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On Smith-Pelly, Gillies' struggles, and Bennett's chance generation

September 21, 2019, 12:21 PM ET [19 Comments]
Todd Cordell
Calgary Flames Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
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A few Calgary Flames notes:

1) Devante Smith-Pelly put forth a historically bad performance last night in Edmonton. He logged a little more than 11 minutes of 5v5 ice. In that time, the Oilers out-attempted the Flames 16-0 and out-chanced them 7-0. He posted an xGF of 0%. Zero! He did throw some hits but it’s not an exaggeration to say it was easy to do so because he and his linemates legitimately never had the puck. It’s no coincidence that Dillon Dube, who has had a great preseason thus far, posted a 15.8 CF% and didn’t record a single shot attempt when he spent a good chunk of his time with Smith-Pelly and Alan Quine. When he played with Lindholm, for example, the Flames posted a 51 xGF%.

2) I think we’re reaching the point of no return on Jon Gillies. The hope he’d be the goalie of the future? Yeah, not happening. He posted a sub .900 save percentage during his cup of coffee with the Flames in 2017-18, and did the same in AHL Stockton last season. This preseason he’s been as helpless as a fish out of water, allowing a ridiculous nine goals on just 41 shots (.780SV%) while going up against watered down rosters. I don’t know if it’s a byproduct of the lost year of development in 2015-16, or his game simply stunted, but a once promising career now looks anything but. I’d expect Artom Zagidulin to anchor the crease in the AHL this season.

3) Sam Bennett’s been used as a top-6 forward in the two games he’s played. So far, so good. He has scored, added a primary assist, and ranks tied for 1st among all Flames in both chances (8) and high-danger chances (3). I know it’s preseason and it is important not to get carried away with what players can accomplish against watered down rosters. With that said, it’s obviously better to see Bennett excelling vs soft competition than struggling against it. I’ll be watching him closely when the lineups get deeper.

4) I was planning to track shot contributions for all of Calgary’s preseason games but, for whatever reason, many of theirs aren’t televised while seemingly every other team has most, if not all of the games, broadcasted. The next two Flames games will thankfully be televised, however, their final two are *currently* not supposed to be. Let’s hope that changes.

Recent posts:

Early preseason takeaways

Pacific Division breakout picks for 2019-20

On Mangiapane’s one-year ‘prove it’ deal with the Flames

On testing Lindholm at center, a bigger role for Bennett, and more

Flames double down on mistake, bring back Michael Stone

On Matthew Tkachuk’s next contract and Sam Bennett’s finishing

Three experiments the Flames should try during preseason play

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Three reasons to be optimistic about the Flames in 2019-20

Three Flames question marks heading into 2019-20
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