Poor Mikael Backlund has been the victim of some atrocious luck. The team only scores on roughly 4-5% of its shots while he's on the ice. To put that in perspective, the NHL average is something like 8%.
Derek Smith seems to really have something when he has a decent d-partner (in other words, not Babchuk). That said, he isn't a top 4 defenseman, and the Flames need Giordano back in spite of the implication where T.J. Brodie is concerned.
The Flames can't seem to find a bottom pair dman to play with Brodie. On that note, I believe Joe Piskula is still on the team. What's up with that?
Chris Butler's play has slipped somewhat recently, though he showed some signs of life the other night against Florida.
Leland Irving!!! that is all.
Roman Horak has been warming the bench a lot lately in light of the play of Brendan Morrison. I wonder how BMo's direct promotion to the 2nd line affects Matt Stajan.
In spite of the stigma, Stajan has been not awful. In fact, there have been many games where, if not for the play of Backlund, I would have liked Stajan to get more ice time. Oh well.
And now, for the Flames' 3 stars so far this season:
- Miikka Kiprusoff -- Duh. I mean, really, who needs this explained?
- Olli Jokinen -- With the possible exception of Backlund (it would be him if not for the paltry 3 points) Olli has been by far the Flames' most consistent forward--perhaps the most consistent performer other than Kiprusoff.
- Jay Bouwmeester -- You had to see this coming. Really, his importance to this team can't be over-stated.
The System
Abbotsford
In spite of the calling up of Irving, Joni Ortio hasn't played a minute of hockey since November, and has started exactly 1 game. I understand the desire to win (and, Ortio's numbers so far don't really inspire confidence) but the Flames have a vested interest in the way Joni's development goes... not so much for this Danny Taylor guy, or whatever his name is. He's getting the starts, but every game he plays is lost development time that would be better spent on the goalie the Flames actually drafted, especially since Taylor will likely be gone after this season anyway. This is really the only decision of Troy Ward's (other than Russ Sinkewich's inclusion on the roster in lieu of James Martin) that has bothered me. The Heat are a good team, they can afford to have their goalie flounder for a few games to find his legs. And when he (Ortio) does, he's more talented than Taylor anyway. It will end up benefiting the team over time. \rant.
By the way, the Abbotsford Heat have won 6 straight games (actually, as of the writing of this sentence, that streak has been stopped by an overtime loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs), in spite of a) the loss of their best goalie and b) the sudden disappearance of Greg Nemisz's scoring touch (without a point in 6 games, 7 if one includes his cup of coffee with the Flames (2 Heat games) which brings the grand total to 8 AHL games without a point from Nemisz).
**Stupid re-alignment** The Heat are 3rd in the "West Division". By some astonishing twist of fate, that makes them 3rd in the entire AHL as well.
Elsewhere
Unsurprisingly, Max Reinhart and Michael Ferland did not make the Canadian Junior squad. However, the signs are looking increasingly good for a player I had initially written off. Because of an injury to Rocco Grimaldi and the surprising (and ill-advised) unclusion of Jarred Knight by the United States, Johnny Gaudreau of the Boston College Eagles actually looks like he just might make the American team. In order to make the roster, Gaudreau has to beat a mere 4 players. Those 4 are Josh Archibald, Connor Brickley, Austin Czarnik, and Austin Watson, with a reasonably good chance at beating Kenny Agostino as well. I'm not saying Gaudreau is a lock, but his chances went from 0 to about 53%, especially considering how much more talented he is than any of those others. He is, however, quite small. Even so, his chances are much better than I thought.
The Flames, though, are guaranteed no less than 3 prospects in the world Juniors. They are Sven Baertschi (Switzerland), Markus Granlund (Finland), and Bill Arnold (United States). Oh snap, who called it? Go me.
Patrick Holland has hit a hot streak (about time). John Ramage has no points since my last post, and has accrued a staggeringly bad -11 rating. I know +/- is mostly a garbage stat, and he plays for a pretty bad team, but come on. He's a much better player than that putrid rating.
Nothing else of note is going on.
And now, to watch the Flames flail it out against the Blackhawks.
No comments:
Post a Comment