Let the Speculation Begin...

The Hammer has fallen. Or will fall. Soon. Maybe. What is certain is that with the call-ups of Brandon Prust and Dustin Boyd from the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights, a message was delivered. That message? Get your asses in gear or you will be replaced.

Of course, its possible no one will be replaced anytime soon, or if they are replaced soon they won't necessarily be replaced for an extended period of time - the aforementioned call-ups could end up sitting in the press gallery. But that wouldn’t be very Sutter like. I would suspect they'll get playing time - but at who's expense? Let the speculation begin!

Right now the list of players that are deserving of replacement is longer than the Flames would like, but lets simply narrow it down by assuming they will replace players at like positions. Prust plays left wing, and from top to bottom, Calgary's LWers are; Tanguay, Huselius (LW/RW), Friesen, Amonte(LW/RW), Kobasew (RW/LW).

Even though Tanguay isn't even noticeable on the ice most of the time, he plays a different role than Prust, so he's safe. Huselius at times looks like Calgary's only forward with hands, and he's been playing on Iginla's line (the only productive one) over the last two games. He's safe as well. Apparently Playfair singled out Amonte as having been one of the Flames better players lately (I don't agree, but it’s a plausible explanation of why the Flames are so bad), so he won't be looking over his shoulder. That leaves Kobasew, and Friesen.

Kobasew is really the odd man out on his line. Lombardi has speed, Tanguay has speed, puck handling skills, and a scoring touch, Kobasew has the ability to get hit. Prust on the other hand doesn't take hits. He gives them. While his scouting outlook is not as offensively optimistic as Kobasew's, perhaps his actual offensive output could be. Players like Tanguay have made mediocre players look good before.

Friesen referred to his last season as an embarressment. I hope he's learned to deal with the feeling of being embarressed, because so far he has not exactly shown why last year was the exception and not the rule. I give the guy a little credit, he is playing with Amonte and Yelle, so he probably won't look like an offensive powerhouse even if he was playing well. But that line has very little cohesion and I don't think his play is a symptom as much of a cause. It could be an ace in Friesen's sleeve that Sutter went out of his way to aquire his services-or it could mean that expectations from above are high.

I would say its more likely Friesen will sit, simply because Prust is scouted to be more of a 3rd liner than a 2nd, though I wouldn't mind seeing him create some room out there for Lombardi and Tanguay, both of whom are not known for their physical play.

The most obvious choice of replacement is Darren McCarty simply because McCarty doesn’t seem to be in Playfair's goodbooks judging purely by ice time. However, it would seem strange to me to replace a guy you're not willing to play anyway.

Boyd shares his position with Langkow, Lombardi, Nilson and Lundmark. Technically Ritchie as well, but he's been playing on the wing, and Boyd is more of a natural centre, so Ritchie is off the hook. Despite the fact Langkow looks lost on the first line and is desperately trying to keep up with Iginla and Huselius, I would be very surprised if the Flames called up a player with no pro regular season experience to be their number one centre. Therefore, Langkow is safe. Lombardi has been one of the Flames most consistent players, and still leads the team's +/-. He's safe for sure. This leaves Nilson and Lundmark.

I would also be very surprised if Nilson is replaced by Boyd. Nilson plays a checking role, while Boyd plays an uptempo offensive style. This leads us to Lundmark, who may play on the 4th line, often thinks like a 2nd or 1st line centre. Despite giving a beautiful breakaway pass to Iginla yesterday, Lundmark often makes defensive positioning errors. The question is, will Boyd be an improvement? I don't know how much sense it makes to bring Boyd up only to make him sit on the bench for 50-53 minutes per game.

So will Boyd replace a centre? If he does, I would say Lundmark is the best bet. I believe the second most likely person he will replace is Chuck Kobesew. If he can adapt his positioning his style of play is much more suited to that of Lombardi and Tanguay's. My money will still be on Lundmark however.

The only thing Flames fans needn't speculate is that management is in denial of the problem. Clearly management now believes the staying the course is not enough, and are now willing to implement some personnel changes. The question now is, will it work?

Ok, I'm worried

Ok, here's the thing; the Flames have a shitty schedule, big 6-1 win, 3 day layoff, momentum dead. We missed 'Double' Dion Phanuef and his 29 minutes of bone crunching, one timer, keep your head up play. The Flames always seem to have trouble with Nashville. But still…

Let's end the excuses.

No one can convince me the Flames are not a very good hockey team. We have franchise players in every single position, (Iginla, Regehr, Phanuef, Kiprusoff) we have some young talent (Lombardi) some undeniable skill (Huselius, Tanguay, Langkow) and a whole lot of heart.

And we do not look good at all.

It's not that I'm worried we won't make the playoffs. 'I don't know why everyone is worried' my friend told me. 'If we're not .500 by Christmas, then you can hit the panic button.'

Fair enough.

But this team should be better than .500. I'm not worried about .500. I'm not worried about the playoffs. The Flames have too much talent and too much heart to not hit those achievements. Here is what I am worried about:

The Cup.

Its my general guess that within the new rules it takes team's about 3-4 years to peak, and then about 2-3 years after that the team begins a rebuilding stage. Players that win get bigger contracts, and theres a limited time you can keep bargains on the team, and bargains are what is needed to win.

Kiprusoff at $3.5 million? Phanuef at $850,000k? Regehr $1.9 million (Hamrlik makes twice what Regehr does to keep it in perspective).

Does anyone think their salaries won't skyrocket come negotiation time? Is there one human being on the planet that thinks Regehr won't make more than Hamrlik?

What I'm trying to say is that the Flames have a limited - scratch that - very limited window to win the cup before we have to blow it all up and start again. I think this team is good enough to at least contend. A less talented Calgary team contended only two seasons ago. So I have to ask myself, when I watch the Flames play, do they look like contenders? Do contenders get beat by the bottom dwelling Bruins? Do they give up soft SH overtime goals? Do they come out flat against division bench mark teams?

You tell me.

Breaking News!

I'm so excited - Pisani has scored his first goal of the season!

There was something in the air that night

The stars were bright, fernando

They were shining there for you and me

For liberty, fernando

Though I never thought that we could lose

There’s no regret

If I had to do the same again I would, my friend, fernando

In other breaking news, the Oilers are getting worked by Phoenix...

Ouch.

Perhaps it was karma for beating the Coyotes so soundly two nights before that caused the Oilers to collapse last night. Perhaps it was unlucky bounces. Or perhaps, and this is more likely, the simply weren't the best team on the ice.

The score doesnt tell the whole story of course. The Oilers handily outshot the Ducks, but Roloson had an uncharacteristically 'off' night, from the botched coverup on the first goal, to the Getzlaf post-back-in goal, Roloson just did not look good.

Not that the rest of the team looked great either. The Smyth-Horcoff-Lupul line looked pretty ineffective, and although the Hemsky-Sykora-Thoresen line looked dangerous, they were unable to convert. I would have to say the best line of the night was a toss up between the third line or fourth line, both played an aggressive offensive forcheck all game and developed chances off of said pressure. Pisani was held goalless but played his best game of the season by far.

The Oilers' best player was Marc Andre Bergeron. He controlled the point well during the PP, was defensively responsible all night and made good outlet passes (and there were some bad ones last night by the Oilers). The fact that Bergeron was the Oilers' best player is probably a key sign of why they lost however.

The Oilers have not been good on the road this season, so tonight's game against the Coyotes will be a good test of their mettle. Then again, it is the Coyotes...

Public Enemy #1

Its a banner week in Oil Country in terms of villians. First ex-golden boy Mike Comrie returns in a Phoenix jersey, now Chris Pronger in a Duck's. Its hard to say who is more hated in Edmonton, but personally, I'm much more dissapointed in Pronger. Mike Comrie had a lot of pressure to succeed and perhaps not enough ability. After a dissapointing series against Dallas he was called out by Mac T and simply never resigned.

In contrast, Pronger signed a 6 year agreement to workfor the Oilers. At last, Edmonton had a bonified franchise player. Within a year, the Oilers made the cup final and missed out by a couple goals. Mysteriously, Pronger took a trip to Mexico (Hawaii?) and demanded a trade, citing personal reasons. Now, I'm not going to speculate (theres been enough of that) on his reasons for wanting to leave, but they're irrelevant. For the first time in his career Pronger experienced playoff success, played in a hockey town, had a good (great?) team behind him and was living in his native land. Call me a dreamer but that sounds pretty ideal to me.

The remaining Oilers, for their part, seemed to have taken the whole incident well, and appear to be using it as motivation this year. Many suggested the Oilers would not have a good team this year because Chris Pronger was such a key to the team's success, but the Staois' and Moreaus disagreed claiming it was a 23 man commitment that lead to success. So far, they're proving themselves right.

Keys to the Game

Special Teams - Pronger and Niedermeyer will probably see about 60 combined minutes on the ice. They're both expert PKers and PPers, and it shows up statistically (5th ranked PP in NHL at 24%). Edmonton's team PK is 90.2% (5th) effecient, while Anaheim's is 88.9% (9th) effecient.

Public Enemy - I don't expect the Oil will pay any particular attention to Pronger, at least no more than a franchise defenseman usually gets. Speed is Pronger's only weakness, but he uses his wingspan well.

Chemisty - Will the Torres - Stoll - Pisani line stay together? If they do, it'll be the best 3rd line in hockey today.

Flames vs. Coyotes - The Basement Battle!

There was an article by George Johnson in the Herald today that basically said if the Flames lose to the Coyotes, THEN its time to panic. I think we can all agree on that. Gretzky's desert dogs are simply not good, and losing to them would be a huge problem. It could however put in perspective how badly this team needs changes.

Keys to the Game:

• Let the Coyotes self destruct
• Don't suck

1st Period Summary - Flames 2, Coyotes 1

Zyuzin made his best play of the season on a defensive zone puck retrieval where he faked a pass and quickly circled around the fore checker. Unfortunately he also took a hooking penalty and is currently minus -1.

Dion put his emphatic stamp on the game (or rather, on Owen Nolan) early, flattening Nolan in the defensive end. One Phoenix player tried to hit Phanuef right after and also got bowled over. Eventually he got up and tried to fight Phanuef, at which point McCarty jumped him from behind like an octopus on a submarine.

The Flames took a couple penalties and were down 3-5, but the big story on the shift was both Kiprusoff making a beautiful toe save on a Jovanovski slapshot from the high slot, as well as Andrew Ference's quintuple hit shift, including, what I would call a Triple Ference, in which during about a 5-7 second stint he put three solid hits on Coyotes players and then got the puck out.

The Flames' PP looked overall better, including improved point movement. I think the wingers on the play still look too low, but both Kobasew and Huselius put pucks in the net from near behind the net angles.

Nolan scores a late one for Phoenix.

Good guy fighter 'Gorgeous' Georges Laraque beat the crap out of McCarty. Despite this, McCarty has a smile on his face as he is pummelled to the ground.

2nd Period Summary - Flames 3, Coyotes 1

The Coyotes PP has looked woefully ineffective the last couple nights. This trend continues with bad passes, poor positioning and a bad (line change?) that leads to a two man Flames breakaway. Amonte scores on what appears to be a semi weak shot.

Morrison is pulled.

Freisen makes a nice pass to a streaking Lombardi who streaks in on the Flames second best chance of the period.

A desperate Ladislav Nagy blatently runs Kiprusoff after his shot is stopped by the keeper. Ference, who was conspicuously absent on the play, streaks in and tackles Nagy off of Kiprusoff.

Jovanovski takes his 80th penalty of the game.

Enver Lisin gets the Coyotes' best chance of the period with about 10 seconds remaining, getting two great shots on Kiprusoff. Kipper of course saves them both.

Is it just me, or is Roenick playing better than expected? Also, Comrie loks worse. And where is Shane Doan?

Game Summary - Flames 6, Coyotes 1

Ding! Thats the sound Langkow hears as his penalty shot careems off of Joseph's shoulder and hits the post. Nice play by Morris on that by the way, that guys is still all heart!!!!!!! How in god's name does he have an 'A' on his jersey, even on Phoenix? I think he must have pictures of GMs or soemthing to not have been traded more often.

Doan does not play a minute in the 3rd period because he is suffering from an injury. Total ice time was about 9 minutes.

Calgary looks much better in the neutral zone, and the breakout is much improved. Overall, team speed has significantly increased, although I have to wonder whether thats due actual improvement or due to the opponent (or lack thereof).

The PP at times looked great, and at other times looked terrible. The last few minutes of PP time were a joke with a complete reversion back to 'the old way.' Maybe its just lack of focus due the game already being over.

Mike Comrie and Fredrik Sjostrom are plus +1 in a 6-1 loss. Dion Phanuef is Calgary's +/- leader at plus +3.

Watching Gretzky on the bench physically hurts me. Seriously. Also, I think Phoenix is the worst team I've ever seen. I don't know if they have any positives going for them right now. Somethine is going to break, I just don't know what.

Convincing win for the Flames, but hopefully that dominance continues over NHL teams.

Around The League

Try and catch the Devils/Penguins highlights if you can. Malkin's goal is sick.

Sunday Evening Post

• Hitchcock got fired and Bobby Clarke stepped down today. The fact that Clarke is no longer in charge of the Flyers organization is huge news for Philly fans, and by huge, I mean good. While Clarke was a hell of a hockey player, he was not a hell of a GM, (in his more recent years anyway). I will however always remember him for proposing to bring Gretzky into the Hockey Canada management group. There are rumours flying around that Mike Keenan might take over in Philly. Out of the frying pan and into the fire…
• Speaking of coaches that are concerned about their jobs, you have to believe Bryan Murray, John Tortorella, Wayne Gretzky, Gerald Gallant and Jim Playfair are mildly watching their backs. Murray and Playfair appear to have lost the confidence of the fans, Tortorella looks like he's losing control of the players, and Gallant and Gretzky are failing under increased but still low end expectations. My pick for first to go would be Tortorella. The first currently unemployed coach I think will be hired? Andy Murray.
• It turns out Luongo's relationship with Keenan was pretty strained after all. The Edmonton Journal ran a story today claiming that the final straw was when Keenan was screaming at Luongo about his contract demands on a plane ride in front of all Luongon's teammates. Good luck Flyers?
• Is the Edmonton Oilers' organization having an identity crises with one of their players? While most media outlets have spelled Patrick Thoresen's last name as 'Thoresen,' some (including the Edmonton Sun) media outlets, as well as within Rexall displays spell it 'Thorsen' without the 'e.' Can someone in Edmonton figure this out? edit: Thanks to Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal for getting back to me so quickly.

Kyle: It's Thoresen. Mind you this comes from a guy who wrote a story on evgeni malkin today quoting petr sykora, then had sykora on the brain and called him ziggy palffy's agent, when palffy's agent is petr svoboda.
thanks for the interest,
matty

I actually read the article he was referring to today, and it was about how Malkin tends to have his head down in the neutral zone. Something to keep an eye on for sure.

• Aaron Downie is claiming Regehr is lucky he didn't get up, cause he would have taught Regehr a lesson. Listen Aaron, the fact is you couldn’t get up because you had your brains scrambled. That’s like saying Ken Shamrock would have destroyed Ortiz had his limp head stopped bouncing off the canvas from Tito's relentless barrage of elbows.
• Actually, I'm sorry I didn't comment on that hit earlier. Wow, that his was amazing, no other word to describe it. And anyone that’s calling it dirty doesn't know hockey or physics. You can hit a guy anywhere you want on the body, but if its at the same velocity theres going to be a fair amount of damage done. Regehr is one of the best finishers in the league, you can ask Ville Pehltonen once he recovers from the hit he took in the Gold Medal game of the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.
• Have I mentioned yet how much I like Rexall Place? Sure its old, crowded, has overpriced beer, and is small, but something about looking up and seeing all those championship banners, the retired jerseys, that imposing 'WELCOME TO OIL COUNTRY.' And where else but Edmonton can you see a team multimedia introduction where players are drag racing ford trucks? Does anyone remember that?
• Theodore, way to show Canadian fans what they're missing daily, nightly and ever so rightly.
• Ted, I wouldn't call Crosby a diver, look at what happened to the last guy who did that.