Speculation: Armchair GM Thread - 2018/19 Season

[DFF]

With two top 6 forwards coming this summer, Bennet time on the top 6 is almost over
He is going to have to make it with jank unless he shows up to camp the best he has ever been
Unless something changes this year, he is going to join Rico fata and Daniel tkachuk as the all time disappointment

 

[Sparky93]

First off, Bennett was ready for the NHL, he proved that his rookie season in a sheltered role. What he wasn’t ready for was being the driving force of any line, seems unlikely he ever will be, at this point. I don’t really see Frolik being a huge upgrade over Brouwer, so I have moderate hopes for improvement on the 3rd line. The kids are still improving, so I’m hoping for 30+ season from both Bennett and Jankowski

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Can’t wait until Benny outscores Lindy this year.

 

[Lunatik]

Cue okg telling us janko is our best centre.

But I would agree, and offer a 1st on top of those. I think Ottawa is the more likely partner, which is good because I like stone more and they are seemingly in an awkward spot contract wise with him.

Oh c'mon, you knwo you are wrong. He will tell us Janko is our 2nd best behind Bennett

 

[Lunatik]

First off, Bennett was ready for the NHL, he proved that his rookie season in a sheltered role. What he wasn’t ready for was being the driving force of any line, seems unlikely he ever will be, at this point. I don’t really see Frolik being a huge upgrade over Brouwer, so I have moderate hopes for improvement on the 3rd line. The kids are still improving, so I’m hoping for 30+ season from both Bennett and Jankowski

The fact he needed to be sheltered by Backlund and Frolik is not exactly a good argument that he was NHL ready IMO

 

[Flameshomer]

Can’t wait until Benny outscores Lindy this year.

That would be really great, but I just can't see how that will happen. Lindy looks set to play in the top 6, potentially on the first line. Bennett will very likely be on the 3rd line (though I would actually like to see him on lindholms lw)

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Can’t wait until Benny outscores Lindy this year.

President's trophy here we come, because there's no way Lindholm is scoring less than 50 goals and 80 points.

 

[Lunatik]

President's trophy here we come, because there's no way Lindholm is scoring less than 50 goals and 80 points.

I hear Bennett will score 600 goals and get 1300 points in his career, just like Robbie Schremp

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Extremely hypothetical situation, but let's say Smith wants to retire after next season, and neither Rittich or Gillies have proven to be successful at even being a short term starter. Parsons isn't ready for NHL time yet, which goalie do we go after? I see a wildcard in Joonas Korpisalo.

 

[crackdown44]

Extremely hypothetical situation, but let's say Smith wants to retire after next season, and neither Rittich or Gillies have proven to be successful at even being a short term starter. Parsons isn't ready for NHL time yet, which goalie do we go after? I see a wildcard in Joonas Korpisalo.

I yearn for an internally developed goalie. Please don’t take that away from me

 

[Calculon]

They probably go after Fleury, Bobrovsky, Varlamov, Howard or possibly Rinne, assuming any of those guys become UFA's. But if the Blue Jackets re-sign Bobrovsky, maybe they make Korpisalo available.

There's honestly not much out there in terms of young, up and coming goalies that might be available. Flames really do need one of Rittich/Gillies/Parsons/Schneider/MacDonald to pan out and sooner rather than later. That's why it's probably best if they give Rittich and Gillies every chance as backups this season; they need to get them that experience so they can reach a starter level.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Still a Bennett believer. Just has to get back to his game. Driving the net, in your face, North South high octane hockey. Not going to be effective as a perimeter player.

Hope he learns how to use his linemates and especially his defence a lot better this season. Also hope he gets the penalties under control and to stop overskating himself into corners. Would love to see a Tkachuk - Backlund - Bennett line at some point.

 

[Skobel24]

I still think Bennett can be a 40-50 point Langkow type player.

 

[DFF]

I yearn for an internally developed goalie. Please don’t take that away from me

lol new Flames fan?

 

[Fig]

Extremely hypothetical situation, but let's say Smith wants to retire after next season, and neither Rittich or Gillies have proven to be successful at even being a short term starter. Parsons isn't ready for NHL time yet, which goalie do we go after? I see a wildcard in Joonas Korpisalo.

Robin Lehner with a mask covered in pics of Mike Smith?

 

[CraigsList]

I’m not seeing Rittich as starter potential anymore. He didn’t pull through when we needed him most. Out of the two, I think Gillies does.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

I’m not seeing Rittich as starter potential anymore. He didn’t pull through when we needed him most. Out of the two, I think Gillies does.

With the amount Gillies was playing down the stretch, I'm thinking Rittich was hurt.

 

[The Gnome]

I’m not seeing Rittich as starter potential anymore. He didn’t pull through when we needed him most. Out of the two, I think Gillies does.

He was excellent in a backup role last year. He just needs more time, goalies are a rare breed. They can come out of nowhere and surprise you. At least rittich had starts where he looked exceptional.

 

[CraigsList]

He was excellent in a backup role last year. He just needs more time, goalies are a rare breed. They can come out of nowhere and surprise you. At least rittich had starts where he looked exceptional.

The Flames’ problem is having inconsistent goaltending. It’s been like this since Kipper has left.

Hiller, Ramo, Elliot, Johnson, Smith, and now Rittich. Only included Smith because he didn’t play too hot towards to end of the season. It is it because of injuries? Maybe. Doesn’t change the fact that we needed them to help when we had injuries in other places.

 

[Mobiandi]

Hellebuyck was terrible the season before this one. I still believe that one of them will eventually have some staying power

 

[JPeeper]

Gillies is weird. He'll make 30 good saves, look solid, then let in the dumbest goals you didn't think possible. And he'll do it 1-3 times a game. I don't understand, almost all his goals last year were just shit fluke goals that happened wayyyy too often.

Give him more time to adjust and I think he'll be very good. Same with Rittich, he only really looked bad once Smith down and had the world on his shoulders and then crumbled because of it, seemingly anyway.

 

[DFF]

Gillies is weird. He'll make 30 good saves, look solid, then let in the dumbest goals you didn't think possible. And he'll do it 1-3 times a game. I don't understand, almost all his goals last year were just **** fluke goals that happened wayyyy too often.

Give him more time to adjust and I think he'll be very good. Same with Rittich, he only really looked bad once Smith down and had the world on his shoulders and then crumbled because of it, seemingly anyway.

Not just the bad dumb goals, he was out of position and made simple plays looked tough many times. He is a Bennett in goal (i.e lack of hockey sense or dumb to be frank).

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Not just the bad dumb goals, he was out of position and made simple plays looked tough many times. He is a Bennett in goal (i.e lack of hockey sense or dumb to be frank).

Simply being out of position doesn't mean lack of hockey IQ. Yes I'll admit Gillies fits a poor hockey IQ player example, but Lundqvist, Crawford, etc. are goalies that often have poor positioning yet you can't argue their hockey IQ as being bad by any means.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Not just the bad dumb goals, he was out of position and made simple plays looked tough many times. He is a Bennett in goal (i.e lack of hockey sense or dumb to be frank).

Actually the numbers say Gillies still performed pretty decently.

Then you consider he had ~10-15 terrible goals that should be 100% fixable.

The thing about Gillies. Is that he makes a lot of really difficult saves, look really easy. So he doesn’t get the credit that flashier goalies get. But at the end of the day, his job is to stop the puck. And if you give the shooter to Gillies, and take away the pass, which is a basic defensive strategy in hockey, then he is as hard to score on as any goalie out there.

 

[Flamesfan62]

I’m not seeing Rittich as starter potential anymore. He didn’t pull through when we needed him most. Out of the two, I think Gillies does.

He is also a young goalie who had zero experience prior. They need time to develop. Gillies didn’t pull through either, so what makes him have more starting potential?