Parayko. Both teams balanced things out during the Cup Runs, but just talking about a "regular shift" it wasn't always the case. Most would agree that Hedman, McDonagh, and Sergechyev are consistently the three best defensemen on the Lightning... all lefties.

[DoubleK]

Great post.

I've casually been playing around with some analytics to see if the fancy pants stats are significant one way, the other or not at all. It's a pretty thin case and I'm admittedly a novice when it comes to analytics.

Where I would expect it to show up the most would be on the off wing d mans dzone starts vs a lefty/righty dzone start.

[transplant99]

Knew he had a good week obviously, but was not aware of one of the more amazing stats he incurred doing so.

The Calgary Flames’ blue-line prospect, currently logging big minutes on behalf of the American Hockey League’s Stockton Heat, earned an assist on his second shift Saturday.

On his fourth, he dropped his mitts for a dance.

And on his sixth spin of the evening, this time on the penalty-kill, he seized an opportunity to join the rush and re-directed a pass from red-hot rookie Jakob Pelletier.

A shortie.

And a Gordie.

“It all happened in one period for me, so it’s not like I was even thinking about it or anything like that. It just sort of happened. It’s rare to happen in a game, let alone one period, right? So pretty cool.”

With all three deeds done in just 4:28 of ice time, you’d think that Mackey’s Gordie Howe Hat-Trick would have been the hot topic in Stockton’s locker-room at Saturday’s first intermission.

https://calgarysun.com/sports/hockey...-weekly-honour

[EVERLAST]

^^^ thanks for posting that. This kid after being developed is going to be a Norris trophy candidate. Tough as nails , great vision and poise.
Best part....he's a Flame. I hope by seasons end he's playing top 4 minutes.....not because of another players injury....just because he earned it.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by EVERLAST

^^^ thanks for posting that. This kid after being developed is going to be a Norris trophy candidate. Tough as nails , great vision and poise.
Best part....he's a Flame. I hope by seasons end he's playing top 4 minutes.....not because of another players injury....just because he earned it.

He's already 25... older than half the Flames' regular defencemen. I wouldn't hold out hope that he has a ton of room to grow beyond what he is now.

I think he'd certainly be capable of playing NHL minutes. Norris candidate? I don't think so.

[Reggie Dunlop]

If he can pull a regular third pairing shift, he's Found Money.