so here it is: sunday feedback on monday AGAIN.
last week's poll was an attempt to gauge the general consensus about the jokinen trade, and i'm actually pretty excited about the results:
68% YAY / 31% NAY. what makes this exciting, of course, is that now i have comparison numbers for the season's end when i ask it again... or around this time next year when we adore him/can't stand him.
jokinen was the flames' best guy on saturday in the ACC, while the majority of the team (the defence, especially) took turns stinking up the joint. it was an embarassment, the likes of which i haven't seen in awhile ---and i watched the atlanta game !!! ;) i remember the days the flames could score six goals and win handily ???? these days, if the C's have six goals FOR, it's hardly the time for smiles and excitement... it's the time to sheepishly find out how many goals AGAINST....
but while the finger can be pointed at the coaching staff, all six blueliners, the forward corps, AND the goaltender (i give Qmac a 'get out of jail free' card on this one), apparently dion phaneuf needs a refresher course on what his job entails, as he commented on his team's erratic play in toronto:
“They’ve got a lot of skill up front. A lot of speed coming out of the corners. They threw pucks to the net all night. When you throw pucks to the net, it’s difficult to defend, and they came out on top.”
-dion phaneuf in the flames insider (calgary herald)
uhhh.... sorry, WHAT ????????
that is the biggest cop-out response to a media question i've maybe ever heard in professional sports.
allow me to debunk:
1. toronto absolutely does NOT have a "lot of skill up front". they've got a handful of guys with speed who can score ("fast and with moves" ?). and by handful, i mean that you can PROBABLY count blake, ponikarovsky, grabovski, and stajan (maybe) in that pack. beyond that, they've got the "burke blue collar guys" up front, one or two of whom might be considered to have a decent skill level (mitchell, mayers, stempniak). the remainder of the roster was filled with with AHL call-up/4th line plugger types.
2. the last time i checked, calgary's entire philosophy is based on hard work on the boards and winning puck battles in the corners. if toronto has "a lot of speed coming out of the corners" (i'll allow this to stand as a fact), it is DION'S JOB TO HELP SHUT THIS SPEED DOWN.
3. "They threw pucks to the net all night." uh hunh.... SO ??? perhaps this is more a criticism on mike keenan and defensive-specialist jim playfair, but i'm guessing that most teams' offensive strategy involves aiming the black rubber disc towards the goal. if it's so "difficult to defend" this M.O, i suppose i should get used to my beloved team giving up 8 goals/night. it's not like toronto had some sneak attack planned. they. threw. pucks. to. the. net.... GAWD.
which brings us to this week's sunday feedback poll:
Posts
11 comments:
Aucoin by a MILE. That beautiful "pass" to Jokinen aside, he continues to be god awful. I cannot wait to say goodbye to him this summer.
Speaking of defensively awful Keenan-favorite cap space wastes, I am actually quite happy that Bertuzzi is still out. It's too bad that his spirit seems to linger with some of the big-name Flames who just aren't playing defense right now. Here's hoping they get back to playing good D at home.
Kipper makes me cry. Hot, salty, fantasy hockey tears. Put down the MFing cigarette and stop some pucks, Red!
i think it's gonna be a really interesting poll this week because of how differently people will interepret the word "disappointing."
technically, it should be regehr (who was pretty shaky, for a generally steady guy). dion's performance should not have been "disappointing" because he's been terrible most of the season... personally, i went with leopold: a guy that a lot of people were hoping for at the deadline. he is looking positionally awful, of late, and making dion look worse, IMO...
ANON, i agree on bertuzzi's return. while he's definitely clutch (scoring/making plays at key moments), his overall game is lackadaisical and sloppy.... lundmark has less pure skill, but works hard in the corners etc...
ms C: kipps is making you cry and you're a WILD FAN.... imagine how it feels here in COWTOWN !!!!!!! ;)
Wild Shmild. I'm so over them right now, I can't even tell you. Hosers.
Leopold seems to have turned into Bryan McCabe in front of the Calgary net... I know he's tipped in at least two goals already... since he wants to touch all of the pucks that go at the net, maybe he should be strapping on the pads...
yep. two own-goals in six games for leopold....
god, i miss my gio....
Off topic this relates more to the other article below this one but I just read this. This is good news and kinda weird news about our heros.
"On the premises Monday was the entire complement of injured folks -- LW Rene Bourque (ankle) was without crutches; C Wayne Primeau (foot) was still on crutches; LW Todd Bertuzzi (knee); D Mark Giordano (shoulder)."
So Bourque is off crutches, that is excellent news and you have to think a return close to playoffs is not unreasonable. Theres just under a mont left in the regualr season and I wont if he will begin skating pretty soon. The sprain must be 70-80% healed if he is off crutches.
They also say Pardy has been practising with Warrener. WTF? is Keenan planning on inserting him into a game at some point? Im intrigued but certain it wont work out well. I will say he didnt look too bad in the preseason however.
my opinion on warrener is as follows, and i will not sway from it (but would be happy to eat my words, make no mistake).
we will not win a single game he dresses for.
as for bourque, that IS good news, but i'm still skeptical about his return... also skeptical how effective he'll be when/if he does.
I voted Regehr, for the reason you quote there, WI. And thanks for leaving my entry at the top, didn't mean to trump Sunday Feedback, I was just feeling inspired.
That Phaneuf quote really is atrocious. Like, completely ridiculous, strip-off-his-letter nuts.
i re-thought the regehr thing, though... he played WAY more minutes in detroit than he's used to it, much of it on the PK. seeing how keenan ABUSES his players (see: his top guys playing the last three minutes straight of the toronto game), i'm guessing regehr skated into the ACC with an empty tank.
and that was actually the only game he was truly horrible in....
I almost voted for Pardy: not because he's been bad, but because he's been benched in favour of a lot of underperforming guys. And that disappoints me a lot.
But I ended up voting for Vandermeer, because he's the obvious choice to bench. I didn't actually get to see a lot of the games of the road trip (some because I turned them off part way through), and it's hard to evaluate defensive play over the radio. But Vandermeer has the lowest ceiling, by far, of the six who have been playing.
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