Todd Cordell: Calgary Flames: On Hiller, Goaltending & More

It should have read....The better Frederik Andersen plays, the higher the asking price is for John Gibson

It should have read....The better Frederik Andersen plays, the higher the asking price is for John Gibson
- EugenesAxe

I like John Gibson better/think the Ducks will hold onto him.

Just can't see why the Ducks would trade him, Gibson is making peanuts for the next two years and Andersen is a restricted free agent meaning he has little bargaining power and will likely resign around 2.5 mill. If Flames get a goalie it will be Reimer or Raanta, do not think Ward is the answer to any team.

Fluery may be available too.

Fluery may be available too.
- hipcheck_goalie

Murray and Zatkof yeah , he might be

If I am the Ducks I look seriously at trading Gibson too...same with Vaselevsky in TBay. Everyone is so dead set on Anderson and Bishop being the ones to go...meanwhile they are both LIGHTS OUT right now. If their last name was Price you'd be strung up in the streets for mentioning them in trade talks.

Yea, and Price is so overrated. Just like Burke said, if Brodie was in Toronto or Mtl he would be on the front page news everyday, like subban, price, kessel, kadri

Oh for ppl who cry and say the habs are better with Price, its a psychological thing + ur team shows no resiliency without him so it's better to have some depth like when Malkin went down and Pens went like 14-2-0 without him (i know hes not a goalie like Price but its called next man up, Condon is not that bad), team is just clueless without their saviour the one and only Carey OverPriced

String this guy up in the streets! He said Price! In a sentence!

Quoting function doesn't want to work.

You picked an ugly girl for your avatar OG.

Yea, and Price is so overrated. Just like Burke said, if Brodie was in Toronto or Mtl he would be on the front page news everyday, like subban, price, kessel, kadri

Oh for ppl who cry and say the habs are better with Price, its a psychological thing + ur team shows no resiliency without him so it's better to have some depth like when Malkin went down and Pens went like 14-2-0 without him (i know hes not a goalie like Price but its called next man up, Condon is not that bad), team is just clueless without their saviour the one and only Carey OverPriced
- Flamesfan_34

Interesting

I watched many Flames games the previous year and often felt they were getting unreal saves/goaltending after blown coverage's and blatant defensive mistakes. The teams overall defense was bailed out on a regular basis that really should not happen in today's NHL.

Again I found myself watching far more Flames games this year than I would normally end up watching. This year it seemed like the Flames made a lot of mistakes being overly aggressive again, but unfortunately their goaltending dropped back down to earth and those "ten bell saves" which were happening regularly last year dried up.

Goaltending stats, like all stats, really need to be taken in context of an actual game. How many goals against were 2 on 1's? 3 on 1's. How many were from the slot with zero pressure on the shooter? How many were softies from the blueline or bad angle or no traffic in front?

Deven Dubnyk when he played for the Oilers often had a solid save percentage. But the guy let in soft goals from everywhere and just generally always let in the game winning goal no matter the situation. He had serious trouble tracking the puck. He has been better in Minny after working on his puck tracking with a specialist but still doesn't impress me much overall. His team plays a very tight 200 foot forwards back checking game tho and it shows well.

By no means am I saying Calgary's goaltending was even average. But from the games I watched, I seen far too much cheating going on and far too many high quality scoring chances to primarily blame the goalie for a bad season.

Has anyone seen this?

Looks like if you go by the percentages we are drafting 6th or 7th.

http://www.matchsticksand...605.1203981922.1457338715

Whom do we have to sacrifice to the Hockey Gods to move up???

Re Duran

OG

Has anyone seen this?

Looks like if you go by the percentages we are drafting 6th or 7th.

http://www.matchsticksand...605.1203981922.1457338715

Whom do we have to sacrifice to the Hockey Gods to move up???
- DuranDuran

I ran the draft simulator 17 times yesterday with the Flames picking first 6 times and picking in the top 3 a total of 10 times.

I don't think it happens, but it will be what ever it ends up. Would love a top 3 pick though

I watched many Flames games the previous year and often felt they were getting unreal saves/goaltending after blown coverage's and blatant defensive mistakes. The teams overall defense was bailed out on a regular basis that really should not happen in today's NHL.

Again I found myself watching far more Flames games this year than I would normally end up watching. This year it seemed like the Flames made a lot of mistakes being overly aggressive again, but unfortunately their goaltending dropped back down to earth and those "ten bell saves" which were happening regularly last year dried up.

Goaltending stats, like all stats, really need to be taken in context of an actual game. How many goals against were 2 on 1's? 3 on 1's. How many were from the slot with zero pressure on the shooter? How many were softies from the blueline or bad angle or no traffic in front?

Deven Dubnyk when he played for the Oilers often had a solid save percentage. But the guy let in soft goals from everywhere and just generally always let in the game winning goal no matter the situation. He had serious trouble tracking the puck. He has been better in Minny after working on his puck tracking with a specialist but still doesn't impress me much overall. His team plays a very tight 200 foot forwards back checking game tho and it shows well.

By no means am I saying Calgary's goaltending was even average. But from the games I watched, I seen far too much cheating going on and far too many high quality scoring chances to primarily blame the goalie for a bad season.
- Aerchon

Agree on most. It's the system they play, it's why we generate so much scoring chance from the backend! Not saying it's wrong, but it definitely has to be a point of concern. Lots of teams play this style, but the goalie bails them out at times.
Hiller sucked all year, not sure why but he did. He even sucked when he wasn't playing, sitting on the bench. When they flashed a bench shot on him, he looked stoned, guy just wasn't there! Could be unhappy, problems at home, who knows.
We all know this team needs an upgrade in goal, would solve some of the problems. But it's more than just goaltending, get rid of some dead weight in the bottom 6, it would be awesome if they could upgrade the top 6 enough to have Backlund, Frolic and big Joe play 3rd line

Re Duran

OG
- K-man25

I like your line of thinking.

Yea, and Price is so overrated. Just like Burke said, if Brodie was in Toronto or Mtl he would be on the front page news everyday, like subban, price, kessel, kadri

Oh for ppl who cry and say the habs are better with Price, its a psychological thing + ur team shows no resiliency without him so it's better to have some depth like when Malkin went down and Pens went like 14-2-0 without him (i know hes not a goalie like Price but its called next man up, Condon is not that bad), team is just clueless without their saviour the one and only Carey OverPriced
- Flamesfan_34

Though less severe, Calgary had a similar situation with kipper. It's almost as if they're too good for the team. They hide the real problem, and rather than addressing the issue, gm's tend to buy overpriced ufa's at the deadline. At the same time, you'd be stupid to pass up a top tier goalie when the price is right.

My biggest "fear" with goaltending going forward is the very strong possibility of an expansion draft, and most discussion of when there is one teams will only be able to protect 1 goaltender.

So that means that should the Flames go out and spend the resources on a goalie with the some long term intent (Andersson, Bishop, Gibson, Murray, etc), that it pretty much means that there will be a very strong possibility of losing a player like Gilles (or McDonald depending on when the draft happens).

Or if they decide that Gilles would be the goalie to protect, then they could lose this goalie that they go and spend assets on now. And those assets are going to be significant to acquire one of those more proven starters.

I get the idea of getting a real player in place now, but this to me reinforces the idea of getting a spot holder for a couple years until the team can be sure what Gilles or McDonald are going to be.

I ran the draft simulator 17 times yesterday with the Flames picking first 6 times and picking in the top 3 a total of 10 times.

I don't think it happens, but it will be what ever it ends up. Would love a top 3 pick though
- ScotsonFire

Yeah man we are definitely due. How sick would a Mathews vs McJesus/Hall/Nuge/Yakabust game be for the ratings!

Kinda looks a little one sided with all those slash marks doesn't it.

My biggest "fear" with goaltending going forward is the very strong possibility of an expansion draft, and most discussion of when there is one teams will only be able to protect 1 goaltender.

So that means that should the Flames go out and spend the resources on a goalie with the some long term intent (Andersson, Bishop, Gibson, Murray, etc), that it pretty much means that there will be a very strong possibility of losing a player like Gilles (or McDonald depending on when the draft happens).

Or if they decide that Gilles would be the goalie to protect, then they could lose this goalie that they go and spend assets on now. And those assets are going to be significant to acquire one of those more proven starters.

I get the idea of getting a real player in place now, but this to me reinforces the idea of getting a spot holder for a couple years until the team can be sure what Gilles or McDonald are going to be.
- dal_johnson

Good point, Could actually make Reimer some extra cash with other teams wanting to protect a prospect and not wanting to give up prospects to get a tender.

Could this line of thinking not also make the bonified starters a little cheaper?

Yeah man we are definitely due. How sick would a Mathews vs McJesus/Hall/Nuge/Yakabust game be for the ratings!

Kinda looks a little one sided with all those slash marks doesn't it.
- DuranDuran

It looks much better then you look at the draft history and who is probably their best pick from each year:

Edmonton: Eberle (2008), Lander (2009), Hall (2010), Nuge (2011), Yakupov (2012), Nurse (2013), Draisaitl (2014), McDavid (2015)

Calgary: Brodie (2008), Ortio (2009), Ferland (2010), Gaudreau (2011), Gilles / Janko (2012), Monahan (2013), Bennett (2014), Andersson (but could say Hamilton) 2015

I'm not saying on a whole that the flames are better, but when you consider when a lot of their players have actually been selected it doesn't look so overwhelming and is a statement to how they have drafted.

Good point, Could actually make Reimer some extra cash with other teams wanting to protect a prospect and not wanting to give up prospects to get a tender.

Could this line of thinking not also make the bonified starters a little cheaper?

- DuranDuran

I really don't mind the idea of Reimer on a 2 year deal. He played well once he got out of Toronto. In 8 games with the sharks he had 6 wins, a 0.938 save%, and a 1.62 GAA. Maybe him having a decent defence in front of him as opposed to whatever Toronto was trying to field makes a difference. Players like Gio, Brodie, and Hamilton are drastic improvements over Toronto.

I in no way think he is the answer for the franchise, but I think him getting out of Toronto was the best thing for him, and him on a 2 year, prove it contract wouldn't be the worst thing out there. In that time Either Gilles will be ready, or maybe Reimer will prove he is legit.

I really don't think it will be that bad to sign him and Ortio for say up to 5.5 between the both of them for 2 years each and give that a try. Then either trade them of they can still protect Gilles in an expansion draft.

I doubt Fleury becomes available. He's HUGE (as Trump would say) in the locker-room...PIT has said many times over the years that he's untouchable for that reason. I could see Fleury-Murray 65/35 split next year, then Murray-Fluery 50/50 the year after that. Fleury will be 33 at that point and may be OK with 40/60 then sign on for another 1-2 years at 30/70 splits until he's 35/6 at which point he may retire...