Flames were heavily out-shot and out-chanced. It's the sort of occasion when you'd say "somehow".
Also fucking lol @ "fear our fucking team".
The Flames will not be in a playoff position come February. Save this post.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
NHL November 2014 |OT| Cleary Must Be Always
- Thread starter Quick
- Start date
Also fucking lol @ "fear our fucking team".
The Flames will not be in a playoff position come February. Save this post.
Terrordactyl
Member
Maybe but today and tomorrow we aren't an easy team, that's my only point.
Unhandled Exception
Member
Flames are doing what the avs did last season with lesser players. It's an awesome ride that will not last.
Terrordactyl
Member
Trust me, any time I need to put myself in check I think of your team.
Unhandled Exception
Member
All you really need to do is look at your top six but I figured I'd offer some perspective.
you as well but at least Vancouver gaf is more realistic
SpectreFire
Member
Hey, I'm convinced now we're at least a fringe playoff team at this point. Ironically, this might be the better roster we've put out in a while.
We have a legitimate top-line with 3 legitimate scoring players.
Bonino makes that second line much better production wise than Kesler ever has.
The third line is probably one of our better third lines. It's not Torres-Malhotra-Hansen though.
The fourth line is the best fourth line we've ever had. Period. It's a legitimate line.
Defense is sketchier than before, but Edler and Tanev make a damn good top pairing.
Goaltending's pretty much as good as always, no real worries there.
Unhandled Exception
Member
Yes but should I fear your fucking team?
Terrordactyl
Member
To be or not to be, that is the question.
I am at the shittiest of shows right now and have nothing better than to offer half drunken musings.
To be completely honest I think we might have a fringe playoff team if goal production can continue, when defense is the primary goal scorers it's not exactly a great sign. The demise might be imminent but life hasn't crushed me enough yet to be entirely pessimistic about it.
SpectreFire
Member
Unhandled Exception
Member
You're good people spectre
SpectreFire
Member
Yeah what the fuck. A legitimate top pairing made up of a guy who was undrafted and went to the KHL and a 4th round pick.
The New Yorker Rangers picked Dale Weise 3 picks ahead of TJ Brodie. Dale fucking Weise.
They could've had McDonough-Brodie.
But no. They got fucking Dale Weise.
Terrordactyl
Member
I knew Brodie was a stud before the rest of the league obviously but what he's become this season is a bit of an unexpected surprise.
SpectreFire
Member
I absolutely hate your team, but goddamn, you guys do have damn good players on that roster. Giordanno is a fucking beast.
speculawyer
Member
There has been some already . . . apparently not enough.
Tonight wasn't too bad. They outshot the Flames and the D was decent. It was only 1 goal game ignoring the open net goal. But that is still not enough for a win . . . or even a tie. Ramo was on fire.
Terrordactyl
Member
Gio has just been fermenting, he has been a solid dependable d man for years but I think the leadership has really sunk in and he's got a group of younger players who are looking to him so he's become what a captain should be. When iginla left and we were captain less I knew gio would be the front runner (or glencross, but thank god they chose gio), but it definitely has taken some time for a fan to see his impact as a leader, I credit much of the success to the fact that we have a lot of young guys who are following him, who in turn is following Hartleys system, so they're all on the same page, at least that's how I see it. So it's largely leadership teaching these guys how to play as a team and compete as opposed to what a team like the oilers are doing, which if you've seen them play, they really don't have a guy calling the shots that players rally behind, they look directionless and lack chemistry despite obvious talent.
The real surprise this year is Byron, that kid has had the spark and compete level but he's lacked finesse. Even a lot of this season I've seen him break a 1-0 and miss, probably ten times, but he's super fast and he's finally hitting the net.
I will say as a fan of a rebuilding team, it's easy to see a lot of promise in young players when they come out for five games and impress but then sizzle out, they've just gotta work as a team, and that's where it all hinges, when every guy on the ice knows where the gaps are and they can fill them. Prime example: Brodie breaks into offense frequently and out forwards adjust to fill his slot when he does, it's a simple thing, but things like that fuck up good teams all the time because they're not playing with a fluid team that can handle two way play. Those are my observations, when I watch this team I'm beyond impressed and when they fuck up I'm disappointed because I see them play these roles for each other every game, obviously sometimes they get caught and that will happen but really as a team they have a lot of chemistry right now, so much that I really fear for Stajan and backlund coming back and fucking it all up. Like I said they're firing on all cylinders and I see them put on a great effort every night so I'm never disappointed in a loss.
And then we have Colorado as an example, those guys played their asses off last year and I don't watch all their games so I have no clue what's the issue this year, and I'm kind of at a loss because they've added depth but they've lost some (statsny) and I'm cautious of my enthusiasm because it is something that can fade pretty quickly.
That was probably a wall of text but those are my observations of a team that I'm really proud of because a lot of these guys are demonstrating a work ethic that frankly I didn't think they were capable of before this season.
Unhandled Exception
Member
It's not one thing with the avs. We're even more bare on defense this year. We have a pretty questionable bottom six. Injuries are happening quite a bit already. Varlamov has been injured. Berra is bad but Pickard is emerging. Biggest thing, by far, is that our top six have been playing like they couldn't give a fuck even if you dangled twice the salary in front of their eyes. Duchene less so, and they haven't been as apathetic in the last 3-4 games, but that's at the core of the problem right now. Many of our games have been one goal games. The edge we were playing with last year has just vanished. Iginla has been lackluster.
Terrordactyl
Member
Iginla is the rebound king, I can't tell you many I've seen him bang in off rebounds, most of the time they're pretty, real hard wristers or slappers, guy is best paired with a line that can drive and shoot and he cleans up the mess. Do they have him paired with a line that does this? If not, there's your problem. (With iginla)
It would be super frustrating to see a group play great and then get lazy, perhaps the playoffs just got them down, hard to say.
It would be super frustrating to see a group play great and then get lazy, perhaps the playoffs just got them down, hard to say.
That's Dutch Gretzky to you, and he's a god damn Canadian hero thank you very much.
CreeperBlocks
Banned
NHL.com has apparently been hacked by the "Syrian Electronic Army".
Why would they do that?
Must be disgruntled oilers fans
/jokes
NHL.com has apparently been hacked by the "Syrian Electronic Army".
For those who didn't see some screenshots:
http://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/642359
Thanks Obama
NHL.com has apparently been hacked by the "Syrian Electronic Army".
Don't intefere with hackey. Canada doesn't like not having access to hackey news and stats.
bonesmccoy
Banned
I saw the picture of where the ball hit him - do you think there'll be a push within the sport to introduce ear-guards to the helmet, like a baseball batter's helmet has?
Lone_Prodigy
Member
Sharks are so inconsistent. They've lost twice to Florida and Buffalo yet they've beaten Anaheim and LA. Are they looking too far ahead? They're only a .500 team though and won't make the playoffs at this rate.
Is it apathy? Is it injuries to their bottom six? Is it sub-par goaltending or lack of scoring?
Is it apathy? Is it injuries to their bottom six? Is it sub-par goaltending or lack of scoring?
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
They are one more first overall from contending.
The data suggests their games against Buffalo were brutal luck -- especially the second one
I just checked out the player tables and they basically say the best players on the roster like Thornton, Pavelski, Marleau, etc. are still playing at a high level, while some of the other guys have been struggling. Waiving Burish was probably a good idea; his fenwick has been ATROCIOUS.
seems like SJ is having depth issues, which is odd since they're usually known as being a team with great depth. Defence has also not been stellar. Among Ds, only Vlasic has FF% > 50.
Among the forwards, I think they need to do something about Desjardins, he has been bad (almost as bad as Burish had been)
Kevin Lowe
The only bottom six injury we have right now is Torres. We don't have a lot of real talent down there though which is a huge problem. Sheppard is glued to that 3C spot even though he sucks at faceoffs, isn't good defensively, and has almost no playmaking ability. Desjardins is okay in his role but isn't actually a very good player. We could use someone with a lot more hockey IQ down there. Waiving Burish was a step in the right direction, no reason he should have been playing over the younger forwards. Kennedy and Wingels have been the only two bottom six players consistently carrying their weight imo.
As far as top six goes, they're playing a lot like they did before Burns got moved to forward in 2013. They're getting a lot of shots and shot attempts but they're mostly shitty perimeter chances. Not a lot of actual prime scoring chances. Pavelski, despite the Thornton bump last year, is not a better winger than center. Really wish they'd put him back at 3C. Problem is that happened because Burns was moved to forward. With him back on defense it creates a hole on Thornton's wing. Couture has been up and down, Marleau has been awful lately, Hertl is playing like a commie, Nieto has awful luck. Thornton is a certified beast out there though.
I suspect they'll come around at some point but yeah I think the forward depth issues are very concerning.
Defense is by far the thing that needs the most work. Irwin and Hannan are both pylons while Mueller is good but obviously still growing into his role. Trading for Dillon fixed the hole on our left side but now there's a hole on the right too. Burns is still figuring out what the hell to do down there. Braun has been good but not as good as he can be. Defense pairing may work better as:
Vlasic-Burns
Dillon-Braun
Mueller-Hannan
That third pairing absolutely needs to be shored up on the right side though.
ZeroGravity
Member
The problem is they're not going to be able to get a really good goaltender in their prime to bail the team out night after night. And just about any young goaltender, no matter how good they are, just isn't going to be able to succeed with the team that's currently in front of them. It's a chicken and egg kind of situation.
On this glorious holiday I am thankful for the NHL's scheduling.
Yeah from what I am reading in the tables, Hannan is a weak link for sure. The other Ds have not really been bad, but like I said, it seems to be more like they're getting by rather than making an impact. Vlasic is the only one who is playing very solid (as you'd expect).
Well Reimer is (should be) available... he's around league average or so, which is still a huge upgrade over what they have. (numbers are low-ish this season, but mainly because of the Buffalo and Nashville games)
I'd laugh if a Reimer for Scrivens trade goes down :lol