Friday, March 2, 2018

wtf, flames ?

here it is.
my first post in over two years.
why?
because WHAT THE FUCK ARE THE FLAMES DOING RIGHT NOW ??

please note: i refuse to research anything here, so my "facts" may just be things i read or heard or whatever, and totally refutable.  but it's a shitty, snowy day and i've got the raptors now, so here's my tough love for the flames:

1. TANNER GLASS
if i understand the rules correctly, on trade deadline day (aka: this past monday), the calgary flames had to maintain 18 skaters and 2 goalies on their roster.  on the same day, anyone not officially on the stockton heat's roster would be ineligible to play in the AHL playoffs.  somehow the flames got around this by "on paper" demoting gillies and rittich both and then calling them back up (i don't actually understand this at all since it was a flames game day but  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).  regardless, i kindof understand the justification behind calling up tanner glass ---especially if treliving was in on any kind of trade that would have seen multiple roster players potentially departing; tanner's not imperative on the farm and he's a warm body in the headcount with the big club.  why he's getting icetime is what i don't get.  didn't we learn this lesson with nick grossmann ???

2. MANGIAPANE
i'm stumped on this one utterly.  the flames went 9 and 1 with him in the lineup and, while no direct contributions appear on the scoresheet, the team looked better with him on the ice. the stockton heat's leading scorer got called up to play on the 3rd/4th lines while the flames struggle to put goals in the net.  instead of inserting him on the top line with gaudreau and monahan when ferland went down, we get a washed up journeyman in his stead.  it's baffling.  player usage on this team is unconscionable, in a lot of areas.

3. COACHING
i'm also confounded here and my take is that someone higher up is calling the shots (read: burke and/or tre).  either that or the coaching staff are imbeciles.  you pick!!  why it took 50 games to remove troy brouwer from the power play and give dougie some of those sweet PP minutes is astounding, and the insertion of bartkowski over kulak every now and then is utterly inexplicable,  hey, maybe i'm not getting the full picture but i'm anxiously awaiting someone to break it down for me.

"stay the course" seems to be the mantra here, both from coach to player and management to coach. sure, it worked with paul maurice but i feel like the situation here is different.  my take is that the players need more consequence.  how did they react after getting harshly reprimanded at practice ?  win streak.  how many more times can we hear "they're doing the right things" when they look sluggish and lazy ?  welp, not many more if the playoffs are a legitimate target, sadly.

4. TRE
yikes, buddy.  this is your NHL calibre roster AFTER the trade deadline ??
😬

5. PLAYOFFS
who cares if we make the playoffs ?  this is not a team poised to win a round, much less a championship.  how does murray edwards expect the fanbase to push for a new arena when this is the product he's selling ?  and maybe that's the whole point.

john chan:  beers on you this year !!! hahahaha xo