GDT: Duel between Calgary Flamberges vs Buffalo Sabres

[Ace Rimmer]

A solution for Neal is to staple him beside Backlund and Tkachuk for the next few games.
Those guys produce regardless.

Would prefer a healthy Backlund though. With reports that he was at an event shaking hands with his left hand, coupled with passing instead of shooting at an open net are indications he's got something painful going on. (Carpal Tunnel from too much fortnite?)

I'd put Neal with Monahan & Gaudreau (defense be damned) and bump Lindholm to the 2nd line with Backlund & Tkachuk.

 

[Kranix]

I'm starting to lean towards the opinion Bennett should have spent some time in the AHL to begin his career, but alas...
I'm not backing off my claim he will break out this year though.

 

[DomBarr]

I'm starting to lean towards the opinion Bennett should have spent some time in the AHL to begin his career, but alas...
I'm not backing off my claim he will break out this year though.

Maybe if Calgary hadn't burned a year of his ELC during the playoffs. He was too young for the AHL and too good to go back to Junior his second year and then had decent success playing left wing with Backlund. His 3rd year when they moved him to center might have been the year to do it but he showed enough as a center to make the Flames.

 

[SKRusty]

A little time to gather my thoughts what I saw last night and here I go. The Flames didn't show up for the first 5 minutes and I was getting concerned for another Pens fiasco. The line that turned it around was Janks, Bennett and Neal. From there the team took off for the most part taking control of the game. There were some sloppy plays but either Ritter or the guys did what was needed to fix their mistake.

This game would not have been close if it weren't for Hutton.

The first line was very good again dominating their possession numbers. Johnny has really bought into the chip and chase when there is nothing there and you can see him, Lindy and Mony all enjoy putting pressure on the oppositions D.

The bad:

• I will give them a small pass but the turnovers in the neutral zone were a problem at times.
• Back's is injured and his line's effectiveness has completely disappeared. Think the team needs to look at giving him some time to heal.
• 0-5 on the PP though it looked extremely dangerous last night.
• Would like to see more secondary scoring.
• DUbe needs to go to the AHL. That is 2 brutal hits he has taken because he is not ready. Yes it was a charge but like Johnny he has to stay aware and he isn't looking out for himself.

Gio is the star of this team. Much goes unseen but the man is always in the game. Brodie look comfortable last night and has lost his hesitation when making plays. Whatever Brodie and Peters chatted about really works as TJ has been getting better and better for the last 3 games.

Ritter is our number 1. No qualms there.

This is a ridiculous conversation but look no further than Holtby last year. Grubauer was all world all season then sucked in the playoffs. Smith and Rittich need to be platooned. THe hotter of the two gets the start.

I'm starting to lean towards the opinion Bennett should have spent some time in the AHL to begin his career, but alas...
I'm not backing off my claim he will break out this year though.

Yeah and the Flames are at risk of making that same mistake with Dube.

 

[Volica]

A little time to gather my thoughts what I saw last night and here I go. The Flames didn't show up for the first 5 minutes and I was getting concerned for another Pens fiasco. The line that turned it around was Janks, Bennett and Neal. From there the team took off for the most part taking control of the game. There were some sloppy plays but either Ritter or the guys did what was needed to fix their mistake.

This game would not have been close if it weren't for Hutton.

The first line was very good again dominating their possession numbers. Johnny has really bought into the chip and chase when there is nothing there and you can see him, Lindy and Mony all enjoy putting pressure on the oppositions D.

The bad:

• I will give them a small pass but the turnovers in the neutral zone were a problem at times.
• Back's is injured and his line's effectiveness has completely disappeared. Think the team needs to look at giving him some time to heal.
• 0-5 on the PP though it looked extremely dangerous last night.
• Would like to see more secondary scoring.
• DUbe needs to go to the AHL. That is 2 brutal hits he has taken because he is not ready. Yes it was a charge but like Johnny he has to stay aware and he isn't looking out for himself.

Gio is the star of this team. Much goes unseen but the man is always in the game. Brodie look comfortable last night and has lost his hesitation when making plays. Whatever Brodie and Peters chatted about really works as TJ has been getting better and better for the last 3 games.



This is a ridiculous conversation but look no further than Holtby last year. Grubauer was all world all season then sucked in the playoffs. Smith and Rittich need to be platooned. THe hotter of the two gets the start.



Yeah and the Flames are at risk of making that same mistake with Dube.

My thoughts about your thoughts:
Jankowski was Calgary's worst skater last night. He needs more time on the 4th line or in the pressbox. He doesn't think this game well enough to be much of an impact forward in the top 9. Maybe if he has another learning curve; but I honestly think a Brian Boyle from Jankowski would be the tops for him. Essentially last year, we force fed him minutes and his spent most of the season with stat lines of 0, 0, 0 , -1/2. We just didn't have depth and now that we do, I'm not sold he's one of Calgary's 10 best forwards.

Apparently Backlund's hand might be broken. The guys on the radio show were talking about him about 1-2 weeks ago during one of the charity things he was doing, and they kept saying he couldn't use his right hand at all.

Secondary scoring I feel is almost there. Bennett, Neal and Dube get at least 1 grade A chance each every night, one night it's bound to go in. Once the first ones go in, things will get nasty for teams against Calgary.

Gio is the best player and the most important player on this team. Without him we'd bleed chances.

Dube is creating scoring chances nightly. IF you send him down, our lineup losses skill AND speed. The issue with that, is who comes into the lineup? Czarnik (which is good), but that means Jankowski and Hathaway firmly cement their spots in the top 12... and I don't think either has shown more than a game's worth they belong in that category.

 

[SKRusty]

My thoughts about your thoughts:
Jankowski was Calgary's worst skater last night. He needs more time on the 4th line or in the pressbox. He doesn't think this game well enough to be much of an impact forward in the top 9. Maybe if he has another learning curve; but I honestly think a Brian Boyle from Jankowski would be the tops for him. Essentially last year, we force fed him minutes and his spent most of the season with stat lines of 0, 0, 0 , -1/2. We just didn't have depth and now that we do, I'm not sold he's one of Calgary's 10 best forwards.

Apparently Backlund's hand might be broken. The guys on the radio show were talking about him about 1-2 weeks ago during one of the charity things he was doing, and they kept saying he couldn't use his right hand at all.

Secondary scoring I feel is almost there. Bennett, Neal and Dube get at least 1 grade A chance each every night, one night it's bound to go in. Once the first ones go in, things will get nasty for teams against Calgary.

Gio is the best player and the most important player on this team. Without him we'd bleed chances.

Dube is creating scoring chances nightly. IF you send him down, our lineup losses skill AND speed. The issue with that, is who comes into the lineup? Czarnik (which is good), but that means Jankowski and Hathaway firmly cement their spots in the top 12... and I don't think either has shown more than a game's worth they belong in that category.

I have no dispute on Jankowski's game last night. After the unfortunate bounce Jankowski shrunk and became invisible hesitating with every pass, shot, and even positioning. He looked like a duck out of water. Like the team Mark has to learn to be more resilient and stay on the game plan.

Dube has a great rush or two a game. His defensive play though getting better is not as good as Czarnik. That said I am not looking at Dube for today but more for the end of the season. Dube isn't keeping himself aware enough and is taking huge hits because of this. We do not need to lose one of our more promising prospects to this lack of awareness. Moreover it would really help Dube get his pro game in gear if he was playing 20 minutes a night in Stockton with a lot of PP to hopefully make our team better after the trade deadline. 30-40 games in the AHL would make DUbe a way better player. I kind of wish Jankowski would have spent last season in the AHL as he would be more prepared now with PP skills that could definitely be used now.

In regards to the line-up I might almost try putting Stone on the wing with that wicked shot while Dube was gone. His lack of speed would be less noticeable on the Wing.

 

[crackdown44]

My thoughts about your thoughts:
Jankowski was Calgary's worst skater last night. He needs more time on the 4th line or in the pressbox. He doesn't think this game well enough to be much of an impact forward in the top 9. Maybe if he has another learning curve; but I honestly think a Brian Boyle from Jankowski would be the tops for him. Essentially last year, we force fed him minutes and his spent most of the season with stat lines of 0, 0, 0 , -1/2. We just didn't have depth and now that we do, I'm not sold he's one of Calgary's 10 best forwards.

Apparently Backlund's hand might be broken. The guys on the radio show were talking about him about 1-2 weeks ago during one of the charity things he was doing, and they kept saying he couldn't use his right hand at all.

Secondary scoring I feel is almost there. Bennett, Neal and Dube get at least 1 grade A chance each every night, one night it's bound to go in. Once the first ones go in, things will get nasty for teams against Calgary.

Gio is the best player and the most important player on this team. Without him we'd bleed chances.

Dube is creating scoring chances nightly. IF you send him down, our lineup losses skill AND speed. The issue with that, is who comes into the lineup? Czarnik (which is good), but that means Jankowski and Hathaway firmly cement their spots in the top 12... and I don't think either has shown more than a game's worth they belong in that category.

My only quarrel is with that last bit. The main difference is that Janko and Hathaway aren’t wasted on the 4th line, they’re bottom 6 forwards. I think Dube has a chance to be more than that and that he’d develop better getting top minutes in the AHL at center than getting 8 minutes a night on the wing with Hathaway and Ryan