Todd Cordell: G7 Calgary Flames @ Chicago Blackhawks: Elliott back in net

(frank) it.

Time for this team to show up. It starts tonight.

3-1 Flames

Or am I supposed to say 7-0 Chicago

If Elliott's in net tonight does that mean he won't be playing the Blues at all? or do they expect him to suddenly be good for a back to back?
The more I know the less I understand.

At what point do you stop laying all the blame on the goalies & accept there is something far more fundamentally wrong with this team? Isn't Elliott supposed to be a great goalie?

I say it all the time. Take what you think is a great goalie & put him on a bad team & he won't beat the league average in SV% & if not really a great goalie; Elliott isn't, he had the luxury of playing behind 1 of the best D's & teams in the NHL, & it will be far worse.

Calgary is not a good team which considering their D doesn't make sense or add up properly but something is flawed in this player make up. I have them 2nd worst in the West to Vancouver.

At what point do you stop laying all the blame on the goalies & accept there is something far more fundamentally wrong with this team? Isn't Elliott supposed to be a great goalie?

I say it all the time. Take what you think is a great goalie & put him on a bad team & he won't beat the league average in SV% & if not really a great goalie; Elliott isn't, he had the luxury of playing behind 1 of the best D's & teams in the NHL, & it will be far worse.

Calgary is not a good team which considering their D doesn't make sense or add up properly but something is flawed in this player make up. I have them 2nd worst in the West to Vancouver.
- striker777

Well, considering this team normally gets off to an abysmal start things are on par. Lets talk mid November and see what is happening.

Until then (frank) off with your expert opinion on the team and its player make up.

If Elliott's in net tonight does that mean he won't be playing the Blues at all? or do they expect him to suddenly be good for a back to back?
The more I know the less I understand.
- itwasin

Thinking the same thing. I would think it would be a good motivator to throw him out against the team that threw him away and let revenge take over.

I didn't understand him not playing the other night either.

Same reason.

Really. What are you like 12 DuranDuran. Isn't this why were hear, to debate & discuss these things? Being a hockey fan & Flames season ticket holder I have a right to my opinion & don't have to resort to profanity to express my thoughts.

You better run along, the recess bell went. Don't forget your toys.

Tonghit's D core looks like a collective turnover machine.. Jokipaka is better then grossman and wideman the slug.

I can understand why Wideman is in (he needs to prove he has some value if we have any hope of trading him) but why in the (frank) does Grossman still have a spot with this team?

Especially since (according to Todd) the Engellund Kulak combo was crushing it in possession. I'd like to see us try Wideman and Kulak together, spoon feed them some minutes and hope that Wideman pots a few goals and builds up some value.

Should have got MAF when you had the chance instead of a backup like Elliott. Now its going to cost you Gudreau and Monahan to get him

What Striker77 said.

I am sure Calgary will pull it together relatively speaking at some point this year but the problems on the roster/coaching are obviously not primarily the goaltenders fault and have not been for the last 3 years.

The statement below has zero logic in it.

"I know the Flames have been bleeding quality chances, I'm not blind to that, but at some point they need their goaltenders to make a save."

How about...

"I know the flames have been bleeding extremely high quality chances, I'm not blind to that, and the team in front of him needs to be waaaaaaaay better. You have to give the goalie a chance to get at least a little confidence and make a few routine stops."

Where in my post did I blame the goalie? Why not play him at least once against the team that traded him. As it turns out that means tomorrow night. So why have either Flames goalie play 2 days in a row at this point? Anybody know why GG would do this?

Really. What are you like 12 DuranDuran. Isn't this why were hear, to debate & discuss these things? Being a hockey fan & Flames season ticket holder I have a right to my opinion & don't have to resort to profanity to express my thoughts.

You better run along, the recess bell went. Don't forget your toys.
- striker777

Dearest Striker,

As you only seem to post negative things about the Flames, only seem to post when they are doing poorly, and don't have the balls to put which team you cheer for on your profile (wierd for a season ticket holder, but typical for of the plethora of trolls on these boards), don't get all up in arms when someone calls you out.

This team is playing like poop right now, but they can play a lot better than they have been. If you can't see that maybe you need to go back to pre-school.

Yes the D has been swiss cheese but Elliott needs to make some of those saves. If you are a Flames fan you will remember that Kipper made a pretty mediocre club look a lot better than they were for years. What was that you always say about a good tender playing for a crappy club?

If you want to talk hockey great, but if you re just here to troll GFY.

Where in my post did I blame the goalie? Why not play him at least once against the team that traded him. As it turns out that means tomorrow night. So why have either Flames goalie play 2 days in a row at this point? Anybody know why GG would do this?
- itwasin

I am looking for the logic but maybe if he wants to start tomorrow he has to earn it tonight.

Should have got MAF when you had the chance instead of a backup like Elliott. Now its going to cost you Gudreau and Monahan to get him
- all-pgh

Or we could just sign a better goalie in Bishop as a free agent. Oh wait, no your right we should totally trade SM and JG for a guy that poops the bed under pressure!

Should have got MAF when you had the chance instead of a backup like Elliott. Now its going to cost you Gudreau and Monahan to get him
- all-pgh

Your GM f'd that chance up brotha.

Really. What are you like 12 DuranDuran. Isn't this why were hear, to debate & discuss these things? Being a hockey fan & Flames season ticket holder I have a right to my opinion & don't have to resort to profanity to express my thoughts.

You better run along, the recess bell went. Don't forget your toys.
- striker777

Maybe try saying a positive thing once in a while...

Tkachuk scratched again.

At what point do you stop laying all the blame on the goalies & accept there is something far more fundamentally wrong with this team? Isn't Elliott supposed to be a great goalie?

I say it all the time. Take what you think is a great goalie & put him on a bad team & he won't beat the league average in SV% & if not really a great goalie; Elliott isn't, he had the luxury of playing behind 1 of the best D's & teams in the NHL, & it will be far worse.

Calgary is not a good team which considering their D doesn't make sense or add up properly but something is flawed in this player make up. I have them 2nd worst in the West to Vancouver.
- striker777

Hah I've been saying this since the Elliott trade and have gotten nothing but derision in response. It's not you, man. Some of the posters in this thread aren't quite ready to call a spade a spade.

Dougie needs to get his sh*t together, Brodie needs to be put back on Gio's line, Widedog needs to gtfo, and my boy Grossmann needs to stay off the roster.

Add a steady #4 defenseman so Joki can take the #5 slot and now we're talking.

I'm worried we might just start playing the trap all game so Elliott can get back into his wheelhouse.

Then again we'd need an effective powerplay to rely on the trap for the rest of the game.

Should have got MAF when you had the chance instead of a backup like Elliott. Now its going to cost you Gudreau and Monahan to get him
- all-pgh

Ya, you might get a 2nd and a b prospect now...

Honestly we still aren't in win now mode (we'd like to see improvement but it's not like we are expecting deep playoff runs at this moment). We have Gillies waiting in the AHL (1.64 GAA/.944 SV% in first 3 games) if both goalies continue to be a tire fire (I don't think this will last all season but you never know).

If all of our goalies happen to fail this year we can go after Bishop in free agency or we can wait for the Penguins to get so desperate that they dump MAF for nothing

Why is Elliott playing? Johnson is the only reason blues didn't put up a 10 spot last game.

At what point do you stop laying all the blame on the goalies & accept there is something far more fundamentally wrong with this team? Isn't Elliott supposed to be a great goalie?

I say it all the time. Take what you think is a great goalie & put him on a bad team & he won't beat the league average in SV% & if not really a great goalie; Elliott isn't, he had the luxury of playing behind 1 of the best D's & teams in the NHL, & it will be far worse.

Calgary is not a good team which considering their D doesn't make sense or add up properly but something is flawed in this player make up. I have them 2nd worst in the West to Vancouver.
- striker777

Elliott was a good goalie who had top tier dmen and a team committed to team defense. Plus one of the best goalie coaches and Marty Brodour in house.

Sorry Duran Duran.

I grew up in New Brunswick when I was young & the NHL only had 6 teams. I'm a Bruins fan 1st but like a bunch of teams. Really I'm a fantasy hockey pool fan & the NHL provides the means for me to enjoy my favorite hobby.

I work as a consultant in the Petroleum industry traveling extensively in Alberta & Texas & live on the west coast. I used to have season tickets to 4 teams, Vancouver for almost 30 years EDM, Cal; for almost 20 years & Dal for just over 10. I give them to clients primarily for business. I gave up my Canucks tickets this year, I haven't been able to give them away for 2 years, no 1 wants them even when the good teams are in town really. I used to scalp them for a nice profit with a scalper buddy when not giving to clients or using them myself.

I'm don't post here often as I really have to disagree with the comments posted by the blogger. I really like Cordell's insight & read him regularly & again really only comment when I strongly disagree as I get these brutal responses from people like you that really aren't that enjoyable nor really justify a response. Not very mature comments & slagging someone isn't exactly insightful & pretty immature. I would suggest trying to have a discussion that has some insight or facts to support your thoughts or arguments.

I'm not trolling, I like Calgary & wish they were better but I don't like the make up of this team & you have to choose someone to be bad when you lay wagers like I do. I rank all 30 teams by division, conference & the entire NHL. I lay wagers on a whole range of things like making the playoffs, rounds won, cup winners, etc. I lay wagers on the over unders for players points, etc.

To do so you need to make predictions. You may not like mine but I don't like Calgary to be a very good team this year. It's not that I don't wish they were, I do; more money for me in scalping tickets, but almost all teams have gotten better & as much as I love the Brouwer signing & what should be a stellar D something is just amiss. Calgary has a great young core coming, Monahan, Gaudreau, Bennett, Tkachuk a solid D but the overall depth is suspect & it just doesn't seem to be working perfectly based on the current make up which is odd as on paper it should.

Calgary did a very good job of suppressing shots last season but gave up a ton of goals, that leads to quality of opportunities, not all shots are created equal. Coaching changes always concern me as that means system changes & time for everyone to learn them. The Pacific division although not the strongest division in hockey has a ton of strong teams SJ, Anh, LA; historicly but I have them missing this year, Edm & I thought Arizona would contend for playoff spots this season. Edm has had a very favorable schedule to start but they have won the games. Arizona has just been brutal which surprises me & Vancouver has been stuip lucky. I have them dead last in the west.

I hope that helps. Not Trolling saying what I believe to be true. You may not agree & that's all good but no need to be rude & condescending. Hey I could very easily be wrong. Let's hope so. I didn't lay any wagers on Calgary regardless.

Tkachuk scratched again.
- Ol_Boy_Wop

The tank is on.

Should have got MAF when you had the chance instead of a backup like Elliott. Now its going to cost you Gudreau and Monahan to get him
- all-pgh

Would you (frank)ing idiot Pens fans please piss off with this "shoulda' got MAF' bullpoop. We looked at it, your ass GM wanted 6th overall for him and that was that, He is NOT worth 6th OA.
Good luck getting anything of quality for him now, now that everyone understands you predicament with the expansion draft coming.