word is coming out that sutter may look to deal our boy lombardi this summer while the gettin's good. sure it's just the calgary sun, but it wouldn't surprise me, just as it wouldn't surprise me to see playfair in his bad suits behind the bench next year.
although i once accepted anything sutter did, as part of a "master plan," it seems to me that this plan might be fatally flawed. sutter seems to want to build a team like the 03/04 flames: a bunch of gritty forwards that have both skill and size --but if you look at the remaining teams gunning for the cup, they all have at least one very skilled 'finesse' line. i'm not sure i feel like tanguay/conroy/iginla is anywhere near as good as heatley/spezza/alfredsson or zetterberg/datsyuk/holmstrom.
the more i think about the way the flames have treated lombardi, the more i think about the way the sens treated spezza in his first few years. jacques martin was not a spezza fan, the same way playfair doesn't seem so keen on lombardi. when bryan murray came into ottawa, he showed some tough love for the young centre --often riding him about his backchecking (or lack thereof) but still applauding his speed and stickwork. we all know that spezza has flourished under murray, was given first line status and has improved in his defensive play along the way. i just hope lombardi is given a similar opportunity to improve, instead of getting dealt for another gritty 3rd liner that we just don't need.
speed and skill is the way of the new NHL. so let's keep our speedy, skilly guys....
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6 comments:
Eric Francis is a bad morning show host pretending to be a qualified hockey columnist, so I'm not going to put much stock in that article. But if Sutter does deal Lombardi, and he doesn't get Rick Nash in return, my loyalty will be tested. Lombo is, clearly, a star in the making — and he's cheap to boot.
The mere thought of Dion and Ricky on the same time makes my head want to explode. Probably for different reasons than Duncan. :D BUT NO! Keep Matty!
Dion and Ricky on the same time
clearly you mean "on the same team" but then again, freud wasn't always snortin' coke...
Oh, you know me too well. I really did mean on the same team at the same time. Really.
Actually, Sutter has been gradually moving away from the Flames of '04 ever since the Summer after the pay-off run. He brought in Huselius, dealt Leopold for Tanguay and signed prospects like Boyd, Ryder and Taratukhin. In his press conference, Sutter acknowledged that the league has changed since the lock-out and that the 03/04 version of the Flames would be unlikely to make the play-offs now.
I like what Sutter has done, mainly. He's brought in some skill, promoted from within (Moss/Lombo/Giordano/Phanuef) and firmed up the farm situation. Now it's it up to the current schmo behind the bench to do something with the tools he's been provided.
I would be even more firmly in Sutter's corner if he deals the now ineffective Warrener for a bucket of pucks over the summer. However, echoing Duncan, if he trades Lombardi for anything besides a marquee player in return, I'll be very, very annoyed.
MG: so what you're saying is eric francis is a numbskull.... ;)
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