Calgary's defensive pairings

[DJJones]

Just wondering what everyone thinks of this. Sounds like Gio and Brodie are going to be split up and both be given anchors.

Giordano - Wideman - Lot of fire power but Wideman is suspect defensively
Brodie - Engellend - Solid shutdown but it will sacrifice Brodie's offense
Jokkipakka - Hamilton - Best third pairing in the league most likely

As opposed to the predicted;

Giordano - Brodie - Top 5 pairing in the league
Jokki - Hamilton - Decent 2nd pairing
Engellend - Wideman - Disaster waiting to happen

Personally I'm a little conflicted but I'm hoping as soon as Wideman and Engellend get their 15 minutes a game the rest goes to Brodie and Gio as a pair.

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[FlamesFan18]

I dont like it. Give competent players heavy minutes and bottom line players as little minutes as possible. All it does is weaken our best lines and will hurt us for the entire game rather than 10 minutes of the game.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

That looks bad.
Super bad

 

[Seb]

The Flames are gonna be screwed when Giordano bolts to Europe in the next few years

 

[DJJones]

Brodie is going to have a tough year. But if we can trade Wideman at the deadline for something it may all be worth it.

Kulak - Engellend might not be a terrible bottom pairing.

 

[HarrisonFord]

Barf. That's pretty terrible

 

[Anglesmith]

The humorous part of this is that the key difference in personnel from last year to this year is Russell out for Jokipakka. And the difference in projection from the league-wide fan is huge.

We'll have to see what happens here. Wideman probably won't be much better this year than last, but Hamilton should be. Jokipakka for Russell is pretty much a wash. Put these guys in a new system and we'll see how they react.

 

[DJJones]

The humorous part of this is that the key difference in personnel from last year to this year is Russell out for Jokipakka. And the difference in projection from the league-wide fan is huge.

We'll have to see what happens here. Wideman probably won't be much better this year than last, but Hamilton should be. Jokipakka for Russell is pretty much a wash. Put these guys in a new system and we'll see how they react.

Gio should be a lot better this year as well.

I guess my question was does any other team sacrifice their top 4 for a strong bottom pairing? I don't even know who the best pairing is. If Wideman looks like 2014 Wideman that could be an alright pairing.

 

[LethalCookie]

Not a huge fan of this, it hurts the flames when matching up against the top line on other teams. You don't want Wideman or Engelland matched up with and getting exploited by the likes of Gelzlaf, Perry, McDavid, Thornton, Kopitar, etc.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Poor Brodie. Yeeeesh.

 

[DJJones]

Not a huge fan of this, it hurts the flames when matching up against the top line on other teams. You don't want Wideman or Engelland matched up with and getting exploited by the likes of Gelzlaf, Perry, McDavid, Thornton, Kopitar, etc.

That's the trade off I guess. Top heavy teams will have an advantage but it might work well against the Penguins that run three lines.

Make's me think Gio and Hamilton will be racking up points while Brodie handles the defensive end.

 

[JayKing]

Man has Dougie Hamilton fallen off

 

[DJJones]

Man has Dougie Hamilton fallen off

Wouldn't read into it that much. He's still clearly the 3rd best player.

This is just the coaches way of making the best out of a bad Wideman/Engellend situation.

Hamilton and Wideman was bad. Wideman and Engellend was horrific.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Man has Dougie Hamilton fallen off

Fell off right into a career highs in goals and points.

Not a fan of those pairings at all. Brodie and Giordano need to play together, great chemistry and compliment each other very well. Jokipakka and Hamilton should be the second pairing and Wideman Engelland should be good enough as a vastly overpaid third. The best players should play with the best players, spreading out the talent just weakens any positive effect our top 3 could have.

 

[IHaveNoCreativity]

They signed grossman today so maybe those won't be their pairs.

 

[DJJones]

They signed grossman today so maybe those won't be their pairs.

Grossman will get 12 games then sit in the pressbox for the rest of the year.

 

[Lunatik]

Just wondering what everyone thinks of this. Sounds like Gio and Brodie are going to be split up and both be given anchors.

Giordano - Wideman - Lot of fire power but Wideman is suspect defensively
Brodie - Engellend - Solid shutdown but it will sacrifice Brodie's offense
Hamilton - Jokkipakka - Best third pairing in the league most likely

As opposed to the predicted;

Giordano - Brodie - Top 5 pairing in the league
Hamilton - Jokki - Decent 2nd pairing
Engellend - Wideman - Disaster waiting to happen

Personally I'm a little conflicted but I'm hoping as soon as Wideman and Engellend get their 15 minutes a game the rest goes to Brodie and Gio as a pair.

Refering to Wideman and Engelland as anchors is unneeded hyperbole. Each and evry one of those pairs has played together before and had success doing so. Especially Brodie/Engelland, they have been very good any time they have been paired together in the past.

 

[MonaHan Solo]

I don't understand why Glen split up Gio and Brodie. They are amazing together and Brodie seems to be more comfortable on the right side.

But I guess we'll see how this will work in the season.

 

[Blitzago*]

That's the trade off I guess. Top heavy teams will have an advantage but it might work well against the Penguins that run three lines.

Make's me think Gio and Hamilton will be racking up points while Brodie handles the defensive end.

I still think you would be better off trying to shut down 1 or 2 of the pengiuns lines rather than lowering your chance at shutting down any.

I don't think this will last and it will go back to brodie - gio back together.

 

[CanadienShark]

That looks horrific. Why play Hamilton on the left side when you clearly lack talented RHD? I know Brodie can play the right side, but he's still a lefty.

 

[Lunatik]

That looks horrific. Why play Hamilton on the left side when you clearly lack talented RHD? I know Brodie can play the right side, but he's still a lefty.

It's just written backwards, Hamilton plays the right side.

 

[CanadienShark]

It's just written backwards, Hamilton plays the right side.

But I thought Brodie played the right side on the Gio-Brodie pairing and Wideman was a RHD? Or do you mean just that pairing?

 

[Stopsight]

The humorous part of this is that the key difference in personnel from last year to this year is Russell out for Jokipakka. And the difference in projection from the league-wide fan is huge.

We'll have to see what happens here. Wideman probably won't be much better this year than last, but Hamilton should be. Jokipakka for Russell is pretty much a wash. Put these guys in a new system and we'll see how they react.

I mean i don't know about anyone else but i think I remember the prevailing opinion last year in response to the "Calgary #1 Defense in the league " thread was that OP was out to lunch, and the fact that Calgary then went on to suck so hard was just the cherry on top. That's certainly how I felt so maybe i'm projecting

 

[Senor Catface]

There certainly won't be a "Best defense in the NHL" topic this year after seeing those pairings.

 

[DJJones]

I mean i don't know about anyone else but i think I remember the prevailing opinion last year in response to the "Calgary #1 Defense in the league " thread was that OP was out to lunch, and the fact that Calgary then went on to suck so hard was just the cherry on top. That's certainly how I felt so maybe i'm projecting

Wideman went from a solid #3 to a liability. He somehow got stupider. That destroyed us

Hopefully he has a bounce back year.