Thoughts on the Draft, another Sutter, and more…

Draft: Darryl Sutter takes a defenceman in the 1st round… big surprise!? He loves his defence and it’s gonna be a good ride for this young kid in the Flames organization.  With that said, the Flames did take 4 forwards and a goalie in rounds 3-7 (no pick in round 2) so it wasn’t a big splash of a draft but we’ll see how the Flames develop these kids!

Brent Sutter: As the THIRD Sutter brother to coach this team, I’m finding it hard not to give props to the NJ Devils for letting him walk and negotiate with another team… At least we’re in the other conference.  With that said, Brent has the best pieces to be the most successful of the Brothers to coach this team.  With his focus being leadership and defence, the Stars WILL be held accountable.  Brian Sutter was a great coach (Like MIke Keenan, probably wouldn’t fair that well in the ‘New’ NHL) but Brian was given Dwayne Roloson; Tyler Moss; and Rick Tabaracci in his first year… Fred Brathwaite; Ken Wregget; (an unproven) J.S. Giguere; Andre Trefilov; Tyler Moss and a kid named Tyrone Garner as goaltenders in his second season and finally, he had Brathwaite; Giguere and Grant Fuhr in his third season… With Kiprusoff and McElhinney, he’ll have stability and a slew of young ‘tenders in Matt Keetley and Leyland Irving.  Any Sutter coaching in Alberta has enough pressure in itself, I’m thinking Brent’s up for the job!

Free Agents: What to do? Darryl made it clear that he’s not counting on the FA market, and by trading the rights to Leopold (who they couldn’t come to terms with) for a chance at Bouwmeester, that was a great move to have a top four defence potentially look like Regehr, Phaneuf, Bouwmeester and Sarich with Giordano and Pardy filling things out. (we still have guys like Matt Pelech and John Negrin as solid prospects.)  Hate to see two-way Vandermeer go but we get back a decent young player who knows the organization and is well liked.   Finally, would you let Cammalleri and Bertuzzi walk? I say yes… WIth Jokinen here, no room for Cammi and no chemistry… Bertuzzi, unless he takes less money, no worth it…  Aucoin is a solid D but money speaks too loud and too high so let him walk… Lundmark may be the only Cgy UFA I go after if I’m Darryl Sutter… Among the RFA’s, Pardy and Boyd are a no brainer for the price and years you get for them.

Always a Pleasure!

Naoto Yuki

I’ll keep this short and sweet…

1) Darryl Sutter - Simply put, he put this team in a tough position cap wise and put too much faith too soon in young Dion Phaneuf to carry the defence.  Every knowledgable fan I’ve spoken with says we were better off with Lombardi who has too much promise for a high rental like Jokinen.

2) Mike Keenan - Darryl Sutter’s hand picked coach to replace Jim Playfair has had two full seasons and there was just no stable element to his coaching… Pulling Kipper in Game 7 of the 2008 playoffs when the Flames only had 8 shots for and 30+ against; line juggling like he was rolling the dice; playing his goalie 75+ games… call it what you like, he didn’t get the job done.

3) Mikka Kiprusoff - His stats have dipped every year since the Cup run and 85% of fans will say it’s his work load and that comes back to Sutter but he didn’t steal any games in the playoffs and the cracks were more visible than ever.

4) Dion Phaneuf - Was it the increased work against better players? Dating Elisha Cuthbert? Whatever the case was, you don’t become the whipping boy in Calgary if you’re a smart, heads up player but he wasn’t… I like the previous entry by Josh that may have pointed to the hidden secret of his downward play… http://calgaryflames.net/2009/01/11/explaining-phaneufs-performance/

Always a please and there’s Always next year (Geez, I’m sounding like a Leaf fan…)

naoto

At beating themselves…

I will not give credit where credit is not due and the Blackhawks are NOT the stronger team in this series… The Flames have played great hockey… but have yet to find the magical line combination.  I remember a good 12 years back when the Philly Flyers had their Legion of Doom Line, (John LeClaire-Eric Lindros-Mikael Renberg) which was an unstoppable force ’til they played Detroit in the finals…  Similarily with the Flames in 2004, if Conroy, Iggy and Marty (Gelinas) were on the ice, good things happened.  In my earlier blog, I mentioned Line chemistry as one of the keys to a Flames series win and I’m more convinced than ever that certain guys need to play together to be successful.  My Lines you ask? (maybe you didn’t)

(RW-C-LW, Bold = Keystone player for that line)

Line 1: IGINLA-Conroy-Cammalleri (Iggy simply needs to be the best of the best)

Line 2: Glencross-Jokinen-BOURQUE (Olli needs the size, speed and protectin of a guy like Bourque, plus the grit and hands of Glencross to be successful… Other possibility is to put Bertuzzi in for Glencross)

Line 3: Bertuzzi-LANGKOW-Moss (Langks is the keystone player of this series… if Langkow can get it going, the team plays well behind him.)

Line 4: NYSTROM-Lundmark-Roy (I can see Eric Nystrom getting a similar goal like dad did for the Islanders because of his style of play and determination… he can fit into any line and give it the gusto it needs)

Defence: I’ll leave this part blank ’til Regehr and Sarich are back playing at a 75 - 80% level…

I’m still in the agreement that Calgary will win this series but Chicago moves the puck up faster than most teams but that hasn’t stopped Calgary from dominating teams like that in past series’.  The Bulin Wall has many cracks and he’s been more lucky than good in this series.

Flames in 7!

Always a pleasure!

naoto

After a brief hiatus, I’ve returned…

I’ve been a somewhat regular attendee at Flame Games since January and things were looking great… we all know how the season turned out but a fresh, new, clean slate is at hand and I was thinking about the differences between the teams of the Cup Win, The Last Cup Final and This year…

The major differences in success was defence and goaltending… well, duh! but how does it all compare?  How did and How do the teams look…?

1989… Mike Vernon was 25yrs old, played in only 52 games (reg. season) while Rick Wamsley was 29yrs old and played 35 games… The main defensive core was Al McInnis (25yrs); Rob Ramage (30yrs); Jamie Macoun (27yrs); Ric Nattress (26yrs); Dana Murzyn (22yrs) and Brad McCrimmon (29yrs), they also had a young buck by the name of Gary Suter who was 24yrs old at the time… There was only one player 35 or older who happened to be the Captain, Lanny Mcdonald…

2004… Mikka Kiprusoff was 27yrs old having been a mid-season acquisition and played a mere 38 games while his group of backups (Turek; McLennan and Sabourin) played a total of 48 games.  The main defensive core was Robyn Regehr (23yrs); Jordan Leopold (23yrs); Steve Montador, Andrew Ference and Mike Commodore (all 24yrs) and Rhett Warrener (28yrs)… the greybeard of players 35 and older was the one and only Dave Lowry (38yrs)…

2009… Mikka Kiprusoff is now 32yrs old having averaged 75 games/season (reg. season) for his past 4 seasons and Curtis McElhinney is 25yrs old having only 1 career NHL win to his credit.  The main defensive core is Dion Phaneuf (23yrs); Adrian Aucoin (35yrs); Cory Sarich (30yrs)*; Robyn Regehr*, Jordan Leopold and Jim Vandermeer (all 28yrs) and Adam Pardy (24yrs)… the young bucks of defence include Matt Pelech (21yrs) and John Negrin (19yrs)… the number of 35yrs and older have gone up with Adrian Aucoin (35yrs) and Craig Conroy (37yrs)…

All in all, the summer of 2009 doesn’t look like a long one compared to the previous Stanley Cup Final teams but here are my keys to a long and prosperous 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Calgary Flames.

1) Line chemistry… In Saturdays game in which I sat watching from the Sport Check Zone, Cammalleri and Conroy seemed to hit it off like Iggy and Connie did back in 2004… Jokinen has great hands and maybe better suited to a guy like Bertuzzi (Good ’ol Swiffer man with the one handed puck control and passes) than with Iggy… The simple fact is that Iginla has the prowess to play with anyone and any way… he can bang at rebounds and fight in corners with Nystrom, make pretty passes and give-and-go’s with Langkow or Jokinen and he can find the sniper in Cammalleri on the PP…

2) The Green Hard-hat approach… okay, I get it, the Daryl Sutter days are over but a comittment to the little things and working their butts off worked in 1989 and again in 2004… there is no reason to believe it can’t work in 2009… which leads me to the third and final key…

3) Mike Keenan… He’s lit a fire under every superstar that has played for him and when that supestar gets with the program, he’s succeeded… I’m not convinced that Iggy is 100% with his coach (they’re both fierce competitors but something elusive is going on…)  Keenan has made heros out of guys like Tim Kerr (PHI), Ron Hextall (PHI), Brian Propp (PHI), Chris Chelios (CHI), Ed Belfour (CHI), Mark Messier (NYR), Brian Leetch (NYR), Mike Richter (NYR), Brett Hull (STL), Chris Pronger (STL), Pavel Bure (VAN), Todd Bertuzzi (VAN), Jason Allison (BOS), Joe Thorton (BOS), Olli Jokinen (FLA), Valerie Bure (FLA) and now Mike Cammalleri and Rene Bourque.  Keenan’s only downside that has really hurt him recently (From St. Louis through Calgary) is his goaltending… maybe it’s because he’s has to use Starters for an average of 70+ games/season because of an inadequate backup but seems like his main guys are burnt out or tired at the end of the regular season… everyone from Grant Fuhr (who played 79 games in Keenan’s one full year with the Blues) or Roberto Luongo who played close to or just over 70 games while their time together in Florida up to now having Kipper play 75 games/season in his two years under Iron Mike… Something’s gotta give!

Finally, just food for thought but here is the goalie/defence synopsis of Keenan’s Cup winning Rangers team in 1994.

1994… Mike Richter (27yrs) played 68 reg. season games with Glen Healy (31yrs) playing 29 games… The main defensive core was Brian Leetch (25yrs); Sergi Zubov (23yrs); Jeff Beukaboom (28yrs); Alexander Karpotsev (23yrs); Kevin Lowe (34yrs) and Jay Wells (34yrs)… The greybeards 35yrs and older? The One and only Craig McTavish who was 35yrs old

The Flames of 2009 remind me a lot of this 1994 NYR team having a young stud defencemen (Brian Leetch vs. Dion Phaneuf) with solid stay at home defencemen (Beukaboom & Lowe vs. Regehr & Sarich) Good charactered greybeards (McTavish vs. Conroy) and finally a workhorse of a goalie (Richter vs. Kiprusoff)… All in all, Sutter built this team for Mike Keenan and here’s hoping the Flames bring home the Cup in their 20th Anniversary of winning Cup number 1

Always a Pleasure!

naoto

This is an interesting article about the Flames and their intentions on Curtis McElhinney.
(Steve Macfarlane, Calgary Sun)

Your thoughts?

NHL Trade Deadline: March 4, 2009.

With that said, what would you try and accomplish on or before the NHL Trade Deadline? What would you like to see happen?

Some numbers to consider:

Calgary Cap Space remaining for 2008-2009: $2.65 million (Keep in mind that the number crunchers are forecasting a Team Salary Cap of around $52 million for 2009-2010; The 2008-2009 Salary Cap is approx. $57 million)

Expiring Contracts for 2008-2009:
Forwards:
- Michael Cammalleri ($3.35 million; UFA)
- Todd Bertuzzi ($1.95 million; UFA)
- David Moss ($550,000; UFA)
- Andre Roy ($550,000; UFA)
- Marcus Nilson ($1 million; UFA)
- Jamie Lundmark ($660,000; UFA)
Defence:
- Adrian Aucoin ($4 million; UFA)
- Adam Pardy ($500,000; RFA)
- Anders Eriksson ($1.5 million; UFA)
- Rhett Warrener ($2.35 million; Injury Retirement)
Goalie(s):
- Curtis McElhinney ($500,000; RFA)

I’d like to see the team replace Curtis McElhinney… nothing personal, but I’d like to see a veteran goalie who can win games, that’s all… (How about another former Keenan goalie in Ed Belfour? Okay, maybe not… Calling Roman Turek?!) With Adam Pardy deserving of a decent wage hike to around $800,000/yr, I’d say let Aucoin walk and use the savings along with Eriksson and Nilson to pay the raises of Moss, Cammalleri and Bertuzzi… The Flames will have the same defence core with Vandermeer replacing Aucoin and they have good prospects that can fill in the needed forward positions.

For full Salary information, you can go to this link below.

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/cap-central/team.php?team=CGY

Always a pleasure.

I’ve said it before that the Flames need to upgrade this part of the team. I can’t fathom any other reason besides financially that Curtis McElhinney is still serving as the number 2 Goalie in Calgary. The team spent $500,000 last year for Curtis Joseph and got quality backup goaltending with 3 wins in 9 appearances… This year, McElhinney is still trying to get win No.1 as an NHL goalie and looked overly mediocre in his 6-2 loss to the Avalanche.

Just some stats to consider…
Philippe Sauve & Brian Boucher 2005-2006 (11GP 4W-5L, 4.11GAA, .873Sv%)
Jamie McLennan 2006-2007 (9GP 3W-5L-1OTL, 3.60GAA, .895Sv%)
Curtis Joseph 2007-2008 (9GP 3W-2L, 2.55GAA, .906Sv%)
Curtis McElhinney 2008-2009 (5GP 0W-2L-1OTL, 3.70GAA, .892Sv%)

My main argument over replacing McElhinney is simple… winning games. He hasn’t. The games he has started this season so far include Columbus (L, 3-1); Detroit (OTL, 4-3) and Colorado (L, 6-2). The previous backups didn’t have the stellar numbers you would want but at least they won games. I don’t know too much about Sauve and Boucher but watching “Noodles” McLennan in interviews and what not, he was considered by many in the Flames dressing room as a ‘glue’ guy, someone like Conroy who keeps everyone together… Cujo came in with a wealth of experience that garnered the respect of the dressing room but I haven’t read too much as to what McElhinney brings besides trying not to let his butt get numb during games while Mikka the workhorse goes about playing close to every game.

In all fairness, he doesn’t play a lot but neither did the other guys working behind Mikka. The Vancouver Canucks made a play for Jason LaBarera and have now sinced waived Curtis Sanford (sent to Manitoba in the AHL). The Penguins and Oilers swapped backups in Garon and Sabourin. Can the Flames make a splash for a proven winning backup? The Toronto Maple Leafs had a gem in Scott Clemensen (in the AHL last year with the Marlies) but let him leave via free agency and he’s carried the New Jersey Devils to 17 wins in 28GP…

How would McElhinney fare given the chance with the Flames in 28GP? I’m not convinced he could keep the Flames atop the Division, if he were given a chance like this, God Forbid!

Available Goalies for Darryl Sutter to consider? Martin Gerber OTT (recently sent down to the AHL); Curtis Sanford VAN (recently sent down to the AHL); Kevin Weekes N.J.; Olaf Kolzig TB; Marc Denis MTL (Playing for Hamilton in the AHL) and even Jason Bachashihua COL (Playing for Lake Erie in the AHL).

Your thoughts?

Always a pleasure.

To get things started…

Today’s NHL is not without it’s holes but overall it’s a great game right now… With that said, I have a few things I would love to see changed or modified… off the top of my head…

Let the Ridicule or Praise begin!

1) HOME ICE ADVANTAGE… Being a fan of Sports Architecture, I love the idea of every baseball field being different giving the home team a certain advantage having 81 games to play at home (Boston has the Monster, Wrigley the Ivy and Comerica the distant outfield walls. For the NHL, I would like to see a framework of Rink Dimensions so any team can build their rink from a Standard NHL size to as big as an IIHF size rink (for European based teams like Detroit, build a bigger arena). Further to this, the characteristics of the rink in terms of design should benefit the home team… Bench colours, Goal colours (instead of the standard red, black posts for the Flames… Green for the Canucks…etc.), Rink trim colours…etc.

2) GOALIES… I don’t mind the equipment size but I’d like to see those NO-GOALIE zones removed because that plays to strengths of Goalies who can stick handle and the pace of the game picks up… I also like to see Goalies who can’t handle those areas get stuck and look foolish on the goals they give up… I’d also make a “No Check” zone for Goalies around the net but if they leave this area, it’s open season for skaters to check goalies… seeing the Swedish Goalie in the World Juniors with his ‘entitlement’ attitude of skating wherever he wanted without consequence sickened me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrH0ukdOG-c 

(For a good montage of clips, click above… Jacob Marcstrom of Sweden is in Sean Avery Category)

3) PLAYOFFS… Simple but a game changer… Top Eight teams from each conference, with the top four point-getting teams ranked 1-4 (Division leaders guaranteed a spot in the top 4).

4) ALL-STAR GAME… Any sport, the fans are given too much say for a starting lineup. EAST: Crosby; Malkin; Kovalev; Komisarek; Markov; Price… WEST: Kane; Toews; Getzlaf; Niedermayer; Campbell; Giguere… ANYTHING WRONG WITH THIS??? As distressing as this is, the Media seems to have a good grasp on who should start with the Coaches/GM adding the rest. The Fans should have a say in who participates in the Skills Competition. My Picks? EAST: Crosby; Malkin; Ovechkin; Markov; Streit and Thomas… WEST: Thorton; Datsyuk; Getzlaf; Boyle; Rafalski and Backstrom…

For a read of the NHL Official Rule Book, please go to the following link.

http://www.john-gates.com/popups/rules/index.htm

Thoughts from tonights game at the ‘Dome…

It was a messy game by both teams as players blew tires (falling) and the Flames just couldn’t get it out of their own end.

Harvey the Hound was quite busy busting his drum and making my section jump three times like a gun was going off…

Flame fans know good Hockey and tonight they knew both teams played like the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I think Kipper made the team look better than they really were…

Keith Tkachuk got sandwiched between two Flame players and played dead…

The officiating got worse as the game wore on…

Curtis Glencross scores Calgary’s first goal, but it was on his own net… hey, what goes around comes around as the Blues’ Jay McKee scores on a nift crease pass by David Moss on his own net…

No Bertuzzi, which meant that Jim Vandermeer got back into the lineup as a forward and was ejected on a misconduct penalty in the second period… Welcome Back Jimmy!

I was actually impressed with the way Andy Murray is having this undermanned Blues’ team play… pesky and annoying hockey a la Ken Linsman

Funny Stat… Kipper outscores Iggy (Mikka with 1A and Iggy with no points) It’s amazing to see that the Flames no longer rely on Iggy the way they used to because of this years balanced scoring.

I’m thinking that it was the 4 days off that lead to the sloppy play tonight because their skating, shooting and overall play seemed off in the timing department.

Mike Cammalleri has some moves! Great one on Barret Jackman for his 2nd of the night!

Looking ahead… an Away then back to back Home and Away games this week, I have a good feeling that Calgary can hand San Jose their FIRST home regulation loss, but need to be careful of letting down their play against Phoenix when they come home and they’ll face a hungry Avalanche team who is improving their play as of late.

Always a pleasure!