Jan 27 Practice Notes

[sureLoss]

Derek Wills @Fan960Wills
#Flames lines at practice:

Mangiapane-Lindholm-Tkachuk
Gaudreau-Ryan-Monahan
Lucic-Backlund-Dube
Bennett-Jankowski-Rieder
Rinaldo-Robinson

[Doctorfever]

Ryan has been playing some really good hockey. I am interested in how that line produces.

Has Lucic played with Backlund earlier this year? If so, how did that work out?

[Toonage]

Backlund back to C, Monahan to RW?

Feels like we're plugging one hole and making another.

[Harry Lime]

They can do whatever they want, as long as they keep that magic Bennett-Jankowski-Rieder line together.

[Infinit47]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Derek Wills @Fan960Wills
#Flames lines at practice:

Mangiapane-Lindholm-Tkachuk
Gaudreau-Ryan-Monahan
Lucic-Backlund-Dube
Bennett-Jankowski-Rieder
Rinaldo-Robinson

Don't tell Staples that Robinson is the extra forward and not an integral part of our plan to goon it up when next we play the ever so honorable Oilers.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

They can do whatever they want, as long as they keep that magic Bennett-Jankowski-Rieder line together.

Haha. They say two wrongs don’t make a right but are conspicuously silent on three wrongs

[flamesforcup]

Why would they not put Ryan at RW with him being a right shot instead of Monahan? More head scratching line decisions by Ward.

[Buff]

Sometimes when the media is posting the Flames lines at practice they'll do them backwards, and have the LW and RW mixed up on one line, but have them in the correct positions on the other lines. Perhaps Wills mixed up the C/RW for that line?

[flamesforcup]

Originally Posted by Buff

Sometimes when the media is posting the Flames lines at practice they'll do them backwards, and have the LW and RW mixed up on one line, but have them in the correct positions on the other lines. Perhaps Wills mixed up the C/RW for that line?

Hopefully ur right.

[Buff]

I don't ever remember being wrong.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by flamesforcup

Why would they not put Ryan at RW with him being a right shot instead of Monahan? More head scratching line decisions by Ward.

Frankly, I don't know of many headscratching decisions he's made for the lineup. I know I thought the Backlund wing experiment was one that made some sense, if Lindholm was coming off the line, since they have some similar attributes. This decision might be one, though perhaps he feels Monahan, as mainly a shooter, is better suited for wing of Ryan moves up.

[delayedreflex]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Frankly, I don't know of many headscratching decisions he's made for the lineup. I know I thought the Backlund wing experiment was one that made some sense, if Lindholm was coming off the line, since they have some similar attributes. This decision might be one, though perhaps he feels Monahan, as mainly a shooter, is better suited for wing of Ryan moves up.

I wonder why he never really tried Backlund in the centre on that line then, if the idea would be to use Monahan as a shooting winger. In the first few days Backlund was actually a nice presence on that line as made some good zone entries to present an alternative to Johnny carrying the puck 100% of the time, but I seemed to see that less as time went on, and he had zero finishing ability unlike Lindholm.

I like the idea of trying Ryan with Gaudreau/Monahan though as he'd shown some chemistry with Gaudreau in the past and I think they could benefit from a RH shot. I suppose that Ward doesn't want to run Lindholm/Monahan/Backlund/Ryan down the centre because that will mean one of the will be getting relatively reduced minutes centering the fourth line, which might not be ideal.

[Doctorfever]

Originally Posted by flamesforcup

Why would they not put Ryan at RW with him being a right shot instead of Monahan? More head scratching line decisions by Ward.

My only guess would be Ryan playing better defensively. Maybe trying to take the load off Monahan shoulders by moving home to wing.

[joejoe3]

Ward trying to tell Tre he needs a RW

[djsFlames]

That second line is sick.

That fourth line is the other kind of sick.

[Icon]

How much of these lines are how they play a shift vs how they take a faceoff? You have multiple C's on each line (other than 1) that can play to strengths vs just first glance.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

I like the look of them. Worth a try for sure

[Gaskal]

Gaudreau and Monahan posted incredibly gaudy fancy stats when with Ryan 5v5 last year. This was when he was being used as a RW who could step in for a shift with the two and take faceoffs after Lindholm had just finished killing a penalty.

Corsi, Fenwick, GF%, shot rates.... everything was incredible for those 3 when they were together. Not even Lindholm had the same boosting effect on the two that Ryan had.

Gaudreau 2018-19:

With Ryan (89:42 played together 5v5):
61.90 CF% / 61.82 FF% / 61.84 SF% / 68.44 xGF%

With Lindholm:
55.56 CF% / 54.30 FF% / 54.42 SF% / 55.15 xGF%


Monahan 2018-19:
(sample size with Ryan is much smaller though, so numbers are quite skewed)

With Ryan(13:12 played together 5v5):
72.00 CF% / 83.33 FF% / 81.82 SF% / 100.00 xGF%

With Lindholm:
53.58 CF% / 52.70 FF% / 52.46 SF% / 56.52 xGF%

[GS Skier]

Originally Posted by flamesforcup

Why would they not put Ryan at RW with him being a right shot instead of Monahan? More head scratching line decisions by Ward.

As long as someone on the line shoots right what does it matter. In the offensive zone every forwards all over anyway.

[browna]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Backlund back to C, Monahan to RW?

Feels like we're plugging one hole and making another.

We are, the hole still exists that Treliving has to fill.

However, if the goal for Backlund to join the top line in early December was to increase that line’s production, it was a unmitigated disaster...his 3 goals since were unassisted or assisted by other players, and he’s only been in 3 or 4 on a few of JG and SM’s 16 combined goals, and JG and SM are far considered from being at the top of their game. No chemistry at all.

I think Ryan is a good move there. Just a bit more active an dynamic when it comes to offense.