GDT: Ducks at Flames: Some guy called Gaudreau is back. Dec 04 @ 7:30 pm MT

[BigRangy]

I would give Kulak the opportunity (~5 games) to see if him and Brodie could make an effective middle pair, if not, then you'd have to look outside the organization for a partner.

It's too bad expansion would likely snap up Kulak if he actually proves to be capable in the top 4.

 

[InfinityIggy]

Calgary really still needs that top 4 defensive specialist.
The Gio-Dougie duo is absolute money. When they have an actual system they're beasts (i.e not Hartley's 'system' from last year). Everything after that pair can range from alright to tire fire... With a lot in that tire-fire range.

I'd be interested in Dallas or the Avs; Dan Hamhuis is the best of the Dmen that'd be available between the two teams; he has a year left. I really wonder if you could do a conditional trade depending on whether the player is lost during expansion? I would really just like to sure up that D, before we really make our run.

Agreed. It's too bad Engelland isn't reliable enough to pair with Brodie in the top 4.

I think our biggest problem is that Wideman is redundant in our system, but needs to play in the top 4 to be remotely effective.

I like the idea of a Kulak - Brodie middle pairing, other than the fact that they both play very similar games.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

Agreed. It's too bad Engelland isn't reliable enough to pair with Brodie in the top 4.

I think our biggest problem is that Wideman is redundant in our system, but needs to play in the top 4 to be remotely effective.

I like the idea of a Kulak - Brodie middle pairing, other than the fact that they both play very similar games.

Is Brodie really an offensive defenseman in this kind of system?

Seems to me he's a pure matchup guy in this kind of deployment, like a Tanev or somebody. I think he needs an offensive-minded partner if he's not gonna be Norris Brodie.

Wideman is too slow and makes too many sketchy reads leaving the slot to be the right partner for him, but the idea is still pretty close to what I think Brodie needs if Brodie isn't going to take the next step offensively.

 

[FlamerForLife]

Man that was a fun game! Considering it was against the Ducks makes it even better!

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Jokkipakka has been terrible this year. I'd also try the Kulak Brodie pairing. I'd let the Brodie-Wideman pairing role while the team is winning though.

 

[SmellOfVictory]

I liked the part with the goals.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

Is it just me or this is the deepest Flames team since 89? And that team was built the same way, through shrewd drafting and valuing skill and depth over flawed top 6 / bottom 6 grinding logic.

They even had a Calgarian goalie, a trade with the Blues, and a ****-distruber rookie......

 

[East Coast Icestyle]

Is it just me or this is the deepest Flames team since 89? And that team was built the same way, through shrewd drafting and valuing skill and depth over flawed top 6 / bottom 6 grinding logic.

They even had a Calgarian goalie, a trade with the Blues, and a ****-distruber rookie......

Not sure if serious but that team was literally half full of all stars

 

[Kahvi]

 

[Snazu]

Is it just me or this is the deepest Flames team since 89? And that team was built the same way, through shrewd drafting and valuing skill and depth over flawed top 6 / bottom 6 grinding logic.

They even had a Calgarian goalie, a trade with the Blues, and a ****-distruber rookie......

I think it's just you. I'd say the few years right after the 04 cup run team had some pretty deep teams. Just couldn't pull it together in the playoffs. Also for about 5 years after the 89 cup team, there were some pretty deep teams there for sure. In 89 there were 4 players in the All star game. I doubt we are going to get more than 1 or 2 guys.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Is it just me or this is the deepest Flames team since 89? And that team was built the same way, through shrewd drafting and valuing skill and depth over flawed top 6 / bottom 6 grinding logic.

They even had a Calgarian goalie, a trade with the Blues, and a ****-distruber rookie......

I'd say it's probably 2nd. There was a year we had Iggy, Cammy, Langkow, Huselius, Conroy, Regehr, Jbo. I feel like that was our best year to win, but our top 3 lines this year are all great. Very underrated if we can get playing well.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

Is it just me or this is the deepest Flames team since 89? And that team was built the same way, through shrewd drafting and valuing skill and depth over flawed top 6 / bottom 6 grinding logic.

They even had a Calgarian goalie, a trade with the Blues, and a ****-distruber rookie......

Good God, no.

 

[DCDM]

Is it just me or this is the deepest Flames team since 89? And that team was built the same way, through shrewd drafting and valuing skill and depth over flawed top 6 / bottom 6 grinding logic.

They even had a Calgarian goalie, a trade with the Blues, and a ****-distruber rookie......

This team is better because Jankowski.

 

[Lunatik]

This team is better because Jankowski.

and more winger goals

 

[Kahvi]

Anyone who said after 10 games or so that fans need to be patient and wait till it's been more than 20 games can pat themselves on the back and get a beer or something. I know I did

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Anyone who said after 10 games or so that fans need to be patient and wait till it's been more than 20 games can pat themselves on the back and get a beer or something. I know I did

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Jokkipakka has been terrible this year. I'd also try the Kulak Brodie pairing. I'd let the Brodie-Wideman pairing role while the team is winning though.

I wanted him to have a Mattias Ekholm-esque season (Yes where for a long stretch he plays better defensively than both Gio and Brodie).

 

[Kahvi]

I don't know if the Flames are a deep team but they are scoring by a committee. Frolik has 15 points, 13th best scorer (Ferland) has 10 points. 7 of those players hover just above or below 0.5PPG with Gaudreau having clearly better 0.72PPG.

 

[Kahvi]

I don't know if the Flames are a deep team but they are scoring by a committee. Frolik has 15 points, 13th best scorer (Ferland) has 10 points. 7 of those players hover just above or below 0.5PPG with Gaudreau having clearly better 0.72PPG.

To continue this, I went through every team's stats. Just glancing to get some kind of overview so these are not 100% exact numbers.

Based on scoring you could say Flames have three 2nd lines, and scoring from 2nd and 3rd "best" lines combined is among top3 or top5 in the league. Flames are also 22nd in GPG, which means there really isn't a first line when it comes to scoring, and there's a lot of teams whose 3rd or 4th best scorer would be 1st in Flames. Penguins and Rangers are clearly ahead when it comes to depth scoring, and then there's few teams that are on par with Flames.

 

[InfinityIggy]

We are riding hot a streak and a hot goaltender right now. I think there is still some deflation to come and how they handle that will give us an idea of if we are a playoff team or not.

 

[Dertell]

We are riding hot a streak and a hot goaltender right now. I think there is still some deflation to come and how they handle that will give us an idea of if we are a playoff team or not.

We've been pretty average this year overall, and I guess it'll stay that way. If Oilers, Ducks free fall we should be fine.

 

[GAMO1992]

Damn, looks like I missed a good game stupid working till late..

 

[The Gnome]

One thing that has been a really nice development over the last few games is that Hamilton is starting to look like a top pairing dman. Great to see him level someone in front of the net last night...Can't remember who it was, but we haven't seen that kind of strong arm tactics from our backend in a while!

 

[Master Bill]

I'd say it's probably 2nd. There was a year we had Iggy, Cammy, Langkow, Huselius, Conroy, Regehr, Jbo. I feel like that was our best year to win, but our top 3 lines this year are all great. Very underrated if we can get playing well.

I was thinking this too, but I don't think Cammy played when Huselius was here.

The team that Mike Keenan had during his first season here was pretty stacked - Iginla and Phaneuf had career seasons; Langkow, Huselius, Tanguay put up great numbers; the likes of Conroy, Nolan, Lombardi put up good middle-6 numbers; and the defense was actually rock solid.

I really thought that was our year but it just never clicked in the playoffs. Looking back, that was a really good team.

 

[Ynnek]

I went to bed at 10 minutes into the second tied at 1. I should have stayed up for this.