(Official) Around the NHL 8.0

[Pirate King Luffy]

And you call yourselves Flames fans?

 

[Unlimited Chequing]

To be fair they have a right to mock us. When I saw the Gaudreau/Monahan threads on the main boards I wanted to throw up and I am also tired of hearing our defense is the best in the league, because quite frankly it's not true. We didn't even finish in the top half of GA/G last season, maybe we have the best offensive blue line in the NHL, but until we actually accomplish something people need to stop bragging.

Yeah, I totally agree

 

[Pirate King Luffy]

I would rather our keyboard warriors arguing with other fanbases. There are some good reads that make you chuckle.

 

[Flaming Satan]

I agree, when I saw one of those threads about "Is Monahan the next Toews?" I thought ok, maybe just a judgement error but after they kept popping up one by one, each time I was thinking, just stop.

 

[InfinityIggy]

Except nearly everyone universally disagreed with the the premise of the threads.

 

[Volica]

Majority of the Flames threads on the main boards are made by a select few people, or made by other teams' fans. Other teams hate Calgary fans now because of'em; they pretty much follow the same path.

MB Flames guy/Other team guy: Is X(player) as good as Y(player) or Does Calgary have a good chance at Z(standings, playoffs, etc).
Rational posters: We'll see. Great defense, but they overachieved last year.
Troll-ee Oiler posters (there's like a 4-5 of them that are the usual's): NO WAYZ, LOLOLZZ they're horribad, LOL COLORADO!!111!
Odd Flames posters: WHAT?! F-U, Oilers SUCK!11. LUcky drafting! LOLZ 4 first overalls! Player X is going to be better than player Y, 10X or the Flames are going to win the Pacific!!
Troll-ee Oiler posters: BAHA you wish bro!!1 Best team in the league, #jealous!!11
Mod: Welp. we've heard enough.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

I do think Monahan and Gaudreau could be as good as Toews/Kane (Toews offensive production gets overblown). But they are not there yet and it shouldn't be talked about as a certainty either. Quite frankly, it's annoying from both sides. I don't like the bragging, it reflects very poorly on us and the nonsense spewed from a few against the Flames is equally as irritating. I too rarely go on the mainboards because it has always been that way and will always continue to be that way. It's just the nature of how things are.

Gaudreau was one of the biggest lightning rods of controversary on the prospect board in HF history. Now that he's proven himself at the NHL level, the critics are saying he'll never be Kane good. I personally think he has that ceiling, but that's kind of irrelevant in regards to the point being made.

Anyways, let the Oil hate us, and we should hate them with all that is holy and all is right with the world.

 

[Johnny GODreau]

Yep they have the potential to players of that caliber however neither have the hardware... Yet

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

From a pure playing style standpoint, I like the Monahan/Kopitar one. Toews is more skilled than Monahan and Monahan is a better goal scorer. It's kind of funny, Monahan is so good but there was a point last year where he wasn't scoring because he was focusing on his 2-way play. Hartley tells him that he wants him to score goals and not just be a defensive forward. So Monahan just goes about business, flips the switch and ends up scoring over 30 goals.

I think Money is a natural better goal scorer than Toews, playmaking ability I'd give the edge to Toews (but it's close) and I think Monahan is on pace to be as good defensively, but not there yet. But overall, if you watch both Kopitar and Toews, Monahan looks more like Kopi especially how he skates.

I think offensively Monahan will be a perennial 70-80 point guy (with some 65 point years). I think Gaudreau will score more and will probably split playing between Monahan and Bennett.

 

[tmurfin]

People get too bent out of shape over comparisons. When I do comparisons I'm not saying Gaudreau will be as good as Kane, I'm saying he plays the same style/game as him..

As for the hype behind our defence, as it stands it's very good, if Brodie and Hamilton take the next step it will be up there, but right now there are a lot of variables on both ends. And like I've said in multiple threads, there is just as much room to grow as there is to regress. Only time will tell which way we go.

I do expect to be fighting for a playoff spot though, I don't think that's too much to say.


Also, with success comes the bandwagon fans, we all know how much our HF fanbase grew last year, and with bandwagon fans you get some homers, it is what it is, every fanbase has them, especially when their teams doing well.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

Yup. I've stopped going to the main boards for a bit. This whole Gaudreau/Monahan being Kane/Toews is getting overblown. They'll be a comparable, but a poor mans Kane/Toews.

They're not Kane/Toews at all, because Monahan and Toews play nothing alike, Toews is a dog on every puck while Monahan lets the game come to him. I've seen Monahan compared to Ron Francis, whose prime came before my time, so maybe that's more accurate. But definitely not Toews.

They're very optimistic right now, but I don't think Chicago parallels are crazy per-say, but people are coming in with the wrong parallels. We've got a bit more dead weight than that first Chicago team did with Engelland, Smid, Raymond etc, but in many ways we've got similar roster makeups except for Jonathan Toews, who, of course, is their best forward by a long margin.

15-16 Flame | Age | 08-09 Hawk | Age
Bennett | 19 | Toews | 21
Hudler |31 | Havlat | 27
Gaudreau |22 | Kane | 21
Monahan |21 | Sharp | 27
Backlund |26 | Bolland | 21
Brodie |25 | Keith | 25
Hamilton |22 | Seabrook | 23
Giordano |32 | Campbell |30
Ferland |23 | Byfuglien |23
(Jankowski) | 21 | Ladd | 23
Frolik |27 | (Hossa) |30
Hiller |33 | Khabibhulin |36
Ramo | 28 | (Niemi) | 25
(Ortio) | 24 | (Crawford) | 24
(Gillies) | 21 | (Crawford) | 24
(McDonald) | 19 | (Crawford) | 24
(Morrison) |23 | (Hjalmarsson) | 23
(Wotherspoon) |22 | (Hjalmarsson) | 23
(Culkin) |21 | (Hjalmarsson) | 23
(Kulak) |21 | (Hjalmarsson) | 23
(Rafikov) | 20 | (Hjalmarsson) | 23
(Hickey) |19 | (Hjalmarsson) | 23

Would everything need to fall perfectly into place for the Flames for any of the parallels to work? Absolutely because it had to fall perfectly into place for the Hawks too. Right now the best you can say about our team is we've thrown a lot of coals into the fire.

Anyways, yes those main board threads are embarassing. These kind of optimistic, unlikely parallels are best kept internal among fans So on that note

Byron | Marchand
Backlund | Bergeron
Giordano | Chara
Hamilton | Hamilton
Monahan | Krejci
Bennett | Seguin
Ortio | Rask

Aw yeahhhh

(and this is why drawing parallels is meaningless).

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Who cares what people on the main board think? Like they have no idea what they are talking about.

Monahan has peaked/ isn't a top line centre, Hamilton now projects to be a number 3 defencemen, Brodie isn't a top pairng D and just rode Gio's coat-tails, Gaudreau will regress and get injured/ 64 points will be his career high/ not even good as Eberle, Gio isn't a top ten D right now. Bennett had a disappointing season.

I mean last year Jake Gardiner won in a landslide over TJ Brodie when asked who was the better player. Basically proves they have no idea what they were talking about.

Narratives like that are embarrassing. And yet they dominate those threads. Who cares what they think?
When we have 3 or 4 players playing for the U23 team and possibly two playing for team Canada they will shut up.

 

[Mobiandi]

It's kind of funny, Monahan is so good but there was a point last year where he wasn't scoring because he was focusing on his 2-way play. Hartley tells him that he wants him to score goals and not just be a defensive forward. So Monahan just goes about business, flips the switch and ends up scoring over 30 goals.

Well he was really struggling too. He only broke out of his rut after he was put on to bag an empty-netter to help his confidence

 

[herashak]

I think the flames have the pieces to be a contender like chicago has been. It depends a lot on whether gillies can become a go to #1 goalie. I also feel that we might be slightly lacking with young top 6 wingers.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Well he was really struggling too. He only broke out of his rut after he was put on to bag an empty-netter to help his confidence

Yeah it's true, and some good luck always helps. I just view Monahan as that overachiever and perfect student who will always find a way to do what his teacher asks. Good players create their own luck, it's weird but it's how it works.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

I think the flames have the pieces to be a contender like chicago has been. It depends a lot on whether gillies can become a go to #1 goalie. I also feel that we might be slightly lacking with young top 6 wingers.

We've got some good potential Top-6-wing-prospects between Granlund, Klimchuk, and Poirier. But if we could add a guy like Teemu Pulkkinen or Alex Tuch to our prospect pool, I would probably say "Rebuild: Complete".

 

[Unlimited Chequing]

Sort of off topic, but those awkward Monahan RV commercials keep popping up on my Youtube recommended videos. I can't stop laughing at those haha

 

[Master Bill]

They're not Kane/Toews at all, because Monahan and Toews play nothing alike, Toews is a dog on every puck while Monahan lets the game come to him. I've seen Monahan compared to Ron Francis, whose prime came before my time, so maybe that's more accurate. But definitely not Toews.

I strongly agree with this post. I've seen many Monahan - Toews comparisons but they are not similar in playing styles. Toews is more dynamic offensively, taking on defenders with skilled moves along with his quickness, while Monahan is less flashy and quick, but safe and effective - although he probably is or will be the better goalscorer.

By no means am I saying Monahan should be like Toews because just looking at their physiques, you can't expect someone of Monahan's size to weave and dangle through like Toews does. Monahan's effective in his own way and honestly, I don't even know who else in the NHL plays like him. Kopitar is the next most popular comparison but again, I think there are huge differences in how both of them create plays. I think it's a matter of time until we see newcomers being labelled the next Monahan.

 

[Johnny GODreau]

I like the Turquoise Value of labels.

 

[Lunatik]

The best comparison for Monahan is an Eric/Jordan Staal hybrid. Plays very similar to both but is better defensively than Eric and better offensively than Jordan.

 

[Calculon]

 

[Lunatik]

if he chooses to go on his own how does this impact the Kings and their salary cap? Do they place him on unconditional waivers so they can void his contract?

 

[Calculon]

Kings release statement:

LOS ANGELES – On July 2, Slava Voynov entered a plea of no contest to domestic violence. Since that development, Mr. Voynov has been in the custody of the Seal Beach Detention Center and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. During this period of detention, the Los Angeles Kings decided he would no longer play for the team. The method by which we would ensure this outcome was something we carefully considered and we established a deadline of September 17 – the beginning of our 2015-16 training camp – to reach this outcome. Recently it became evident to us that our conclusion to this process would be to terminate Mr. Voynov’s Standard Player’s Contract. However, Mr. Voynov’s announcement today of his intention to leave the United States and return to Russia makes the termination unnecessary.

As we have publicly stated since Mr. Voynov’s arrest last year, the Kings organization will not tolerate domestic violence. As part of that commitment, we will soon announce a series of new Conduct Awareness Training Initiatives that reflect the values and principles central to our franchise.

 

[Lunatik]

Devils made a couple moves today.

Tlusty has signed a 1 year deal @ 800k
Stempniak has joined on a PTO

 

[Wayne Primeau]

Any of you guys going to the Flames/Dinos game tonight?