Here's what I had to say tonight... unfortunately Pat's side of the convo didn't get captured in my recording but it should be relatively easy to fill in the blanks.
Like your points about Dube. Dude has been a ghost for a while now and has escaped criticism.
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I believe Treliving listened tops players last offseason and signed Ward for 2 years. Top players like Ward because they don't need practice hard, don't worry about ice time cut, or don't blamed if their played poorly.
Then there are some players that try to play hard and earn ice time but can't because Ward can't make hard decisions about top players.
Ward is too passive and don't / can't control the room, but don't receive any blame for poor games.
Always say "we need to play better, better execution or more details" and when it get's worst he said "the players should take over the game, or team".
Never says I need, I will make or my responsibility.
I guess the players and the coach both failing their promise. So GM needs to take the control now.
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It's funny. After the Avs smoked em 2 years ago, the Lighting getting swept in the first round, and the Blues winning the Cup after being in the toilet half way through, there was so much talk about how running the table in the regular season is a detriment to playoff success.
Maybe this win one, lose one pattern they got going on is exactly what they need? Claw your way into the playoffs .. and then who knows?
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That’s his problem, he has no ideas and no ability to adjust his system. The only answer Ward has is to shuffle his lines. News flash! It won’t work. The Flames do not have the personnel to play Wards’s system, and the system doesn’t suit today’s NHL. Ward is either incapable of recognizing that this system will not work or he has no ability to change it to something more likely to work.
You could argue that the players have stopped caring, and things certainly look that way. But you can’t trade 20 players in a pandemic-restricted season with a flat cap. And trading players at their lowest possible value due to the team’s current performance is poor asset management. Trading one or two players won’t change the makeup of the team enough to suit Ward’s system, and besides that, I don’t think that the system would work for any team in today’s NHL. Compound that with Ward’s complete inability to make any adjustments other than line combinations, and it’s easy to see that the only solution is for Ward to go. The sooner the better. It’s the only in-season option that can amount to anything more than shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic.
It's funny. After the Avs smoked em 2 years ago, the Lighting getting swept in the first round, and the Blues winning the Cup after being in the toilet half way through, there was so much talk about how running the table in the regular season is a detriment to playoff success.
Maybe this win one, lose one pattern they got going on is exactly what they need? Claw your way into the playoffs .. and then who knows?
This has been the classic Flames strategy since 2007. Just make and and anything can happen, right?
It's funny. After the Avs smoked em 2 years ago, the Lighting getting swept in the first round, and the Blues winning the Cup after being in the toilet half way through, there was so much talk about how running the table in the regular season is a detriment to playoff success.
Maybe this win one, lose one pattern they got going on is exactly what they need? Claw your way into the playoffs .. and then who knows?
You mean the season when the Blues fired Yeo mid-season after the team played several months of uninspired hockey and were well out of the playoff picture, but after hiring a coach who was able to recognize the team’s strengths and utilize them, went on to win the Stanley Cup? Wouldn’t want to have that here now, would we?
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I’m shocked about how poorly this season has gone. This team should have been a lock for top four in the division. I don’t know if it’s coaching, leadership, “ the core”, or all of the above, but I’m kind of speechless. They could still go with on a run and make the playoffs, but it seems more likely that something is broken and it won’t be a quick fix.
Could you give a Coles notes version of Patty and his rebuttles to your post.
Sure...
At around 1:00, Pat interjected to mention that the previous caller had brought up missing Keegan Kanzig (lol), which is the name I said I thought I would never hear on the radio again.
At 3:35, after I said it would be pointless to take the top guys out because there is little depth to replace them, Pat countered by saying that the Flames would be taking those guys out to send a message and that the Flames' stars have yet to be properly held accountable and they had bad games/made specific bad plays on Monday.
I replied by saying what he said was a little anecdotal, and that the Flames' top players at their worst are still more likely to help the team win than a struggling Dube or Lucic. He countered that by saying scratching bottom-six forwards doesn't send a message of the same impact as scratching top-six guys. I replied that Dube has been used in a top-six role for a decent part of the year and shouldn't be exempt from that same accountability.
That's basically the gist of it, from what I remember. Wish I had both sides of the conversation to share.
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You mean the season when the Blues fired Yeo mid-season after the team played several months of uninspired hockey and were well out of the playoff picture, but after hiring a coach who was able to recognize the team’s strengths and utilize them, went on to win the Stanley Cup? Wouldn’t want to have that here now, would we?
I’m shocked about how poorly this season has gone. This team should have been a lock for top four in the division. I don’t know if it’s coaching, leadership, “ the core”, or all of the above, but I’m kind of speechless. They could still go with on a run and make the playoffs, but it seems more likely that something is broken and it won’t be a quick fix.
Best chance without making meaningful changes which this management group seems intent on refraining from making (as they have more faith in this group than you or I) is to make Huska interim coach and hope for the coaching change bump to carry them to a top 4 finish. It probably won't take much as Montreal appears to be falling back to earth.
They don't want to spend money on a big name coach right now with two guys on the books, and are shy about making a core player trade and rocking the boat in covid times, so that's their one move within their comfort zone to have a shot at another first round appearance.
It is quite stunning that within the context of Canada this group will struggle to put themselves above the bottom 3.
The top players have still produced near a PPG though and the goalies have been passable to great. I see the main two culprits as systems and a downgrade in their bottom 6.
The bottom 5 forwards (every one but Looch) have provided very little. Less than even your average depth forwards on an NHL team.
Rieder, Czarnik and Quine don't even look so bad right now.
Also old Ryan was leaps better than this years Ryan pre injury.
Last edited by djsFlames; 03-02-2021 at 12:03 AM.
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Anyone else notice their hands getting older, posting in CP PGTs about the exact same crap? Like, you notice your hands are older, but don't remember it happening.
