Calgary Flames

[The Comish]

I'm keeping an open mind. No playoffs in 4 years with the Canes worries me a little but I'd like to believe we in Calgary have a better team for him to work with. Although, it seems like we are bringing everyone over a little bit at a time so.

Yeah, I read an article that said Carolina and Calgary were essentially the same type of roster, but I wouldn't agree. I think Calgary is definitely ahead of Carolina, so I'll reserve my judgement until Peters gets to work. It could be a better fit than Carolina. I also learned that Peters is from Three Hills and coached in Lethbridge...close enough to be a hometown coach. Regardless, I think Calgary underachieved by a wide margin last season and are due for a nice little comeback.

[DocMcPuffin]

Yeah, I read an article that said Carolina and Calgary were essentially the same type of roster, but I wouldn't agree. I think Calgary is definitely ahead of Carolina, so I'll reserve my judgement until Peters gets to work. It could be a better fit than Carolina. I also learned that Peters is from Three Hills and coached in Lethbridge...close enough to be a hometown coach. Regardless, I think Calgary underachieved by a wide margin last season and are due for a nice little comeback.

Our special teams need a MASSIVE improvement, our D needs to get it together and we need scoring from the other 3 lines. I think there is a lot of work to be done but I feel Peters may be able to come in and fix some of those issues. Plus he holds his players accountable. GG didn't really do that in my eyes.

[agentzero]

Glu Glu did nothing with this roster. I agree that he looked overmatched. Peters's teams look like they had a pack mentality and played some decent defense, though one could argue it wasn't all that great since his teams failed to reach the postseason many a times. He was asked to coach at the WC if I recall so he must be regarded in some circles... It was no accident he brought over Hanifin and Lindholm in his life-raft either.. He must have a plan. I bet he gives them the hard minutes. I would expect spikes in points for Monahan and Gaudreau, whose duties will likely be lightened by a line that features Lindholm... Backlund.. Those guys.

[rataylor22]

Gulutzan was a bad hire from the moment it happened and I was saying that before he ever coached a game. Such a soft and apologist style, that the team adopted. If your coach says you’re playing well after every game you lose, the team adopts that attitude even when it’s quite clear they played terrible. So many times you’d hear from the coach all the way down “well we outshot them”, even in games they played terribly. No accountability, no meritocracy. The best players often didn’t play or get the ice they deserved.

Peters might be good, he might suck. He’s below .500 in points percentage over his NHL career, which seems god damn impossible in the current league, but he’s won lots of other places so who knows. If he brings accountability and smart lineup decisions it should be easy to be better than Gulutzan. Geoff Ward might be good, and he might suck. His PP results have been good, underlying metrics less promising.

It’s easy to see how this is a much better team than Carolina, and it’s indisputably better than last year even with that gross Hamilton trade. Should find out about a Brouwer buyout in the next couple days, but we’ll know a lot about Peters and his accountability by game 10. If Brouwer is still a regular skater, it’s clear that status and reputation still matter to this team more than ability. He’s clearly outside their top 12, and can make the argument he’s their 16th or 17th best forward. The day 1 “best lineup” should be:

13-23-Neal/Lindholm
19-11-Lindholm/Neal
93-Ryan-67/Czarnik
88-77-Czarnik/67

Top 3 extras: Dube, Foo, Hathaway

There’s simply nowhere for pouty pants to be, and if that dude has an “A” opening day I’ll lay down the bet the Flames miss the playoffs and suffer from the same problems they had all this past year.

[rataylor22]

Calgary did a good

[newper114]

As much as I like the notes here can you please write out the names for the lines and not just numbers. That is so confusing and now makes me have to go to another site to see who those people Are

Thanks

[Shift Disturber]

As much as I like the notes here can you please write out the names for the lines and not just numbers. That is so confusing and now makes me have to go to another site to see who those people Are

Thanks

We aim to please here in Flames land.

Gaudreau/Monahan/Lindholm (I think this is how they'll roll to start)
Tkachuk/Backlund/Neal (put a finisher with two high-end possession guys and see what happens)
Bennett/Ryan/Frolik (Frolik will help this line to stay in the offensive zone, something Bennett has trouble doing)
Mangiapane/Jankowski/Czarnik (try three youngsters on the 4th line - a novel concept in Calgary)

Lazar and Hathaway extras...sigh. Dube and Foo need time in the AHL.

[newper114]

Thanks for adding that! So much easier to see and I gotta say it's looking like a pretty deep forward lineup

[Zorro]

The additions of Lindholm, Neal and Ryan really strengthen the forward corps!!
Brodie needs to be reunited with Giordano on the back end!!
If Smith stays healthy, this could be a really good squad!!

[rataylor22]

If Brodie needs to play with Giordano to be good, he’s not good.

[agentzero]

How has Lindholm looked in pre-season? Have we even seen a lot of him?

[Shift Disturber]

Well that certainly didn’t go according to the plan tonight. WTF was with that PP?

[rataylor22]

Lindholm and Gaudreau are both on the wrong sides. They need to fix that fast or this PP is going nowhere.

[Shift Disturber]

It’s interesting how often a new coach comes in and proceeds to do the same thing with the same players. No change from last year so far - win the 5 on 5 possession game, lose on special teams, goalie doesn’t come up with timely saves, other team more opportunistic, and...lose on opening night. My fear is that the leadership group hasn’t changed and they have demonstrated that they do not respond well to adversity.

[Dennis]

Travis Hamonic suffred a facial fracture in a fight with Erik Gudbranson last night and has been placed on IR, considered week-to-week. Rasmus Andersson has been called up.

Flames? Travis Hamonic week-to-week with facial fracture