Huzzah!

At the Flames' morning skate, coach Jim Playfair had herded his first line -- the potentially potent threesome of Jarome Iginla, Craig Conroy and Alex Tanguay -- to the end of the rink for a pointed huddle.

The boss's message, according to Conroy, was quite straightforward.

"Jimmy just let it be known -- are we the top line or are they the top line? 'You guys have to step up,' " recalled Conroy, whose unit, in Tuesday's 1-0 shootout victory, had been badly outdazzled by Minnesota's marquee trio of Pavol Demitra, Wes Walz and Marian Gaborik.

"Jarome loves to be challenged like that. And right before the game, he said, 'Enough's enough. Let's go. Let's get this thing going. Let's be the top line.' That's what he said. Then he was unbelievable." - Calgary Herald

So on the heels of my whining about an unproductive Jarome Iginla and unconvincing wins, the Flames go out and do everything I said they weren't doing. Things that would convince me this winning streak was something more than goaltending and fortune.

And good on them. Last night's was the particular ray of light I've been waiting for since the onset of mediocrity several weeks ago: a convincing victory over a capable opponent on the road. With apologies to the likes of Chicago and St. Louis, a win over the Wild is far more valuable currency these days.

The most encouraging part of last night's victory is reflected in the quote above. Not just that Playfair recognized an issue and took steps to correct it, nor that Iginla had a monster game. That the two occurred in concert - that Jarome and co. responded to a motivational ploy by Playfair - is the perhaps the best part. I've aired my suspicions that Playfair may have lost the dressing room frequently the last month or so. To see some evidence contrary to my suspicions speaks well for this team heading into the play-offs.

Some odds and ends:

• The Flames scored on their first 2 shots and chased Backstrom from the nets less than 2 minutes into the game. That now stands as the fastest 'tender yank in Wild Franchise history.


• Jarome's hat trick was the first by a Flame this season. The last Calgary player to do it was Chuck Kobasew against the Avs last year.


• After my bitching about Calgary at ES yesterday, the Flames went out and completely dominated 5on5 play last night. Course, that's what happens when the big guns show up. Tanguay, Conroy and Iginla ended the night with 7 points and a combined +6. That'll show me.


• I thought Lombardi had one his better outings as the RW on the Huselius/Langkow line. He was actually creating chances off the rush, which is the best indicatoin that Lombo's on his game. Also, thanks to Juice's wizardry, there was 2 or 3 sequences in which the second unit hemmed the Wild in their own end for long periods of time. In fact, it would have appeared to a casual observer that the Flames were on the PP.


• Have you ever seen a deflection goal like Langkow's marker yesterday?? Those few who missed the game should seek out hilights and marvel.

With the win, The Flames shrank the "magic number" down to 4. A single victory in one of the final two games against the Avalanche (regardless of any other outcomes) would ensure a play-off spot for Calgary. With that in mind, maybe the Flames should start look up in the standings with a view to catching one of San Jose, Dallas or Minnesota? Especially if Nashville succeeds in overtaking Detroit for first place overall by the end of the year...

Freshly Squeezed

At left is Kristian Huselius in a former life. As you can see, he used to be a Florida Panther. And, were it not for the Luongo trade, Huselius would probably represent the worst personnel decision the Panthers organization has made in the last several years. And, were it not for the Kiprusoff trade, he would probably represent Sutter's best work to date.

As most know, Juice was stolen from the Panthers for Steve Montador - a 12 minute/night, depth defenseman. Of course, he was available for a brief period on the waiver wire for nothing, but Sutter decided to dump some salary while acquiring an asset. Thus the trade instead.

And what a doozy it's turned out to be.

Huselius has been nothing short of excellent in Flames colors. Last season, he played at a 65 point pace after coming over from Florida, and led the team in terms of PP point efficiency by the end of the year. In the post-season (his first appearance) he had 6 points in 7 play-off games and was 3 inches away from scoring a break-away goal that arguably would have ended the Ducks Stanley Cup aspirations and sent the Flames on to the next round.

I had a good feeling about Juice coming into this year. I'd really liked what I'd seen from him on the ice - slick stickhandling, great vision, excellent patience - plus some of his basic plus metrics (such as his PPP/60 figure) spoke to production rather than just promise. With the addition of Alex Tangauy to the line-up and the possibility of a bounce back year from Jarome, I thought it highly possible that Huselius would push for 65+ point season, especially if he saw first unit PP time. As such, I managed to snag him in one of the bottom rounds of my hockey pool in October.

Score.

Pool or no pool, Im inclined to think I would have noticed Juice's stellar play either way. During the first half of the year, Huselius looked like a top-notch support player who was reveling in the soft minutes while the the big guns got the job done against the tougher assignments. However, in the second half of the season Huselius has looked like a big gun himself - a drink stirring straw, if you will. In January when Iginla went down, Juice moved up to play with Tanguay and Langkow and he kicked ass - 16 points in 13 games, and a +9. And, despite the Flames struggles through February and March, Juice hasn't slowed down much. He's gathered 29 points in the last 26 games and managed a decent +7. As it stands, he sits 3rd on the team in points behind only Jarome and Tanguay with 74, and is in the top 30 for points (28th) in the league and is a Flames leader in terms of +/- (+21).

Try not laugh when you say it: STEVE MONTADOR.

That's not the extent of Juice's excellence this season, however. Driven by my assertion that Kristian has been "that good" over the last little while, I took a closer look at the game sheets from the prior 8 weeks. Known as a soft-playing defensive liability, it would probably shock many fans (and Florida management) to know that Juice has been on the ice for all of 8 goals against since the start of February. In fact, since the end of December, Huselius has been a minus player in a grand total of 5 games. Five. In contrast, he's been on the ice for 15 ES goals by the Flames and a whopping 22 PP goals over the course of Feb. and March - a sum of 37 positive events, as opposed 8 negative ones. Granted, he gets next to no PK minutes as compared to his ES and PP time, but...those are still some very, very good numbers for a guy who was considered next to useless because he was a "liability" on the ice a mere 1.5 seasons ago.

(I should note, before I go on, that Juice makes $1.4 million/year. That's less than Jeff Friesen.)

It doesn't stop there, either. Juice has 33 PP points this season, which puts him 25th in the league. While his ESP/60 rate is hardly mind-blowing (approx. 2.34 ESP/60), his penchant for collecting points with a man-advantage, particularly in the 2nd half of the year, has caused his PPP/60 efficiency to jump to a staggering 6.67.

To put that in perspective, the top 6 PP point producing forwards in the NHL are, in order, Crosby, Thornton, Savard, Selanne, Hossa and Heatley. Crosby and Thornton exist in a universe all their own when it comes this metric - Sid the Kid has 58 PPP in 423 minutes of ice - good for 8.22 PPP/60. Thornton is even better, managing 50 points in 385 minutes for a 8.37 PPP/60 rate. After that, Savard, Selanne, Hossa and Heater all hover around Juice's figure: 6.81, 6.92, 5.97 and 5.87, respectively.

As you can see, elite company. Juice actually has a superior rate compared to guys like Heatley and Hossa, who have the benefit of playing in the Eastern conference against goalies named Thomas, Raycroft, Ward, Grahame, Denis, etc. all year. Granted, Kristian's played less minutes on the PP than any of them, but, still...credit where credit is due. Wanna know why the Flames PP has been so good lately? With apologies to Iginla and Phaneuf, look no further than the bug-eyed chinless swede sitting at the end of the bench.

Kudos and applause are in order. Huselius has gone from a mid-season low risk "why not?" type of acquisition to an invaluable, offensive team leader. He may look a little like a frog, but there are few players who are more beautilful when they have the puck on their stick than the Flame's own puckhandling, powerplay demon - Kristian "Beetlejuice" Huselius.

Good, Good. Now Better.

Seven point cushion, six games to play.

The above fact dampens somewhat the importance and urgency that may have been factors in tonights contest had the Flames lost the last game (and the Avs won theirs). As it stands now, any combination of Colorado losses and Calgary gains totaling 6 ensures a post-season appearance for the Flames. The Avs final 6 contests are all against play-off teams (Wild, Flames, Canucks, Preds, Flames) besides their date with the hapless Coyotes this evening. The Flames have a similar schedule (Wild, Canucks, Avs, Oilers, Sharks, Avs) in terms of difficulty, with the only soft spot being the Oilers (or, the shattered husk of the Edmonton Oilers, at least).

While it's certainly not implausible that the fight could come down to that final match between the two squads, it certainly is improbable. Consider that over the last month, the Avs have gone 9-1-2 (far and away their best series of the season) and have managed to make up about 3 points on the Flames to this point. To have any kind of realistic chance at all, Colorado will no doubt have to run the table to finish the year. And, while they've been pretty good of late, I wouldn't want to bet on that goaltending duo for any extended period.

No, the Avs are all but done. And thank God. Prior to this most recent 5 game winning streak, things were starting to look grim in Flames land. A 10 point cushion had dwindled down to 4, the road record was putrid, everyone associated with the team looked frustrated and an ugly stretch of formidable opponents was staring them in the face. Straight razors and coils of rope were being hastily prepared by the most fervet fans should the Flames fall from grace prove inexorable. A lynch mob of bloggers and media alike were brandishing pitchforks and torches, gathering in the gloom of the regular season's dusk, preparing to dispatch Playfair the Mad Scientist . Yup, things were getting ugly.

Funny what an unlikely 5 game win streak can do.

I, for one, however, am not wholly satisfied with the latest results, although I'm admittedly relieved. It's great that Calgary has proven they can at least sometimes:

A.) Win on the road and,
B.) Win close games.

BUT - the Flames still haven't convinced me they have shaken their issues and are the elite team they technically should be when one considers their roster. They've won a lot of coin-flips over the last couple games, largely on the back of good to great goaltending (the Chicago game is perhaps an exception to this - I thought the score flattered the Hawks). Besides that, and some yeoman work from the bottom lines, the Flames have been fairly mediocre. Their last victory by more than 1 goal came against the Blues (4-2 W) 23 days and 11 games ago. In the last 7 games, Calgary has scored more than 2 goals only once, against Chicago (3-2 W). Over the last 10, the Flames have given up 318 shots against (31.8 mean) and managed only 269 (26.9 mean), for a differential of 49 shots. The GD over the same 10 game span is (24 GF - 29 GA) an uninspiring -5.

Beyond perhaps the resurgent play of Miikka Kiprusoff and the fending off of the Colorado Avalanche, there hasn't been a lot to be excited about recently. I still see way too many give-aways in the defensive and neutral zones for my liking. And, as mentioned, the Flames 5on5 play, which was an undisputed strength for the club back in November through January, has been shrug-worthy or worse in March. Only a determined Kristian Huselius and a continually improving PP have kept the Flames from Columbus Blue Jacket like levels of offensive impotence this month. Jarome Iginla and Craig Conroy have struggled to find consistency (particularly the former), Lombardi has been relegated to 4th line duty, Langkow has cooled off and Tony Amonte has been an absolute anchor on the 2nd unit in relief of the injured David Moss.

My point here is, the Flames haven't improved all that much over the lackluster play that punctuated their previous losing streak. Miikka has stepped things up and Calgary's getting a few more bounces, but that's about it. What's especially distressing, I think, is the disappearance of the Captain at such a critical juncture of the season (2 shots on net - none in regulation time - 0 hits in 22 minutes of play last game). Assuming, of course, he isn't playing through some debilitating injury, it makes me wonder how Jarome could be so, completely..."meh" during a fierce struggle for a play-off spot. At times, he's looked about as interested in playing hockey as Oilers fans are in watching it these days. At others, he's looked like a guy who knows he should be fired up and motivated, but can't quite bring himself to believe it.

It's impossible to pinpoint the cause of these problems, of course, but it's fairly obvious to me that Iggy is struggling, for one reason or another. And in order for the Flames to start scoring decisive victories, now and in the post-season, they're going to need him to re-discover the form he showed back in the first half of the year. A strong PP is nice, but I was far more comfortable with the Flames when they were the best ES team in the league. Now that Miikka and the defensive game seem to be coming back around (right?), the Flames just need the big guns to start scoring again. When - or if - they do, I'll take a bit more pleasure in the winning streaks.

Calgary @ Minny Preview

The Flames have slain a few dragons recently in their quest to stay afloat in the WC play-off picture. A couple extra-time victories, the defeat of the usually Flame-retardent Nashville Predators, etc.

Tonight they meet an equally daunting opponent in the Minnesota Wild. Winners of 9 straight, the Wild (along the Canucks and, somehow, the Avalanche) have been one of the NHL's hottest teams in the last 2 months. Since February 3rd, Minny has lost only 3 games in regulation and 3 more in overtime or shoot-outs. That's an 18-3-3 record for those of you counting. During that impressive run, the Wild's GD has ballooned to an impressive +34, driven mainly by their usual strong defensive acumen (177 GA, #1 in the league) as well as a healthy and scoring Marian Gaborik. For his part, Gaborik has been positively December-version-Iginla-like in the second half of the season, particularly over the last month. During March, Gabbers has gathered 8 goals and 17 points (and a +14 rating!) in just 12 games. Scary.

Course, the real reason the Wild are a true threat these days is because they're not just a one trick pony anymore. "Trap and hope" is no longer their forte (though the trap part hasn't been lost). After Gaborik, Minnesota has a strong compliment of secondary firepower, including Pavol Demitra (25 goals, 64 points), Brian Rolston (31 goals, 62 points), PM Bouchard (19 goals, 55 points) and the emergent Mikko Koivu (19 goals, 51 points). Top it all off with the near Kiprusoffian-revelation that is Niklas Backstrom (who has allowed no more than 2 GA in his last 5 starts) in net and it's plain to see there are no easy points to be had this evening. And I haven't even mentioned the intractable will standing behind the bench directing it all...

Going into the season, I was most worried about the Wild in terms of NW Division opponents. They seemed to be pretty good at almost everything last season even though they failed to make the play-offs. After adding a couple of key pieces (Demitra, Johnsson, Parrish) in the off-season, the Wild appeared, to me at least, to be on the brink of a break-out year. Course, by December I'd thought perhaps I'd overestimated Minnesota, but in the face of their second half tear, it's hard not to take them very, very seriously. Even in light of the fact they gather so many victories through OT and the S/O. Consider that they have a top 10 PP, the 2nd best PK and have allowed the 6th least amount of GA at ES.

So given that the Wild might currently be the best team in the NW Division (if not the league) and that Gaborik is probably one of the hottest players, my true fears for this evening center around the wily Lemaire finding ways to get the Walz/Gaborik/Demitra line out against the Flames lesser lights (Warrener/Hale - Lombo/Primeau/Ritchie) as often as possible. I would expect Playfair will have to shelter that 4th line quite a bit seeing as Rolston's line will also be pretty dangerous. Im guessing Lombardi and company will end up with 8 minutes of ice or less by the end of the night (depending on special teams work). Although, considering the ineffective manner in which Iginla's been operating at ES lately, Lemaire could probably go power vs. power this evening as far as line matching goes and still come out on top. Blech.

As I said, no easy points tonight. If Kipper lets another early stinker by or if the defensive zone coverage in any way resembles prior road trips, the Flames will no doubt end up on the losing end. As it is, I think I'll predict an OT loss.

Flames 2, Wild 3. Langkow and Friesen for Calgary. Gaborik, Koivu and Rolston for Minnesota. One point's better than nothing, right?

GO FLAMES!

Many Happy Returns

Felled by a formidable stomach virus, I'd been reduced to projectile vomiting and pitiful moans starting Wednesday afternoon stretching well into Saturday. Thus my absence. I would like to take this opportunity, however, to sarcastically commend my blogmates for keeping this space fresh and witty while I was waylaid (big ol' raspberry to YOU guys).

At least I can be thankful the Flames started winning in concurrence with my invalidity. I was able to take in all 3 contests, though the Preds game in particular was not observed without a degree of discomfort. Being still feverish and wholly dependent upon fluids for sustenance, you can well imagine I mistrusted my senses at first blush when I witnessed Rhett Warrener score the OT goal on Thursday night. Even to an able and sober man, I'm sure that particular victory seemed somewhat unreal thanks to the confluence of unlikely events that conspired to produce it. Not only did the Flames defeat the Nashville Predators (the victors previously in damn near every other contest between the two clubs), but they did so in overtime (an event almost as rare) thanks to a goal-mouth tap in by Rhett "full body injury" Warrener (a wholly unique occurrence). I've been tough on Warrener this year and will probably continue to be so (in fact, he was probably the cause of the 2 Predators goals against that night), but watching him leap around excitedly after the puck trickled past Mason sure did bring a big smile to my face. Not just because I knew the extra point was invaluable to the Flames, but because his near-childish excitement at actually scoring was infectious.

I was a closer approximation to normal during the Hawks game yesterday so there was no need to mistrust my senses. Although, considering it's hideous quality, I would have liked to attribute the first Hawks goal - Vrbata's prayer from the side of th net - to a trick of my digestion. Alas, as real as Warrener's game winner and nowhere near as fun. Another stinker allowed on the road by Kipper. I was heartened, however, by the fact the Flames did seem to be outchancing the Hawks pretty substantially AND that one of the better Calgary forward units seemed to be the Friesen-Yelle-Nilson combination. Having a capable 3rd line is not insignificant, especially on the road where opposition coaches can probe for weaknesses through last change. I would have been satisfied with the Yelle line even if they hadn't scored the tying goal; their tenacious board-work and penchant for boxing the Hawk's in their own zone was contribution enough. That they managed to mar the scoresheet was a bonus in terms of expected performance outcomes. Especially since I had basically written off two of the three members of the unit (Nilson and Friesen) as basically useless.

Up until very recently, Marcus Nilson was looking like the most expendable player on the team thanks to his tentative physical play, lack of mobility and general inability to get anything of note accomplished. I don't know if this recent spate of competent play is some fluke aberration or a long-awaited return to form. Nilson had been a celebrated bottom-six player on the Flames up until his season ending knee injury last year against Dallas. Since his rehab and subsequent re-insertion into the line-up he'd invariably appeared equal parts slow, confused and passive. His defensive presence was sub-par and his offensive contributions, which were infrequent to begin with, sank to non-existent. In fact, He'd almost completely convinced me he was Prust-replaceable (to coin a phrase). But, should this newly minted synergy between Yelle and co. hold, perhaps Nilson can reclaim a degree of his former shut-down glory and therefore delay abdicating his roster spot to a cheap youngster.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

How supremely ironic is it that Joffrey Lupul was the one to score the game-tying goal for the Oilers against Colorado last week? Thanks Joffrey! You are quickly becoming my favorite Oiler.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jarome Iginla looks like crap out there right now. Crap. By my eyes, Iginla hasn't been driving the results on the top unit for awhile now - in fact, the most effective forward in the top 6 for the Flames is probably Kristian Huselius, followed closely by Alex Tanguay and Damond Langkow. Iginla, however, has been relatively slow, weak on the puck and unable to take advantage of scoring chances. In his last 8 games, going back to March 10, Iggy has 1 goal and is a minus player, despite averaging over 20 minutes of ice per match. In contrast to earlier in the season, when Iginla and whoever he was playing with were eating any and all opposition for breakfast at ES, the current #1 combo looks downright bland. For his part, Iginla only has 3 ES points during that aforementioned 8 game stretch - none of them goals. Assuming 15 minutes of ES ice per night (it's probably a tad higher), that works out to a figure of 1.5 ESP/60 - hardly elite efficiency and well below his seasonal rate prior to March (approx. 3.5/60). The sample size is small but the resultant number still points convincingly to the "Jarome hasn't been all that good lately" conclusion.

His last Iginla-like performance was, as far as I can recall, the 6-3 loss to Nashville back at the start of the month. He scored two of the Flames goals, the first of which was one of those "how did he DO that?" types. Since then, he's looked bored or frustrated or injured or something. It's no coincidence that the Flames lost to Tampa Bay, Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota and only managed to eke out 1 goal wins versus St. Louis, Detroit, Nashville and Chicago during that stretch. When your top line/best forward are basically toothless at ES, convincing wins are typically hard to come by.

The good news, is, of course we know that he can do better. The bad news is, we don't have any idea what's causing his current struggles. Which also means we have no idea when we can expect him to return to form...

Crossroads

Is it okay to be frightened of the game tonight?

I mean, I think I could be witnessing one of the final nails in the coffin when the Flames take on the Red Wings tonight. Perhaps "dread" is the more appropriate term. Like the way you'd feel if you were asked by police to confirm the identity of body. Ugh.

Both Matt and Tyler have posts pointing out that the Flames now-precarious position in the standings is a bit of an illusion thanks to the current scoring system in the NHL. While their (valid) points take the edge off a little, I know I won't be able to take solace in point-system cynicism should Calgary manage to bow-out of the play-off picture prematurely come April. I think it'll be the road record, rather than the League's preponderance of 3 point games, that'll gall me till the start of the new season anyways.

With all that said, a faint hope still glimmers amidst the gloom. If the Flames can somehow gather 3 or 4 points from these next 2 contests I think they'll have a fighting chance. If not...bye bye Playfair, hello golf course!

Wings - 4, Calgary - 3. Juice, Iginla and Stuart for Calgary. Datsyuk (2), Lidstrom, Calder for Detroit (Yup, I'm finally predicting a loss).

Feeling of Impending Doom

Despite being within arms length of spring, the weather in Calgary is decidedly frigid today. A solid bank of flat gray clouds hangs heavy over the city as I type this and the wind has a biting, icy character to it.

Like the barren, winter environs that echoed the protaganists angst in Ethan Frome, the climate in town is appropriately synchronized with the pain and frustration of the Calgary Flames and their frustrated fans. And now, despite being within arms reach of the play-offs, the Flames are decidedly frosty with no end to the cold spell in sight.

Only 3 weeks ago, Calgary was still in contention for the NW division title, despite a lackluster showing in February. The road record was more an oddity than a concern and the Avalanche were a mere speck in the rear-view mirror. Fast forward 10 games and the Division is out of reach and the play-offs are suddenly in question. The garbage road efforts have inexplicably made their way into the Saddledome. The defensive zone coverage has gone from bad to worse with only a handful of contests remaining in the season. And now, with the team apparently in shambles, the Flames face the best opposition the Western Conference has to offer in a series that may well determine their fate. If they should manage to lose to both Detroit and Nashville (not a big if), the Flames could conceivably eat up the remainder of their cushion over the Avs, meaning they will be left with the daunting task of chasing the 8th seed in the last 8 contests of the year, many of which are on the road.

I'd like to say that such a catastrophe would likely reawaken this slumbering roster, but I don't think that's likely anymore. In the face of mounting pressure during March, the Flames have gotten progressively worse rather than better. As a whole, the club looks equal parts stupid and lazy most of the time. The big names on the team - Iginla, Kiprusoff - have settled into mediocrity during this string of futility, while most of the other "usual suspects" have sucked as per usual (Amonte, Nilson, etc). With the exception of the odd burst of brilliance from the likes of Juice or Tanguay, this team's pulse has barely stirred above "sluggish", despite the increasing significance of the games. With first the division title and now the post-season on the line, there can't be a greater indictment of this squad - and primarily the guy behind the bench - than the consistent and total lack of identifiable urgency in their game. Gone are the days when you could count on the Flames winning a majority of the battles on the boards. Gone is the high tempo forecheck. Gone is the competent d-zone box-out; the impenetrable middle of the ice past the Flames blueline. In their place we have numerous, unforced turn-overs, shoddy neutral zone work and a unwieldy hybrid of limp puck pursuit and puck possession in the offensive zone. Consider that there's only 9 games left in the 06/07 regular season when you watch Robyn Regehr or Roman Hamrlik whack at the puck in panicked fashion in their own end tomorrow night. Realize that it looks curiously like these seasoned, talented hockey players, who are more than 3/4 the way through the year, still don't seem sure of what they're doing. That is, to point out the staggeringly obvious, NOT GOOD.

I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel on this year, but I'm steadily approaching that level of apathy. As I've mentioned in other posts, it's not just that the Flames are losing that is depressing my aspirations for their continued success. It's the manner in which they're losing. Bad streaks happen during the season to the best of teams - sometimes it's due to injury, sometimes it's due to external circumstances like bounces or officiating and sometimes it's a natural regression after riding a high. Were the Flames playing competent hockey and simply victims of one of the aforementioned, I would be a tad more optimistic. But, with the road record now nearing laughable levels of ineptitude and shoddy, uninspired play infecting almost every area of the ice, I'm resigned to the fact that there is something fundamentally, systemically amiss with the Calgary Flames. With the team poised to implode in spectacular Vancouverian fashion, I think it's time to start expecting Playfair's demise as more "probable" than simply "possible". With the exception of an impressive turn-around and a deep run into the post-season, I think it resonable to suspect Nervous Jimmy will be removed from his post as late as this summer - and possibly earlier should the current situation grow even more dire. With potentially millions of post-season dollars on the line and the most expensive roster this Franchise has ever assembled, Sutter's hand will be forced if Calgary falls behind Colorado this week.

And, make no mistake about it, Playfair will not be undeserving of his fate should this post turn prophecy.

Ripples

No less than a day after my "condemnation of Playfair" post, the local media has taken the story and run with it.

Jim Playfair stands in the dock. Accused. In point of fact, he's been there all season. But only now does he hear the charges every time he turns on the radio. Or channel surfs on the TV. Or, bad idea, lets curiosity get the better of him and joins a Calgary Flames Internet chat room.

He's lost his players.

He's lost his grip.

Says George Johnson in the Calgary Herald. Johnson's is basically a fluff piece, supporting Playfair and admonishing those who are starting to think a change at the helm is in order. He admits the team has fallen below expectations, but posits that Playfair should be judged on the entire season (play-offs included) before being shown the noose. Fair enough.

(You'll notice, Walkinvisible, that Johnson also uses the term "farcical", albeit not in the same context)

At a time when serious Stanley Cup contenders are ramping up their play for a final push into the post-season, the Flames' play continues to belie the incredible talent on their roster.

Echoing some of my own thoughts from yesterday, everyone's favorite local Chicken Little, Eric Francis, pretty much just points out the obvious shortcomings of the team in his column and ends by merely implying that firing Playfair is the answer:

Despite the brilliant roster Darryl Sutter has assembled, the Flames are falling apart at the seams at the worst possible time.

The time is now to reverse that trend.

Or else...

Between the two, I'm actually with Johnson. Emotionally, I'm Francis frustrated, but Playfair does deserve at least a full season to prove he can get the job done.

The Sun also ran a "consensus" piece, detailing some fan reaction as well as Sportak's column, which contains the predictible "players protecting the coach" stuff -

"It's not the coaching," Warrener said after receiving medical treatment at the Saddledome yesterday.

"It has nothing to do with coaching, it has nothing to do with a bad dressing room."

Centre Craig Conroy said Playfair's done his job of preparing the team and drawing up the gameplan, so it's up to them to follow the design and make it work.

"I definitely don't think it's a coaching situation. The way we prepare, the way we do things, it's the execution on the ice when we make those mistakes," Conroy said.

"I think everybody's behind Jimmy. That's not an issue. It's the guys in that room, we've got to do it."

Pretty standard stuff. I don't want to say outright that the players are being disingenuous, but frankly, even if there were dressing room/coach issues, there's little chance they'd tell the press about it.

For proof of this lack of candor, check out this doozy from Sportak's piece:

Asked if he still believes his message to the players is getting through and whether they're responding, Playfair tersely and succinctly replied: "Absolutely." (emphasis mine).

Really Jim? Because if you actually believe that, this team is in more trouble than I thought.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

"The most important thing this time of year is winning," said the Flames skipper. "That's the bottom line."
- Jim Playfair, Calgary Herald

You said it, Jim. Winning - that's the bottom line.

And your team isn't winning.

It's dropping the ball at a critical point in the season. Falling further and further from the NW Division title and deeper and deeper into the bottom of the Western Conference play-off race.

It hasn't won on the road all year. How does a roster armed with a Vezina winning goaltender and probably the strongest line-up of the past decade manage the second-worst road record in the league?

Baffling roster decisions (Lombardi benching, continued use of Amonte, playing an ineffective and injured Rhett Warrener), continued garbage efforts on the road, poor decision making (why is Amonte the player of choice when the Flames are trying to come from behind late in the 3rd period?) not to mention the overall and undeniable under-achievement of this club...guess what that spells?

Look Jim. I'm glad you got the team scoring. That's great. But really, in the process, you've managed to convert many our of our biggest strengths into our most glaring weaknesses. The defensive coverage is bordering on farcical. The PK has been an eyesore all year. We haven't beaten a quality opponent on the road since November. On the offense side, you've had the benefit of bounce-back seasons from Jarome and Lombo, as well as the arrival of Tanguay and the emergence of Huselius and Langkow. I therefore don't honestly know how much of the scoring increase you can actually take credit for. Some of it may be your coaching. But I'm starting to suspect there's a "confluence of circumstances" type thing going on here that may well have happened under just about anyone...

----------------------------------------------------------

It's not just that the Flames continue to lose on the road. It's not just that this is a critical point in the year and Calgary's coming up empty. It's the manner in which it's occurring that is perhaps most distressing. It wasn't unfortunate bounces or a ridiculously hot goalie that beat them in Denver recently - it was the fact that they were vastly and thoroughly outplayed. Outplayed by a division opponent 10 points back amidst a fight for vital play-off position. While their closest rivals kick ass and take names, the Flames put up a limp-wristed 19-42 shot performance. Directly on the heels of pitiful showing against the Blues at home, I might add. Yeah, they won that game - by the skin of their teeth against a gutted team playing for pride. In fact, the victory over the Blues actually reinforced many of my misgivings regarding this club. That St. Louis seemed to be both the hungrier and smarter team was perhaps the greatest indictment of all.

----------------------------------------------------------

Of course, it's too early to definitively declare Playfair's regime officially over. He has the tail-end of the regular season and the play-offs to prove himself capable of captaining a winner. But, boy oh boy, have my expectations of that actually happening ever hit rock bottom. The team's penchant for baffling defensive zone gaffes has been building since late January without much sign of abatement. Despite boasting an embarrassment of riches on the blueline, Calgary has the worst GA stat of any WC team in play-off position. And now, during perhaps the most important portion of the regular season, while Vancouver and Minnesota continue to gather points in the extra frame, the Flames are laying eggs left and right. Passionless, mistake-filled eggs. The road record, the dwindling chance at the NW division title, the continued mediocrity despite the roster...

At some point, the blame has to fall to the guy behind the bench. Winning is the bottom line. And you can't fire the whole team.

Random Flames Picture of the Day

Thoughts and Blues Pregame

The dearth of meaningful analysis 'round these parts has a simple explanation: I'm lazy. Anyways, I think you all enjoyed the bizarre Lombo/seal comparison so I'm not going to apologize.

With the play-off race basically set in the West and the dream of a NW Division title growing dimmer and dimmer, the Flames are left with merely jockeying for position.

Though "merely" is probably the wrong way to describe this final goal. As it stands now, the eighth place Flames are in line to meet the first place Nashville Predators in the first round. And, as any Flames fan knows, the Predators are, without a doubt, the very worst opponent for Calgary to meet in the post-season. As Matt pointed out recently, the last Flames goaltender to beat them was Roman Turek...

"Do you know what nemesis means?"

Not to mention the fact that 8th place in the WC can only be considered underachievement by this roster. Considering that at least 4 forwards are experiencing career-year-type offensive production (Iginla, Langkow, Lombardi, Huselius) and the team is a net +39 in terms of GD, one can't help but look at where the Flames are in the standings and scratch his/her head. The first place Canucks, for instance, have a GD of +11 and even that's only thanks to a stellar 2nd half (ie; amazing goaltending since January). The Wild, who are slightly ahead of Calgary at this point, own a marginally more impressive +22 GD. The point here is, the Flames two main NWD rivals, and superiors standings-wise as of right now, lag significantly behind them in the stat that is the single best predictor of success. What's that spell? U-N-D-E-R-A-C-H...well, you get the idea.

Obviously, the baffling road record and inability to close in the extra frame(s) are the primary sources of the UA. The causes of these issues are harder to pinpoint, however. Good blueline, great goalie, effective offensive talent. The Flames should be gold in OT - or at least better than a coin toss, rather than the 2/12 they currently are. As for the road thing...I've decided to let that go. It is the Chupacabra, the Loch Ness Monster, the Bermuda Triangle of the Calgary Flames this season. Hoping it doesn't continue into the play-offs (and next year) is all we have left on that front.

Tonight, the surprisingly decent St. Louis Blues come to town. With the Wild hovering 3 points up, the Flames need to claim victory this evening and inch farther away from the dreaded 8th place seeding. The Blues have recently been gutted, have nothing to play for and are a full 14 points behind Calgary in the standings. "Should wins"="must wins" at this point of the season. Calgary can ill-afford to piss away valuable points to opponents who are simply playing out the stretch.

With that said, I think the boys get the job done tonight. Time to start yet another home winning streak. Flames 4, Blues 1. Huselius (2), Tanguay and Stuart for Calgary. The irrepressible Lee Stempniak for St. Loo.

GO FLAMES!

EDIT - Talk is, Lombo will be playing between Iggy and Tanguay in place of the injured Conroy. Give 'em hell Seal-Boy!

Ultimatums

To Jim Playfair -

Dress Lombardi tonight or I will club this baby-faced seal:


To the Flames -


Win tonight or I will club this baby-faced Lombardi:


That is all.

I've Heard This Tune Before

"Wasted away again in Toothless Bubbaville..."

Flames @ Nashville Pregame

Nothing to say here that hasn't already been said. The Flames can prove themselves contenders with a win tonight or pretenders with a loss.

In contention this evening is not merely whether the Flames can beat a quality opponent in the Preds. It has more to do whether they can make this new, winning road persona stick when the going gets tough - the result will give us some indication of their chances in the post-season. If Calgary can play convincingly well for most of the game, then great. Win, even better. Get hammered again, well...I would think that sort of outcome would plunge the boys right back into "sucksville" on the road, meaning they would not win the NW Division, meaning they would lose home-ice advantage in the play-offs. Meaning they would most likely have a short-lived stint before retiring to green fairways for the summer.

The Preds have been good for a long time. However, a lot of their current games have gone into extra-time and shoot-outs. Premonition of a slump, perhaps? Okay, I'm grasping at straws, but I need something to cling to. At least Sullivan and Forsberg are injured, though.

Call me crazy, but I think we take this one 4-3. Iggy (2), Lombardi (1) and Huselius (1) for Calgary. Kariya, Fiddler and Erat for Nashville.

GO FLAMES!

Flames Prospect Update

With things trucking along fairly well with the big club, I figured it'd be a good time to take a closer look at some of the Flames prospects that are separating themselves from the pack.

Jusso Puustinen - 5th round pick, 06 draft:
I've kept my eye on the young Finn with the suggestive name since he was picked up in the WHL entry draft by the Kamloops Blazers. As the season has progressed, I've been fairly impressed with his production, numbers-wise. And it seems Im not the only one who's noticed.

The Fox sports article is interesting on a number of levels. Of course, it covers the obvious stuff - that Puustinen is the 4th best rookie scorer in the dub and has garnered an impressive +24 rating thus far this year. Good to know.

What's perhaps more attention getting is some of the qualitative stuff that's mentioned. For example, Jusso seems to be the polar opposite of most european imports in that he actually prefers the North American style of hockey:

"Guys (in Finland) are smaller so they don't know how to keep their head up," Puustinen said (about his 10 game suspension in the Finnish Junior League).

"Here is more straight to the net and hard-hitting," he said. "In Europe it's just drop, drop, drop, pass, pass, pass. Here you can play much tougher. It's how it's supposed to be."

This is the kind of stuff I like to hear from prospects. Especially when the attitude is backed by relatively impressive stats like Puustinen's. No doubt a measure of his sudden success in the dub can be attributed in no small part to his eagerness to battle for ice. Also, as a result of his speedy acclimation, Jusso has been skating on a line with the Blazers top point getter, Brock Nixon, a late bloomer who is currently 7th overall in WHL scoring.

As an added bonus, the kid sounds like a bit of a weird, Nieminen-style jester. When his affinity for listening to Tu-pac was mentioned during the interview he apparently threw in, casually, "he's not alive, you know." Add in the fact that he likes to play something called "swamp soccer" in the summer, and it looks like the Flames have another droll, oddball Finn on their hands. I bet he'd get along well with Kipper.

Curtis McElhinney - 6th round pick - 02 draft:

McElhinney has taken the reigns from Brent Krahn in Omaha and become the Knight's undisputed #1 netminder this year. He currently sits 4th in the AHL in terms of GAA, 8th in SV% and 3rd in wins. He was named the AHL's player of the week on December 10th thanks to a pair of top notch performances, including a shut-out/shout-out victory over the Houston Aeros. He has 6 donuts to his credit so far this year and (most significantly for Flames fans) only 1 S/O loss. He was also named to the Canadian AHL all-star team.

Not bad for a 6th rounder. Especially one who was fighting the odds with former first round pick Brent Krahn having the organizational inside track. However, inconsistency and injuries have plagued Krahn since he was chosen back in 2000 (I think), leaving the door open for McElhinney. Looks like he's stepping through.

If his strong play continues to the end of the season and, hopefully, a play-off run, one can reasonably expect Curtis to usurp McLennan's position behind Kipper next year.

Andrei Taratukhin - 2nd round pick, 2001:

"Touque" had a rough start to the season for the Knights. Although older and more experienced, he seemed to have some trouble adapting to life in North America. Course, that can happen when you're transplanted to a new town, surrounded by strangers that don't speak your language all while leaving a wife and child behind you in the old country.

By all accounts, however, Taratukhin has turned things around. After garnering only 2 goals and 11 points in his first 21 games, Andrei went on a tear in December and January, piling up 10 goals and 25 points in his next 24 contests.

According to unofficial reports by those who watch Knights hockey, Taratukhin has grown to become the best forward on the team over the course of the season. He has excellent vision and displays good hockey sense at both ends of the rink. Expectations are he will make a hard push to join the big club next year.

David Van Der Gulik - 7th round pick, 2002:

The Boston College product is starting to make waves at the AHL level thanks to his PK and defensive acumen. He is far and away the Knights +/- leader (+19, followed by Richie Regehr at +16 and then a couple of other guys at +4) and apparently has the highest quotient of tenacity and brains on the team. He was also a leader and point getter at the collegiate level, a career that was somewhat besmirched by injury which is potentially the reason he fell so far in the draft. He's not the biggest guy, but then again, neither is Stephane Yelle. Have the Flames stumpled upon Sandpaper's heir apparent?


Daniel Ryder - 3rd round pick, 05 draft:

Ryder started the season on a high note. He was literally ripping the league a new one and was amongst the top scorers in the OHL for several weeks. Unfortunately 20-odd games into the season, Ryder was handed a lengthy suspension for placing a hand on an official (10 games - the penalty is an automatic one in the OHL). Shortly thereafter, he was traded from the Peterborough Petes to the Plymouth Whalers (for another Flames draft pick, John Armstron, oddly) and he hasn't been as strong since. In 29 games with the Petes, Ryder scored 59 points - a 2.03 PPG pace. Since being traded, he's "only" managed to gather 29 points in 23 games (1.23 PPG) with the Whalers. As a result, he has dropped down to 15th in OHL scoring.

It's hard to what to make of Ryder's season. He was the Pete's leading scorer and one of their undisputed leaders before the suspension and then was suddenly expendable enough to trade. With the Whalers, his point production has fallen well off his earlier pace which may be an effect of natural regression, worse teammates, a different coach, the emotional disturbance of being traded or (likely) a combination of the above factors. He's still in line to improve upon his prior numbers, despite missing 10 games, but the enthusiasm with which I greeted his early season success has been tempered somewhat. I still look forward to seeing him on the farm next year, however.

Leland Irving - 1st round pick, 06 draft:

"Napolean Dynamite", as he has been dubbed in some circles, is tearing it up in the WHL this season. As the starting tender for the Everett Silvertips, Irving has played 45 games, winning 32 them, 9 of which were shut-outs. He owns the 3rd best GAA in the league (1.98), as well as the best SV% (0.927). He was also selected for the Canadian Junior team this past January, although he was relegated to the back-up position behind Montreal's prospect, Carey Price.

I was able to take in some of the Canadian Junior action here in Calgary before they played in the Championships and I was relatively impressed with Irving's play. He seemed technically sound, but was able to make the odd reflex/reactionary save as well.

No doubt some of Irving's numbers are confounded by the old "great team, great goaltender stats" caveat this season. With the year winding down, the Silvertips are tops in the WHL with 107 points. They have a winning percentage of .799 and a GD of +98 (!). Clearly, Irving has the advantage of playing with the cream of the crop. While it remains to be seen if he can excel outside of the sheltering confines of a powerhouse squad, one can't help but be encouraged by his success nonetheless.

Projecting the future exploits of prospects is a tough game. That said, I can't remember the last time I was this excited by so many youngsters in the Flames system before. With the (admittedly unexpected) success of David Moss and Mark Giordano this year (which has a lot to do with Calgary having their own farm team methinks) I am becoming more and more convinced that the Flames will be a competitive Franchise not only now, but for years to come.

Getting Better...

A come from behind victory on the road? Surely this is an 06/07 first. Especially considering it was a 2 goal deficit...

last night's effort was an even closer approximation to the "Home Flames" than Saturday's victory over the Oil. Despite being down 2-0 after 1, I thought Calgary was very obviously the superior team on the ice. Fortunately, unlike previous performances, the Flames actually continued to be the better team for a majority of the game (thus the win). By the middle of the second period, Calgary had outshot the Blues 18-8 and had outchanced them 8-4, but were losing 2-0. At that point, I was buoyed by their de facto dominance of the game. However, with the preponderance of missed break-aways, great Sanford saves and improbable goalposts, I'd begun to worry that the lack of scoring success would lead to frustration.

Thankfully, the big boys actually got better as the game wore on. By the third, one could almost sense Jarome Iginla willing the team to victory. I mean - how many Blues players did he beat to get Conroy the puck on Calgary's 4th goal?

Matt's post on Alex Tanguay from yesterday couldn't be more apropos in light of last night's events. Tangs broke the seal with a slick PP marker at the end of the second and set the stage for the Flames comeback. His was the feed that set-up Conroy's game tying goal as well. Speaking of Conroy, I was privately starting to wonder if he was perhaps "unfit" to play on the first line thanks to his recent string of futility (0 goals in 7 games). Good to see him have a solid outing on the scoresheet.

What will be overlooked in the wake of the victory is the fact that Langkow, Huselius and Moss dominated the Blues in the first period. The trio generated several glorious scoring chances and often spent entire shifts making the St. Louis defenders look silly in their own end. No points for the 2nd line last night, but I don't mind as much when they so clearly beat up on the opposition like that.

Matthew Lombardi with an ugly outing, although he wasn't given much of a chance to redeem himself during the contest. He lost his check on the first Blues goal and then took a penalty shortly thereafter. As a result, he sat nearly the rest of the game and played the least amount at ES of any Flames forward (3:14). His total icetime came to a McCarty-like 5:58. On a semi-related note, Rhett Warrener was a minus player in another 4-2 victory. Despite being a 3rd pairing, 12 minute defenseman against a less than fearful foe. I know Lombardi doesn't have the tenure than Warrener does, but the vast difference in which these 2 players in particular are handled on the Flames kind of annoys me. Warrener can bugger play after play and yet there he is, back on the ice, shift after shift, game after game. Nevermind that the Flames now have 2 capable replacements for the (probably?) injured warrior. And nevermind that if either of them (or Zyuzin for that matter) caused the problems that Warrener all too frequently creates they would get benched and sat in an instant.

Could it be a gap in ability versus effort that Playfair sees here? I suppose sitting Warrener isn't likely to teach him anything and I'm guessing, despite evidence to the contrary, that he's actually giving it his all when he's on the ice. We all know Lombo can be a significant contributor when he's focused and skating well, but largely invisible when the opposite is true. It's possible this benching business is a motivating tactic, one which would be wasted on Warrener since he needs no motivation (I guess). Still, theories aside, I would prefer to see the likes of Giordano and or/Hale against Nashville on Thursday. With his skills starting to wane ever faster, I think Rhett will get eaten alive by the swift and shifty Predator forwards, no matter how motivated, how wily, how experienced he is. Gio may not be a master at reading the play just yet, but at least he can physically keep up with it.

Course, knowing the way coaches work, I wouldn't bet on any substitutions against the Preds. The rule of thumb is: "stick with what won you the last game". As such, you can expect to see Martin Erat and Paul Kariya effortlessly beating Warrener to the outside Thursday night and another negative digit beside his name Friday morning.

How good are Primeau and Stuart starting to look in Flames colors? Primeau was a fluke bounce away from his second 2 goal performance for Calgary. And, while he didn't get much icetime (8+ minutes), he did manage to score the gamewinner. Short-handed no less. For his part, Stuart is starting to look pretty comfortable out there with Reggie. He laid down the biggest hit of the evening and was a plus player for the 6th straight game. In fact, since coming to the Flames, Stuart has whittled his previous-team worst -22 down to a -13. Good news.

I was reluctant to get excited about Calgary's road victory over Edmonton. The Flames won, but didn't dominate. The win over St. Louis, however, seems to signal a truer shift in their fortunes and collective mindset. It was encouraging to see the road Flames resolutely claw their way to victory rather than find a way to lose, which, up until now, had been the norm. The upcoming game in Nashville will be the litmus test of "the new" road Flames, however. All the groundwork being laid in the last 5 contests could be destroyed in a night should Calgary get beat up by the Preds again. A win is not absolutely necessary - though it would be nice - but at least a chance to win is.

More and Better, Please

Since my feverish delight in Oiler fan pain has steadily dissolved into a kind of pity, Saturday night's win was more about addressing Calgary Flames issues than simply handing the Greasers another loss. Now that the Oil are plumbing the depths with the WC also-rans, beating up on them became less a motivating factor in and of itself.

So while winning the Battle of Alberta for a 3rd straight season was great, HNIC was more about winning on the road and staying in the hunt for the NWD title for the Flames. The 4-2 victory was certainly a step in the right direction, of course, but wasn't quite the domination I was hoping for. Edmonton was most certainly in the game until half way through the 3rd period, despite being a demoralized and injury riddled squad. How is it that Edmonton was allowed to hang around for so long?

Rhett Warrener and Andrea Zyuzin - I proposed somewhere earlier this year (possibly in comments on HG's blog) that whoever plays with Warrener seems to struggle. Low and behold, the Flames go on the road where the 3rd d-pairing can't be as sheltered and there's this two-some getting dominated all night. By the likes of MA Pouliot and Fernando Pisani to boot.

Although Calgary now has 2 healthy defensemen sitting on the sidelines (one of which I know to be a capable 6th guy in Giordano), Playfair continues to play the obviously hobbled Warrener. I say "obviously hobbled" only because it is my hopeful explanation for Rhett's continued inexorable spiral into utter uselessness. Course, it doesn't help his cause being paired with Andrea, who needs no excuse to suddenly and inexplicably suck on his own. After a couple of a decent performances at home, Zyuzin once again proved he's a fringe blueliner Saturday night: I mean, as he stepped up to make the ill-advised pinch that lead to the Pisani's second marker, I was heard to expostulate "What the hell is he doing? No need to pinch now!" Cue the inevitable resultant goal against. Hopefully this means one of (if not both) Giordano and Hale will draw in against the Blues.

Lackluster supporting cast - Anyone notice Lombardi on Saturday night? How about Tony Amonte? Wayne Primeau probably played his worst game as a Flame, capped by the brain fart that resulted in Sykora's break-away in the 3rd. Yelle scored, but wasn't much in evidence otherwise. If Calgary wants to continue to win on the road, especially against stiffer competition, they're going to need all hands on deck. Nashville is the last stop on this roadtrip and they have players that actually score when you send them in on clear-cut break-aways.

Not that it was all bad this weekend. Tanguay and Juice continued their strong play. Jarome got back on the scoresheet, although he still didn't look overly dominating. Kipper was excellent again, holding the fort with strong, timely saves in the 3rd that ultimately swung the game in the Flames favor. I also thought Brad Stuart put in another solid performance and was actually the better player of the Stuart/Regehr pairing. The Dion was good and bad all night, though his massive pasting of Toby Peterson near the end of the contest was something to behold.

Anyways, I'll take the win but remain dissatisfied with the road performance. The Flames will need to get gradually better on this trip if they want their success to continue. The Blues are another club playing for next year, but can probably be considered a superior team to Edmonton, currently. And then there's the dreaded Predators. Be sure that the latter will gladly eat our weaker links alive if they don't play with brains and urgency.

500

photo from EdmontonSun.com
Almost 500 Oiler fans have signed an online petition urging the Edmonton Oilers to bring Smyth back for the upcoming 07/08 season. You can read the story here courtesy of the Edmonton Sun.

As much as I liked Ryan Smyth and understand how the Oil faithful feel about him leaving to the NYI...I think they should move on. Smyth could have stayed an Oiler if he really wanted to. However in the end, him and the management couldn't agree and now he's gone. It's the harsh reality that the NHL is a business like any other professional sports team in this world.

Side note: Imagine wasting your time, effort and money to have a jersey made that says "Heart & Soul"... You would look like a total wussy wearing it!

Deadline Declarations and Denunciations

Now that the dust has settled on the trade deadline and Hell has officially frozen over, I figured I'd do my own official "Winners and Losers" analysis...

Winners:

Philadelphia Flyers - Holmgren's task was made easier by the fact that the Flyers were out of the play-off picture by December. This meant that auctioning off his attractive pending UFA assets was a no-brainer. That said, I think Homer did a bang-up job at acquiring quality return for said assets. He flipped a high risk rental player in Forsberg for a decent roster player (Upshall) a top-notch blueline prospect (Parent) and a first round pick.

The fresh new Flyers GM upped my respect for him even further shortly thereafter by turning Fred Meyer and a third round prospect into young up-and-comer and former first rounder Braydon Coburn. His decision to take on Zhitnik's bloated contract from the Islanders was a head-scratcher initially, but looks like a genius move in light of the fact he was able to swap him for Coburn. Slick.

Next, Holmgren managed to move struggling impending UFA Kyle Calder to Chicago for another young puck mover on the back-end, Lasse Kukkonen (and a 3rd round pick!). For those unfamiliar, Kukkonen is a smallish defenseman with some decent offensive skills. He was on pace to score 7 goals and 19 points in this his rookie season with a terrible Blackhawks squad. His +6 number is nothing to sneeze at either, considering the quality of his team this year.

To top it all off, Holmgren also landed #1 goaltender in waiting, Martin Biron, for a 2nd round pick. Another organizational fault addressed - one which the previous GM, Bobby Clarke, repeatedly failed at firming up during his entire tenure. All it cost the Flyers was a 2nd rounder thanks to Biron being in line for unrestricted free agency next year. The gamble here is a smart one however, since MB has been itching to be a go to guy for ages. Now the Flyers are giving him that chance. I'd bet anything he re-signs in Philly during the summer.

All told, the Flyers will be entering next season with a strong crop of young defensemen, which was previously an organizational weakness, and a competent goaltender (finally). In addition to Pitkanen, they now have Coburn, Parent and Kukkonen in the system. Not to mention the 2 first round picks (PHI, NSH) and 3 third round picks (PHI, NSH, VAN) they have in the '07 draft.

Good stuff. Now he just has to find a way to get rid of Esche and Hatcher...

St. Louis Blues - Another seller by default, the Blues flipped some old talent and re-stocked the cupboard. After harvesting a bunch of Carolina's future considerations a year earlier, the Blues managed to rape another SE play-off hopeful in Atlanta by dangling Keith Tkachuk. In exchange, the Thrashers sent over a 1st in '07, a 3rd in '07, a 2nd in '08 and a middling roster player in Glen Metropolit. Holy overpayment Batman! Tkachuk has all of 20 goals this season, has never won anything in the play-offs and is a year removed from being suspended at training camp for being grossly out of shape. And, oh yeah - he's UFA in the summer. No lube when it came to that deal.

St. Louis snagged another first rounder when they moved Guerin to the Sharks. They also received little known prospect Jay Barriball (?) and one of my personal favorite shit-disturbers, Ville Nieminen. This deal makes more sense from a Sharks perspective (relative to the Thrashers/Blues deal) because Guerin has played with Thornton before (rather successfully) and San Jose has more of a chance to make hay in the post-season.

(as an aside, how is it that the Skarks seemingly paid less for Guerin than the Thrashers did for Tkachuk? They're both UFA's next season and Guerin has 8 more goals so far this year)

Next, St. Louis flipped Dennis Wideman to Boston for Brad Boyes. While I think Wideman is an under-appreciated blueliner, it probably makes sense for the Blues to seek out young, skilled forwards since there is a marked paucity of quality forwards in the organization. The Blues have Jay McKee, Christian Backman, Eric Brewer, Bryce Salvador, Barrett Jackman and last year's #1 pick Eric Johnson on the back-end. Up front they have...uh...Doug Weight and Lee Stempniak and, er...Peter Cajanek. And now Brad Boyes (and Glen Metropolit/Ville Nieminen I suppose).

Altogether, the Blues walked away with a couple more roster players and a lot more draft picks. Next year, St. Louis has 7 or 8 picks in the first 4 rounds of the draft, including 3 first rounders, depending on a couple of conditions (Tkachuk re-signing in Atlanta I believe).

Whew. Look out for this team in a couple of years.

Washington Capitals - Another seller and another decent collection of returns. Flipping impending UFA Zednik for a 2nd rounder to NYI was pretty decent, mainly because the guy had managed all of 6 goals so far this year. Even Chris Clark has more than 20 on the Capitals. They also grabbed a 6th rounder in a deal with the Senators that included minor leaguers Lawrence Nicholat and Andy Hedlund. Next, The Caps garnered Buffalo's first round pick next year and decent up and comer Jiri Novotny for someone named "Helbling" and UFA to be Dainius Zubrus. They also managed to land a conditional pick in 08 from LA for Jamie Heward who was also going to bolt for the open skies come summer.

All told, Washington strengthened their position in the '07 draft significantly and now have 4 choices in the first 2 rounds (2 firsts, 2 seconds). They also added a big young, cheap centerman to the fold. Not too shabby at all.

Dallas Stars - Jockeying for position in the ever-tight Western Conference, the Stars managed to add a number of decent pieces in their bid to establish favorable play-off position.

First they claimed Ladislav Nagy from the Coyotes for 13th forward in Mathias Tjarnqvist and a 1st rounder. Nagy's a top-notch playmaker, though a little fragile, and should be a welcome addition to the goal-starved Dallas squad, assuming he remains healthy. Considering what other rentals went for at the deadline, seems like Dallas paid slightly below the going rate.

To replace Tjarnqvist (sort of) the Stars took Shane Endicott from Pittsburgh for "future considerations" (translation: a bag of pucks). Endicott is a big, strapping former 2nd round pick that actually put up decent numbers in the AHL last year, but has struggled with the big club this year. A good 0 risk/potential reward kind of deal.

Finally, Dallas buttressed an already strong back-end by engaging in a complicated deal that saw them get the Kings captain Mattias Norstrom. The cost was another first rounder (in 2008) as well as a somewhat competent blueliner of their own in Jaroslav Modry. In addition, the trade included 2 other Stars draft choices (2nd and 3rd in '07) and a minor leaguer named "Fransson" for the King's 3rd and 4th choices in the same year plus Konstantin Pushkarev. While that sounds like a lot, the difference between the Kings 3rd rounder and Stars 4th rounder, for instance, will probably be negligible considering the two teams draft positions. Further, the Stars most certainly got the 2 better actual players in the deal to boot. Norstrom will be able to do some of the heavy lifting during the play-offs, no doubt freeing up guys like Boucher and Zubov to concentrate more on PP duties. The 2008 first rounder might come back to haunt them if Turco shits the bed again come May, but that remains to be seen.

San Jose Sharks - By adding Rivet and Guerin at the deadline, San Jose addressed a need (experienced blueliner) and augmented a strength (offensive prowess). The cost for both was somewhat heavy (Gorges, 2 first round choices in '07 - their own+the Devils), but it's hard to blame them for trying to hit a home run this year. If Guerin becomes even more deadly on Thornton's wing (hard not to) and Rivet helps shore up a young blueline, the Sharks could be real contenders in the post-season.

Losers:

Atlanta Thrashers - Waddell was obviously in full-on panic mode. He grossly overpaid for just about every move he made. Firstly, swapping Coburn for Zhitnik is quite frankly a ridiculous move. Zhitnik is 34 and hasn't scored more than 5 goals since the 97/98 season. He's neither a dependable defensive stalwart nor an offensive threat these days. And the fact that he's going to cost Atlanta $2.7 Mm and $2.9Mm for the next 2 seasons is an added detriment. Terrible.

Course, it didn't stop there. The aforementioned overpayment for Keith Tkachuk should also be gag-inducing for Thrashers fans. Sure, they've needed a top line center for a long time, but 34 year-old never-do-well Keith Tkachuk? Hell, adding Yanic Perreault and Dainius Zubrus would have injected twice the amount of goals into the line-up and would have cost less than Tkachuk alone (in theory). Brutal.

Next, Waddell claimed the consistently mediocre Pascal Dupuis from the Rangers for last year's 16th overall pick Alex Bourrett. That's right - the Rangers got Dupuis from the Wild for 4th liner Adam Hall while the Thrashers got him from the Rangers for a top-notch prospect and former 1st round pick! And those two deals were made 3 weeks apart, so it's not like Dupuis suddenly improved. In-fucking-credible.

I also didn't think much of Belanger for Vishnevski trade, but that's way down on the crap-pile now...

I understand that Waddell basically has to make the play-offs this season in order to completely stave off fan apathy down in Atlanta. But, necessity shouldn't equate to complete stupidity like this. He surrendered a lot of good for a lot of mediocre. His club will paying for this orgy of inpetitude for years to come.

Phoenix Coyotes - So Barnett trades Georges Laraque - a relatively cheap forward whom he gave a 2 year contract to in the summer and a NTC - for a bag of pucks, but keeps pending UFA's Roenick, Nolan and Kevyn Adams? Why didn't he deal Curtis Joseph for that matter? Surely a contender like Buffalo, who is suddenly lacking a competent back-up, would have offered up something for him? He also dealt his top +/- player in Oleg Saprykin for a 2nd rounder in a weak draft year - despite the fact that Sappy is merely a RFA (rather than UFA) next season. At this point, one would think that Saprykin, as crappy as he is, is more valuable to the Phoenix organization than a single, 2nd round pick. Course, "one would think" is the operative phrase here.

Phoenix did manage to get some return for Ladislav Nagy, although Tjarnqvist+a first seems somewhat paltry considering what the Blues got for Guerin and Tkachuk and Washington what got for Zubrus. Barnett also rid the Coyotes of UFA to be Perrault, albeit for little more than a potential 4th line forward a 3rd round draft pick. Clearly he never offered him to Waddell.

While other sellers were getting the job done at the deadline, there's Barnett, bumbling along in that perpetually confused daze of his. How can Gretz stand around and watch this guy guide the Coyotes into the ground like this?

Montreal Canadiens - Didn't really do anything of note besides deal Rivet. Gorges and a first was a good return for him, but one wonders if Gainey simply couldn't make up his mind on whether to be a buyer or a seller. Montreal didn't get any of the grit or centerman skill they clearly need, didn't really shore up their starting goaltender situation for the play-off push and also failed to deal some of their big-ticket impending free agents (Souray, Markov, Niinimaa, Bonk, Johnson). Lots of waffling, not enough action here. I suspect the Islanders (who decided they WERE going to take a strong run for the play-offs and made moves accordingly) will overtake the Canadiens for a play-off spot in the East and Montreal will be left scrambling to re-sign many of the above UFA's in the offseason. Likely to no avail.

Edmonton Oilers - Whether dealing Smyth was a mistake or not remains to be seen. The return package for him was decent, if not spectacular. The fact that not a lot of superstars seem to want to sign in Edmonton should have given Lowe pause, but if he does manage to land a big UFA in the summer with the resultant cap space, good on him. Im not sure anyone he gets will be able to replace some of the intangibles Smyth brought to the table for the Oil (and perhaps, for the Oil alone), not to mention the potential fan backlash that may ensue. But, again, we shall see.

What the Smyth deal did say for certain was that the Oilers were sellers on the deadline. I think. Lowe managed to trade Smyth but forgot that the likes of Nedved, Sykora, Peterson, Tjarnqvist and Hejda (all potential UFAs) still litter his roster. Surely a couple of these guys could have garnered some kind of return? Pascal Dupius landed a former first round draft pick for frick sake!

What a disaster of a season for the Oiler faithful. The lack of return on the Pronger deal, the resultant gaping hole on the back-end, the overly fat contracts for the likes of Pisani and Roloson, the unceremonious dumping of Smyth and the overall pooch screwing at the deadline by Lowe. And don't forget missing the play-offs. What a lot of bitter pills to swallow.

Anaheim Ducks - Not that they really need to add a whole lot, but, really, Brad May? Really? Why bother Burke? Hell, your team already leads the league in fighting majors; whats the point in adding another puglist?

I'm surprised some experienced, secondary scoring talent wasn't brought in as an insurance policy against all the youngsters tanking it in the play-offs. I guess with idiots like Waddell running around overpaying for everything that may have been hard to come by, however.

The Just-Plain-Strange:

Boston Bruins - Can anyone tell me what Boston was doing on Wednesday? Having already sold off their centerpiece Brad Stuart to the Flames a couple weeks ago, Boston engaged in what James Mirtle appropriately dubbed "shuffling deck chairs". Aaron Ward for Paul Mara? Why? Sure, Mara was having a blah season - but he's young(er), has good pedigree, is big, strong and a few good seasons behind him and was signed through 08. Why not see how he does next year? Ward is older, not as offensive and is all of $250,000 cheaper. This deal just doesn't make any sense to me at all.

The Bruins also swapped Boyes for Wideman - another defenseman. Boyes was also having a tough season, but had turned it on recently. He too was signed till the end of the '08 for a relatively slim $1.8 Mm. No doubt another bounce back season the Beantowners will miss out on...for no good reason at all. Add in the fact that they had some UFAs they didn't bother to deal (Tenkrat, York, Hoggan, Reich) and Im not sure what Chiarelli's plan was here...
__________________________________________________________

A lot of the other deals were either too minor to matter or too ambiguous to judge. For example, the Flames trade for Stuart and Primeau will be great if they go far in the pay-offs and/or Stuart re-signs in the offseason and a disaster if they bow out early and have nothing to show for their troubles come summer. The above winners and losers seemed much more clear cut to me, thus their inclusion. Learned Commenters, please feel free to oppose, deny or point out a glaring omission.