on friday i heard some pretty serious speculation that a player deal was imminent; this information, coupled with peter maher's suggestion that sutter and sather had been in talks about jokinen, led me to believe that the trade was more than just a standard issue rumour.... as the morning wore on, it seemed more likely that dion (not the joker) was the guy in question... when i examined the flames' players and what other pieces might head east, i deduced that freddan might be a nice fit back with the blueshirts (the fans loved him there), and with mickis' emergence on top line, there would be a sweet opening in the roster...
i was woken up by a text from my leafs fan buddy in toronto, tanzir, "phaneuf to toronto ?" well, you can imagine my surprise that it was a burke deal and not a sather deal (and i gotta say, i would've been exponentially more shocked had i not been cryptically and vaguely forewarned)... dion phaneuf, fredrik sjöström and keith aulie for niklas hagman, matt stajan, jamal mayers, and ian white.... my initial reaction was that darryl got fleeced. i've 180º'd that, now, and i have a whole new outlook on darryl sutter....
the biggest name in the trade is obviously dion, and i definitely got caught up in that mindset for a few hours this morning. when i imagined phaneuf hitting the road, i always imagined a big name player coming back.... but having lived in toronto and *ahem* once supporting the leafs (to a certain extent), i quickly came to the realization that i have always liked matt stajan, and hagman and white are two quality players on decent (if not good) value contracts. this is a good trade, even if jamal mayers is a leafs salary dump (an even-up for primeau, perhaps ?). oh, and i think i even used to joke about getting "sjöström" on my leafs jersey.... perhaps i'll finally do it... ;)
having listened to the brian burke presser i now wonder about a couple of things. i wonder if there's any truth to the last puzzle pieces being, in a sense, sjöstrom for mayers. in my opinion, the player that daz would've been leniant to deal would have been aulie, but with ian white coming back i think it would've been do-able. to me, the defenders would have made this trade a deal, and not the fourth line pluggers.... but perhaps he needed the roster spot for someone else.....? which means mayers is a pawn and likely to get dealt imminently, himself...... ?
a lot of the upset callers to the fan 960 today seemed stuck on dion's potential; that someday dion might be a norris trophy candidate again, and a top offensive PP producer.... well guess what ? someday i might be the fucking prime minister but the odds are pretty huge that'll never happen.... ;) i would much rather deal a lazy, "erratic," unreliable blueliner who may or may not be detested by his teammates for a handful of useful players.... the potential of keith aulie was hardly discussed but TO ME that's gonna be a big deal... i watched the leafs deal a bunch of young talent in the JFJ era and i always thought those guys would come back to haunt someday (lauri korpikoski ? tuukka rask ? i'm talking to YOU guys)....
the radio pundits often made mention that "the winner of the trade is the team who gets the best player." well, "best" is rather subjective, ain't it ??? from the sounds of things, and i guess we'll have to wait and see until we know for sure but ian white seems the real "centrepiece" of this deal... he's been touted as the "mark giordano of the eastern conference" ---good first pass, big minute-eating, sound decisionmaker, PK/PP guy.... well, i'm pretty sure that when you get rid of a 6.5 million dollar player who kelly hrudey refers to as "not that smart" for a 900K potential first pairing blueliner, your team wins.... the pundits suggest dion's got a cannon point shot but they omit the fact that his cannon is RARELY on net (or that "high and wide" is the cornerstone of the dion phaneuf drinking game).... the kid needs some guidance at the very least. he's never gonna get it done here and ian white has a ton of promise.... oh, and stajan and hagman are just gravy....
and i'm sure nobody's happier than regehr....
jermaine franklin completely messed up the media scrum with phaneuf, when he asked "where do you go from here ?" to which dion answered (as if he could answer anything else), "I GO TO TORONTO." it was such a stupid question that i think (hope ?) the answer will be repeated ad infinitum on youtube or whatnot.... soooo amazing.
i admit i'm bummed about freddan because he said kent was his favorite swedish band. also because he said he'd bring electricity to a desert island. and i'm also bummed i cant tell him i'm bummed cause he's been hit with an immense amount of spam on his blog recently.... but realistically, i'm not all that bummed he'll no longer suit up for the calgary flames.... he's good but he's just another really fast fourth line grinder type.... take good care, freddan. xx
i don't think i'm ready to talk about the hypothetical second trade yet, since it's not all official-like, but in a nutshell i'll say this: if it's jokinen and prust for kotalik and higgins then it's a massive fail for darryl sutter. no matter how much i dislike the joker, there's no way he's bad enough to warrant shipping him off for a sack of pucks (one commenter over at m&g pointed out that nobody would make this trade: lombo, prust, prust, vandermeer & a 1st rounder for kotalik and higgins). if there's more to it than meets the eye (as in: it's a stepping stone enroute to landing kovalchuk as a rental) then i'm a fan. count me in. daz can stay....
more tomorrow to be sure.
:)
Sunday, January 31, 2010
my spidey sense.... ?
well there you go, kids. dion to toronto with freddan and (*sniff) keith aulie. i'm a bit bummed about the last one but i'll get over it.
hagman, stajan, mayers & white to calgary. shize. i hope daz ain't done.
the flames look more like the leafs than ever, and thank god i wrote that post cause dang if nhlnumbers ain't being innundated right now and totally unresponsive.
hagman, stajan, mayers & white to calgary. shize. i hope daz ain't done.
the flames look more like the leafs than ever, and thank god i wrote that post cause dang if nhlnumbers ain't being innundated right now and totally unresponsive.
Friday, January 29, 2010
waivers and my team
this is gonna just be a short one and has nothing to do with the post below, technically.
if there is, infact, a trade in short order then i have to wonder if daz will tack on my best boy freddan to the outgoing package. with the number of days he's spent in the pressbox (ie: lots) plus the number of minutes he spends on the ice in-game (ie: not lots) then methinks his roster spot might better be designated to another younger swedish forward.... one with slightly better hands and a helluva lot more nhl goals per games played....
plus, as mikeH said regarding my theory, "we're heavy on the swedes." ;)
i don't understand waivers at all but i've heard that if we demote lundmark again, he's got to clear'em before making his way back to abby. so he stays. conny is, presumeably, due back soon which means we'll have to demote backlund. will we want to do that, after last night's showing ?? probably not.... but any other player we send to the farm would be waiver eligable.... ergo: sending freddan back to the eastern conference means we aren't liable to pay half his contract for none of his play .
his minimal cap hit, good PK skills & speed would make him a nice little pickup for another team (perhaps one he's already played with)... this would mean that if the flames ever decided to release a women's cut retro throwback jersey i'd be forced to letter it with mickis' surname.
that's all for now.
oh, except for this little bit of nothingness:
god bless gio. i wanna make tshirts.
.....and so do these guys, apparently: check out the gio-for-captain thread over at CP. thanks to mikeH for the h/t.
if there is, infact, a trade in short order then i have to wonder if daz will tack on my best boy freddan to the outgoing package. with the number of days he's spent in the pressbox (ie: lots) plus the number of minutes he spends on the ice in-game (ie: not lots) then methinks his roster spot might better be designated to another younger swedish forward.... one with slightly better hands and a helluva lot more nhl goals per games played....
plus, as mikeH said regarding my theory, "we're heavy on the swedes." ;)
i don't understand waivers at all but i've heard that if we demote lundmark again, he's got to clear'em before making his way back to abby. so he stays. conny is, presumeably, due back soon which means we'll have to demote backlund. will we want to do that, after last night's showing ?? probably not.... but any other player we send to the farm would be waiver eligable.... ergo: sending freddan back to the eastern conference means we aren't liable to pay half his contract for none of his play .
his minimal cap hit, good PK skills & speed would make him a nice little pickup for another team (perhaps one he's already played with)... this would mean that if the flames ever decided to release a women's cut retro throwback jersey i'd be forced to letter it with mickis' surname.
that's all for now.
oh, except for this little bit of nothingness:
god bless gio. i wanna make tshirts.
.....and so do these guys, apparently: check out the gio-for-captain thread over at CP. thanks to mikeH for the h/t.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The Flames are a Wicked Problem
I came across something the other day that had to do with coming to consensus on fighting global warming, and the more I read it, the more I felt it applied directly to the current issues (and ongoing management) of our dearest Flames. The team is a "wicked" problem. That is,
"...a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize." (wikipedia)
Read on for the nerdiest blog item ever...
sutter's futures to save sutters' futures....?
get this:
a 20-year old swedish kid that is a-okay wearing capri pants (god, i wish i'd taken a photo of the capri pants) has been brought in to solve the calgary flames scoring troubles.... i bet that makes HEAT leading scorer & AHL all-star jason jaffray one pissed off hockey player.
it also suggests that darryl sutter is beginning to kowtow to public opinion to satiate the masses, even though he went on record last week suggesting they can pretty much all fuck themselves (i'm paraphrasing, here, but the quote i'm referring to is "I don’t really care what you think, to tell you the truth.... It doesn’t really matter what ‘everyone in the city’ thinks . . . because I can’t imagine you’ve talked to 1.2 million people.”) nice one, daz. way to keep your job.
anyhow, a couple weeks ago ---just after the second bay-area blowout in as many years--- i suggested that if backlund was called up in lieu of a trade it would be a last-gasp, desperate move by an outgoing GM. here, darryl gets the best of all worlds; he inserts young, skilled, fast talent without moving a single organizational unit in the other direction. it's a no-brainer: bring up a guy the fans want in the lineup, and put him next to iggy who needs something new.... but here's what i'm thinking: it's all show. if daz was serious about his team sinking pucks into nets, he would take the baby flames' top scorer (jason jaffray) and give HIM top-line duties. cause let's be honest, here. jaffray was given a cup of coffee with the big club a few weeks ago, but it was two games with a TOTAL of 13:10 TOI and linemates like prust and mcG.... not an ideal goal-scoring situation for a guy with 16 of 'em (and 21 assists) in 46 games.
the bottom line is that, while i'm not certain i'd predict another flames loss tonight, i don't really think backlund's gonna have a great game. for a guy that's struggled throughout his career with confidence issues, i would think getting maybe 5 shifts on the top line and then being relegated to centering the fourth line pugilists isn't gonna make the kid feel good about himself. it'll also presumeably punch his ticket back to the coast tomorrow when conroy is magically 100% again and ready to play.
here's to hoping i'm eating my words in the morning.
a 20-year old swedish kid that is a-okay wearing capri pants (god, i wish i'd taken a photo of the capri pants) has been brought in to solve the calgary flames scoring troubles.... i bet that makes HEAT leading scorer & AHL all-star jason jaffray one pissed off hockey player.
it also suggests that darryl sutter is beginning to kowtow to public opinion to satiate the masses, even though he went on record last week suggesting they can pretty much all fuck themselves (i'm paraphrasing, here, but the quote i'm referring to is "I don’t really care what you think, to tell you the truth.... It doesn’t really matter what ‘everyone in the city’ thinks . . . because I can’t imagine you’ve talked to 1.2 million people.”) nice one, daz. way to keep your job.
anyhow, a couple weeks ago ---just after the second bay-area blowout in as many years--- i suggested that if backlund was called up in lieu of a trade it would be a last-gasp, desperate move by an outgoing GM. here, darryl gets the best of all worlds; he inserts young, skilled, fast talent without moving a single organizational unit in the other direction. it's a no-brainer: bring up a guy the fans want in the lineup, and put him next to iggy who needs something new.... but here's what i'm thinking: it's all show. if daz was serious about his team sinking pucks into nets, he would take the baby flames' top scorer (jason jaffray) and give HIM top-line duties. cause let's be honest, here. jaffray was given a cup of coffee with the big club a few weeks ago, but it was two games with a TOTAL of 13:10 TOI and linemates like prust and mcG.... not an ideal goal-scoring situation for a guy with 16 of 'em (and 21 assists) in 46 games.
the bottom line is that, while i'm not certain i'd predict another flames loss tonight, i don't really think backlund's gonna have a great game. for a guy that's struggled throughout his career with confidence issues, i would think getting maybe 5 shifts on the top line and then being relegated to centering the fourth line pugilists isn't gonna make the kid feel good about himself. it'll also presumeably punch his ticket back to the coast tomorrow when conroy is magically 100% again and ready to play.
here's to hoping i'm eating my words in the morning.
Monday, January 25, 2010
monday randoms: is it february yet ?!?
i'm feeling rather lackluster and uninspired today but since it's monday (and it's not like i have anything better to do), here's what i've got for you today.
-if the flames pull another one-and-done season (or, alternately, don't make the playoffs at all), i look forward to the "playing injured" excuses we'll get out of calgary flames HQ. here's what we know:
-my buddy sjc turned up the other day to watch a game with a gem in-hand: a hard cover flames yearbook from 1982 called "fire and ice." i don't think i can quite describe the level of awesome that is contained within the glossy pages but i'll scan and post things now and then to remind you of its existence. there are a lot of moustaches and bucket-helmets (think: kent nilsson) but by far my favorite photo is of willi plett (left) and bill clement. soooo amazing.... also pure, unadulterated radness is, of course, is the rarely discussed fact that willi plett spelled his first name like that.
- tonight is jim peplinski bobblehead night at the 'dome. if i was going, then i'd get there early to pick one up and my chris drury bobblehead would be challenged for his current position as xmas tree topper. fyi: my tree's still up. if it makes it into february i might consider leaving it up all year. ;)
-see how far i got without discussing the current flames squad (y'know, the one that can't score) ? i think i did pretty well considering..... ;) mikeH and i attended the game v. chicago on thursday [fyi: it's always nice to see kent, even if mike & i weren't sober and probably ranted about nothing] and it was hardly the fun-fest of a normal draw at the 'dome. for a team that was hell-bent on coming out hard, the flames were hugely uninspired and waaaay average. if the 'hawks had responded full-throttle i think it could've been a blowout in their favour, but both teams really looked disinterested. it was as though 19,289 people showed up and interrupted the players' movie night....
-speaking of saddledome capacity ----the flames often refer to the consecutive sellouts but here's the thing: i'm 100% sure that's totally bogus. in the section that my dad's season tickets are located, there are two single seats one row apart that are often sold as a pair for big-name matchups (like pittsburgh or washington or montreal). when calgary plays, say, nashville or st.louis, those seats are empty. as in: not sold. as in: available for purchase at gametime. as in: how is it a "sellout" when there are available tickets ?? now THERE's a question i should've asked ken king at the fan forum.... :)
-in totally unrelated to hockey news, my friends' band (motion city soundtrack) released their fourth album last week and it's KICKASS. have a listen !!! maybe you'll love them..... you can buy their stuff on itunes, just fyi (dooo iiiitttt).... ;)
-what would a "monday randoms" post be without at least a MENTION of giordano ??! ;) in addition to being the blaze magazine coverboy on thursday (scan to follow at some point, i'm sure), there were a couple of comments from fellow bloggers this week that made me laugh. i noticed today that the link to htp over on the 4th line blog has the hilariously accurate tagline "general flamesness & giordano love." thanks for that, it's wicked. i've added you to the blogroll at right as well.... and over at m&g, responding to my description of the multiple dreams i've had lately about mikael backlund (i blame neo citran!), colinS wrote "now, now, wi..... you can't have your backlund and eat your giordano too." ;) i am STILL laughing at that one....
i guess that's about all i can think of for the moment.... tonight's game reminds me of the flames/blues matchup i attended in st.lou in november, and how heartbreaking the dude in the pronger jersey (who sat infront of me) looked when he described how badly his team needed a win. his eyes moist, his voice beseeching my beloved flames to take pity and lose..... ahhhh, i understand that pleading and sorrow, now.... *sigh
hopefully we'll have a win to talk about between now and next monday (hell, let's hope we've got a FEW !!!).... :) have a great week !!!
-if the flames pull another one-and-done season (or, alternately, don't make the playoffs at all), i look forward to the "playing injured" excuses we'll get out of calgary flames HQ. here's what we know:
- conroy and sarich both spent some time on the shelf and neither are presumeably 100%.
- glenX didn't skate in the superskills because he wanted to rest his lower body
- lundmark skipped drills yesterday to nurse a shoulder ailment
-my buddy sjc turned up the other day to watch a game with a gem in-hand: a hard cover flames yearbook from 1982 called "fire and ice." i don't think i can quite describe the level of awesome that is contained within the glossy pages but i'll scan and post things now and then to remind you of its existence. there are a lot of moustaches and bucket-helmets (think: kent nilsson) but by far my favorite photo is of willi plett (left) and bill clement. soooo amazing.... also pure, unadulterated radness is, of course, is the rarely discussed fact that willi plett spelled his first name like that.
- tonight is jim peplinski bobblehead night at the 'dome. if i was going, then i'd get there early to pick one up and my chris drury bobblehead would be challenged for his current position as xmas tree topper. fyi: my tree's still up. if it makes it into february i might consider leaving it up all year. ;)
-see how far i got without discussing the current flames squad (y'know, the one that can't score) ? i think i did pretty well considering..... ;) mikeH and i attended the game v. chicago on thursday [fyi: it's always nice to see kent, even if mike & i weren't sober and probably ranted about nothing] and it was hardly the fun-fest of a normal draw at the 'dome. for a team that was hell-bent on coming out hard, the flames were hugely uninspired and waaaay average. if the 'hawks had responded full-throttle i think it could've been a blowout in their favour, but both teams really looked disinterested. it was as though 19,289 people showed up and interrupted the players' movie night....
-speaking of saddledome capacity ----the flames often refer to the consecutive sellouts but here's the thing: i'm 100% sure that's totally bogus. in the section that my dad's season tickets are located, there are two single seats one row apart that are often sold as a pair for big-name matchups (like pittsburgh or washington or montreal). when calgary plays, say, nashville or st.louis, those seats are empty. as in: not sold. as in: available for purchase at gametime. as in: how is it a "sellout" when there are available tickets ?? now THERE's a question i should've asked ken king at the fan forum.... :)
-in totally unrelated to hockey news, my friends' band (motion city soundtrack) released their fourth album last week and it's KICKASS. have a listen !!! maybe you'll love them..... you can buy their stuff on itunes, just fyi (dooo iiiitttt).... ;)
-what would a "monday randoms" post be without at least a MENTION of giordano ??! ;) in addition to being the blaze magazine coverboy on thursday (scan to follow at some point, i'm sure), there were a couple of comments from fellow bloggers this week that made me laugh. i noticed today that the link to htp over on the 4th line blog has the hilariously accurate tagline "general flamesness & giordano love." thanks for that, it's wicked. i've added you to the blogroll at right as well.... and over at m&g, responding to my description of the multiple dreams i've had lately about mikael backlund (i blame neo citran!), colinS wrote "now, now, wi..... you can't have your backlund and eat your giordano too." ;) i am STILL laughing at that one....
i guess that's about all i can think of for the moment.... tonight's game reminds me of the flames/blues matchup i attended in st.lou in november, and how heartbreaking the dude in the pronger jersey (who sat infront of me) looked when he described how badly his team needed a win. his eyes moist, his voice beseeching my beloved flames to take pity and lose..... ahhhh, i understand that pleading and sorrow, now.... *sigh
hopefully we'll have a win to talk about between now and next monday (hell, let's hope we've got a FEW !!!).... :) have a great week !!!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
so uh.... i guess THAT happened.....
9-1.
i think that's all that needs to be said on that front. as mentioned in the hundreds and hundreds of comments over on the M&G gamethread and postgame (where i'm responsible for about $75.00 worth of my two cents) i am starting to think that the flames look a hell of a lot like the toronto maple leafs and i've developped a little breakdown to support my theory. if you remember at the start of the year, we all wondered aloud who would do the flames' scoring, well, that query has reared its' ugly head once again.... at the same time, leafs fans joked early-on about having four 4th lines..... hmmm.... coincidence ? ah, this shit writes itself.... ;) i'm not gonna go by position, even though that makes the most sense, i'm gonna go by impact.... i won't even bother with the bottom 6 since i have a feeling it'll be pretty muddled ....
1. iginla (RW 7M: 21G / 22A) - kessel (C 5.4M: 15G 13 A)
kessel and iginla have similar numbers (the former missed 12 games to start the season), are both considered to be their team's "elite forward," are both the highest paid guy on their respective clubs and are both struggling in 09/10.
2. jokinen (C 5.25M: 10G / 22A) - blake (LW 4M: 10G / 16A)
fans love to hate these guys and are both a product of bad GM moves (olli in a trade, blake in a contract). for skilled guys they seem to have a lot of trouble getting pucks in nets.
3. bourque (LW 1.35M: 17G / 21A) - stajan (C 1.75: 14G / 22A)
these players both battle hard every night and come up with some beautiful and timely goals. neither are afraid to get dirty in the corners and both show good value contracts.
4. dawes (LW 850K: 10G /15A) - hagman (LW 3M: 17G / 11A)
i don't know that much about hagman but i'm thinking this is the best comparison. smart, useful, second line winger.... ?
5. langkow (C 4.5M 11G / 19A) - ponikarovsky (LW 2.1M 16G / 15A)
steady, steady, steady... always dependable. both have historically had top-line assignments but often find themselves relegated to second line duties. both play significant roles on the PP and PK.
6. bouwmeester (D 6.68M: 2G/16A) - kaberle (D 4.25: 5G / 36A)
a couple of strong, solid, smart puck moving defensemen. both play big minutes at EV, and on the PP and PK. both are bonafide #1 guys but often considered to be 2nd pairing....
7. phaneuf (D 6.5M: 8G / 11A) - beauchemin (D 3.8M: 4G / 16A)
both spend enormous minutes on-ice (EV, PP, PK) and are counted on to provide some offence. heavy hitters. neither (IMO) are super hockey savvy....
8. regehr (D 4M 1G / 12A)- komisarek (D 4.5M 0G / 4A)
both injured (i'm guessing at regehr, here but kommie's missed 16 games). both used to be pretty awesomely tough, stay-at-home, shutdown guys, and both are kindof painful to watch these days....
other comparisons:
nystrom - stempniak: occasional flashes of brilliance. hard grinders.
glenX - kulemin: get moved up and down the lineup a lot.
boyd - mitchell: underpaid, underrated, young.
sjöström - primeau: both fast, good PK types, both pressbox sitters.
prust - mayers: 4th line grinders/pugilists.... some ability.
mcgrattan - orr: classic textbook goons. period.
pardy - schenn: young defensemen with rosy futures.
finger - sarich: overpaid for ability but still decent blueliners.
white - gio: highest value contracts per club. huge minute-eaters.
flames fans this year have been laughing at toronto getting run out of rinks night after night all season long.... but i gotta say, the make-up of their squad is not unlike the one we cheer for: frighteningly bottom-heavy with very little in the way of naturally talented scoring forwards. when healthy and "on their game" calgary's blueline is far superior, but lately i think the two have pretty much evened out.
the main difference between the two clubs is that the leafs have gone with a two goalie system (both netminders riddled with inconsistance) while the flames rely on workhorse kiprusoff for most games. backelhinney gets (and loses, it seems) only the occasional start. infact, it's in this capacity that i see the teams' divergence and the result seems plain, whether or not the stats are there to back me up: kiprusoff > toskala / gustavsson. quite simply, kipper has stolen games which we had no business winning, leading in no short part to why the flames' record is better than the leafs' in 09/10. end of story.
yeah, you heard me right... now: bring on the angst.
:)
interesting reference pages: calgary player contracts/salary, toronto player contracts/salary, sportsnet player comparison page.
i think that's all that needs to be said on that front. as mentioned in the hundreds and hundreds of comments over on the M&G gamethread and postgame (where i'm responsible for about $75.00 worth of my two cents) i am starting to think that the flames look a hell of a lot like the toronto maple leafs and i've developped a little breakdown to support my theory. if you remember at the start of the year, we all wondered aloud who would do the flames' scoring, well, that query has reared its' ugly head once again.... at the same time, leafs fans joked early-on about having four 4th lines..... hmmm.... coincidence ? ah, this shit writes itself.... ;) i'm not gonna go by position, even though that makes the most sense, i'm gonna go by impact.... i won't even bother with the bottom 6 since i have a feeling it'll be pretty muddled ....
1. iginla (RW 7M: 21G / 22A) - kessel (C 5.4M: 15G 13 A)
kessel and iginla have similar numbers (the former missed 12 games to start the season), are both considered to be their team's "elite forward," are both the highest paid guy on their respective clubs and are both struggling in 09/10.
2. jokinen (C 5.25M: 10G / 22A) - blake (LW 4M: 10G / 16A)
fans love to hate these guys and are both a product of bad GM moves (olli in a trade, blake in a contract). for skilled guys they seem to have a lot of trouble getting pucks in nets.
3. bourque (LW 1.35M: 17G / 21A) - stajan (C 1.75: 14G / 22A)
these players both battle hard every night and come up with some beautiful and timely goals. neither are afraid to get dirty in the corners and both show good value contracts.
4. dawes (LW 850K: 10G /15A) - hagman (LW 3M: 17G / 11A)
i don't know that much about hagman but i'm thinking this is the best comparison. smart, useful, second line winger.... ?
5. langkow (C 4.5M 11G / 19A) - ponikarovsky (LW 2.1M 16G / 15A)
steady, steady, steady... always dependable. both have historically had top-line assignments but often find themselves relegated to second line duties. both play significant roles on the PP and PK.
6. bouwmeester (D 6.68M: 2G/16A) - kaberle (D 4.25: 5G / 36A)
a couple of strong, solid, smart puck moving defensemen. both play big minutes at EV, and on the PP and PK. both are bonafide #1 guys but often considered to be 2nd pairing....
7. phaneuf (D 6.5M: 8G / 11A) - beauchemin (D 3.8M: 4G / 16A)
both spend enormous minutes on-ice (EV, PP, PK) and are counted on to provide some offence. heavy hitters. neither (IMO) are super hockey savvy....
8. regehr (D 4M 1G / 12A)- komisarek (D 4.5M 0G / 4A)
both injured (i'm guessing at regehr, here but kommie's missed 16 games). both used to be pretty awesomely tough, stay-at-home, shutdown guys, and both are kindof painful to watch these days....
other comparisons:
nystrom - stempniak: occasional flashes of brilliance. hard grinders.
glenX - kulemin: get moved up and down the lineup a lot.
boyd - mitchell: underpaid, underrated, young.
sjöström - primeau: both fast, good PK types, both pressbox sitters.
prust - mayers: 4th line grinders/pugilists.... some ability.
mcgrattan - orr: classic textbook goons. period.
pardy - schenn: young defensemen with rosy futures.
finger - sarich: overpaid for ability but still decent blueliners.
white - gio: highest value contracts per club. huge minute-eaters.
flames fans this year have been laughing at toronto getting run out of rinks night after night all season long.... but i gotta say, the make-up of their squad is not unlike the one we cheer for: frighteningly bottom-heavy with very little in the way of naturally talented scoring forwards. when healthy and "on their game" calgary's blueline is far superior, but lately i think the two have pretty much evened out.
the main difference between the two clubs is that the leafs have gone with a two goalie system (both netminders riddled with inconsistance) while the flames rely on workhorse kiprusoff for most games. backelhinney gets (and loses, it seems) only the occasional start. infact, it's in this capacity that i see the teams' divergence and the result seems plain, whether or not the stats are there to back me up: kiprusoff > toskala / gustavsson. quite simply, kipper has stolen games which we had no business winning, leading in no short part to why the flames' record is better than the leafs' in 09/10. end of story.
yeah, you heard me right... now: bring on the angst.
:)
interesting reference pages: calgary player contracts/salary, toronto player contracts/salary, sportsnet player comparison page.
Monday, January 18, 2010
monday randoms: we're in deep S@*%
i hope everybody's had a good week, even though the flames haven't notched a win since last week's monday randoms. ugh. i've been miss domestic: baked cookies and muffins and made good use of my crock pot. ;) here's some other erratic and mostly mundane thoughts rolling around my head:
- first off: there's no two ways around it ---harvey the hound is the best arena mascot in the league (sorry, youppi ----ps: this link is one of my alltime favorites and sometimes i think i talk about harv just to put it up).... ;) harvey 's got more outfits than beyonce and i seriously i have no idea how a person can wear twenty pounds of faux-fur, and an oversized dog head, and still do this:
- thinking about all the back-patting that ken king did about darryl sutter's drafting abilities has pretty much irked me for four days. on thursday, i was annoyed about the two times during the fan forum that they boasted about how full the prospect cupboard is, considering that darryl's highest draft pick with the flames was tenth overall (even though dion was selected ninth in 2003). one would presume that if the president and GM of a profesional club were gonna gloat about something, they'd want to get it right... but i digress.... it occurs to me now that the 2003 nhl entry draft was kindof akin to shooting fish in a barrel; as long as the flames chose to hang on to a first round selection that year, the odds were good that the guy would be a big-leaguer. so congrats, i guess.... as commenter smellofvictory pointed out over on the gamethread at m&g: "good thing calgary drafted phaneuf over [getzlaf], eh ?".... while dion looked like a slamdunk in 2006 after his rookie year, later first rounders like mike richards, jeff carter, and brent seabrook look far sharper these days.....
so when the flames' brass talk about their wicked scouting/drafting skills, i gotta say that ---dion aside (and realistically, not even that guy most nights these days), none of darryl's selected first rounders (including chucko, pelech, irving, backlund, nemisz, or erixon) look like team-changers at this point. admittedly, it's mighty early on those last three.... so we can still hope, i guess.... i will also concede that he may have drafted some later round gems (tbd) in guys like pardy, prust, boyd, aulie, wahl, howse, brodie, and ortio.... also ? bummer about john armstrong's injuries, dan ryder's troubles and mickey renaud (full stop). those guys all looked so promiseful.... le sigh.
another thing that occurred to me today is that darryl always drafts a first rounder. i gotta say that i find it kindof unrealistic to think that he's going to go into draft day, come june, and select two third rounders, and one player each in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds. no way does that happen. in some way, daz will make a deal and i'll be shocked if he doesn't turn up AT LEAST a second round pick or a conditional first.
- the game sucked last night but... um... how good was THIS:
- remember last march when the team's fourth line was: vandermeer - peters - roy ? WHEW !!! okay, i feel a whole lot better, allofasudden.... ;)
- all talk of the flames needing a top-line winger was put aside last night after an admittedly poor showing by backelhinney. i've been standing up for that dude all season but yesterday, i had to concede that the couple of stinkers he let in probably lost the C's the game.... names in the loop included biron, irv & crazy manny, but i say (for entertainment's sake at LEAST) let's get pechursky and promise that we'll spell his name right on the back of his jersey...
- with xmas now finished (and on to valentines day with some immediacy, according to what's going on at the mall), now is a good time to stock up on your canucks merchandise. not interested ? hmmm... neither is anyone else, it seems:
- in saying that, i know it's probably time to take my tree down... but it looks so MONEY with my chris drury bobblehead tree-topper !!! the bobblehead option was justin pogge (i honestly have one --it's a collector's edition which i recently dropped on the floor) but the drury one is far lighter in weight and is therefore much more stable on the top of my fake pine.
no point, really (just sharing). :)
- i got a text this morning from the dude who flies an enormous flames' flag from a 50-foot pole outside his house in silver springs (and at half mast after blowouts or playoff losses). it said something like "rough loss last night, but at least tonight's bounce-back game should be easy !"
ahhhhhhh...... we're in deep s&%#.
- first off: there's no two ways around it ---harvey the hound is the best arena mascot in the league (sorry, youppi ----ps: this link is one of my alltime favorites and sometimes i think i talk about harv just to put it up).... ;) harvey 's got more outfits than beyonce and i seriously i have no idea how a person can wear twenty pounds of faux-fur, and an oversized dog head, and still do this:
- thinking about all the back-patting that ken king did about darryl sutter's drafting abilities has pretty much irked me for four days. on thursday, i was annoyed about the two times during the fan forum that they boasted about how full the prospect cupboard is, considering that darryl's highest draft pick with the flames was tenth overall (even though dion was selected ninth in 2003). one would presume that if the president and GM of a profesional club were gonna gloat about something, they'd want to get it right... but i digress.... it occurs to me now that the 2003 nhl entry draft was kindof akin to shooting fish in a barrel; as long as the flames chose to hang on to a first round selection that year, the odds were good that the guy would be a big-leaguer. so congrats, i guess.... as commenter smellofvictory pointed out over on the gamethread at m&g: "good thing calgary drafted phaneuf over [getzlaf], eh ?".... while dion looked like a slamdunk in 2006 after his rookie year, later first rounders like mike richards, jeff carter, and brent seabrook look far sharper these days.....
so when the flames' brass talk about their wicked scouting/drafting skills, i gotta say that ---dion aside (and realistically, not even that guy most nights these days), none of darryl's selected first rounders (including chucko, pelech, irving, backlund, nemisz, or erixon) look like team-changers at this point. admittedly, it's mighty early on those last three.... so we can still hope, i guess.... i will also concede that he may have drafted some later round gems (tbd) in guys like pardy, prust, boyd, aulie, wahl, howse, brodie, and ortio.... also ? bummer about john armstrong's injuries, dan ryder's troubles and mickey renaud (full stop). those guys all looked so promiseful.... le sigh.
another thing that occurred to me today is that darryl always drafts a first rounder. i gotta say that i find it kindof unrealistic to think that he's going to go into draft day, come june, and select two third rounders, and one player each in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds. no way does that happen. in some way, daz will make a deal and i'll be shocked if he doesn't turn up AT LEAST a second round pick or a conditional first.
- the game sucked last night but... um... how good was THIS:
- remember last march when the team's fourth line was: vandermeer - peters - roy ? WHEW !!! okay, i feel a whole lot better, allofasudden.... ;)
- all talk of the flames needing a top-line winger was put aside last night after an admittedly poor showing by backelhinney. i've been standing up for that dude all season but yesterday, i had to concede that the couple of stinkers he let in probably lost the C's the game.... names in the loop included biron, irv & crazy manny, but i say (for entertainment's sake at LEAST) let's get pechursky and promise that we'll spell his name right on the back of his jersey...
- with xmas now finished (and on to valentines day with some immediacy, according to what's going on at the mall), now is a good time to stock up on your canucks merchandise. not interested ? hmmm... neither is anyone else, it seems:
- in saying that, i know it's probably time to take my tree down... but it looks so MONEY with my chris drury bobblehead tree-topper !!! the bobblehead option was justin pogge (i honestly have one --it's a collector's edition which i recently dropped on the floor) but the drury one is far lighter in weight and is therefore much more stable on the top of my fake pine.
no point, really (just sharing). :)
- i got a text this morning from the dude who flies an enormous flames' flag from a 50-foot pole outside his house in silver springs (and at half mast after blowouts or playoff losses). it said something like "rough loss last night, but at least tonight's bounce-back game should be easy !"
ahhhhhhh...... we're in deep s&%#.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
flames v. ducks: revisiting the past
i spent a little time re-reading some old posts and decided it was fine time to go again on the poll i did exactly ten months ago where i perfectly described this kind of experiment about the joker, "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."
ps: that post also goes into detail about how terrible dion's play had been, and his (infamous) quote about how the leafs are a hard team to defend against because they "throw pucks to the net all night." *snicker* when i think about how stalled dion's development is since that time, i can't help but ask myself, "we're in a whole world of fucking trouble here, eh ??"
so i'm sitting here on my couch avoiding doing the housework i SWORE i'd get to today, watching game seven of the 1986 flames v. oilers series. cheezus that's awesome hockey.... i'm so very excited to see the berezan goal (aka: steve smith off of fuhr) but i gotta say this: if the flames hadn't won this game, both reinhart and his defensive partner (al macinnis) would've gotten hung out to dry.... big al sure coughed up the puck a few times.... oh, and also ? håkan loob is still by far my favorite player of all time. what hands that guy had..... an absolute JOY to watch....
in saying that, it becomes obvious to me that PRECISELY what the 2009/2010 flames are lacking IS håkan loob.... think about it: every good current nhl team has at least one of those "finesse" guys who can stickhandle out of trouble, thread the needle on a perfect pass, speed in on net with full puck control, and just generally make most opposing defensemen look incompetant. the oilers have (*ahem* had) hemsky. the 'hawks have kane. the sharks have heatley. the nucks have sedins. the wings have z'berg.... infact, if you look closely at alot of this year's struggling teams, they have largely elected to substitute elite power forwards (in the iginla mold) for the loob-type of pure skill player; toronto, columbus, carolina, and dallas come to mind, here.
so there you go. problem solved. daz ? get us a tricky euro.
cup = as good as ours.... ;)
by the way: perry berezan was on the bench when the series winning goal went in. if ever there was a great argument for getting the puck deep into the opposing zone before a shift change, that's gotta be it. ;)
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