Comments on: Still Incapable: Flames 0 – Columbus 5

By: anar

anar — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 20:17:58 +0000

Don't blame the coach. If you come to look at it, their performance hasn't changed much.... dating back to Crisp, Riseborough, Sutter..... Obviously the coach gets blamed when the player are not performing but sometimes it is more negligence in play than anything else and I don't think Keenan is telling the players to screw their plays.

However, if we come to think in positive terms, the inconsistence confuses the opponents who are never to sure of how the Calgary Flames will react. Too bad they were unable to come back from their deficits but they have been known to do that and surprise their counterparts.... Think positive... it works.....

By: daryl

daryl — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 05:34:01 +0000

I still don't think a different coach would change the outcome that the players are ultimately responsible for.

By: Romey Rome

Romey Rome — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 21:33:58 +0000

**** Like I posted earlier, it's easier to can the coach then the players with the guaranteed contracts. It's debatable whether or not Keenan has done a decent job or not and it will vary based on who you ask. If I had to grade Keenan's performance and look at everything and take several variables into account, i'd give him a C+. I was salivating at the mouth when Joel Quenville was available and was hoping that maybe Sutter made the tough decision and went after him in season. He didn't, and I understand that.. it was during the season after all. Plus, Keenan had pushed the Sharks to 7 tough games last year and was playoff bound on paper alone at the time Quenville was available. If Keenan goes you can't replace him him with just anybody (ie like a Playfair etc) you have to have a coach that will shake things up... the guy i'm thinking of now that Quenville's cemented in Chicagoi? Darryl's brother...Brent Sutter. Brent's done a TREMENDOUS job in New Jersey dealin with injuries and keeping that team together. Word is Brent misses Alberta and doesn't care much for New Jersey, the city. If Darryl can pry him away or he resigns... that would be huge. A lot will be told about Cgy tonite vs Minnesota with 1st place hangning in the balance. Now that those pesky Canucks are within a point and idle tonite, the Flames know they have to man up and beat a team they've been able to handle in their friendly confines in the Wild. The effort level if what i'm looking for tonite.

By: Barry Flames

Barry Flames — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:00:50 +0000

I don't know if the coaching is the issue. I know we want to blame someone, but it 's the players who have to remember a system they learned 70 games ago. They aren't stupid, they are high priced athletes who dropped the ball (the puck). Only the players themselves can fix this debacle.

By: A.Day

A.Day — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:59:21 +0000

If the Flames what to go anywhere this playoff series they're going to have to do a couple of things to win. One Keenan is going to have to learn how to coach - sorry. I say this as he's got players who should always be playing together. You always going to have someone who should have more assists then goals, if you have another player who has more goals then assists. Therefore line combinations become an integral part of you team. The Flames have yet to figure this out apparently which is why they are loosing games they should be winning. Will this change? I hope so, but if not, I imagine next year's Flames will look a lot different then this years edition. From the GM right down to the Coach and some of the players. The team has players, but they need to learn to play together. Remember, hockey is a TEAM game. Not a game of star and although they're built with that in mind that is not how they often play.

By: Romey Rome

Romey Rome — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:13:13 +0000

(CONT'D #2)... right now the Flames need to dig deep and decide who they are and where they wanna go this year. This team has NO IDENTITY. Darry's done a GREAT job of assembling talent. I am what you call a superfan and keep tabs on every team and pretty much every player in the league, Sutter's offseason/in-season acquisitions have been GREAT. R.Bourque, Glencross, Bertuzzi (low-risk signing), Van DerMeer (last year), Giordano (bringing him back hoping he could've been Leopold before they picked Leopold back up anyway), CAMMY, Jokinen (deadline), Leopold. I mean adding that to what was already there and moving out the guys that cost us the Sharks series like Tanguay and Eriksson were huge. The only area Sutter faltered is he should've brought in a capable backup netminder that could comfortably play 10-15 games with a minimal drop-off. McHelliney NEVER showed he was capable and going into a season with him as a backup knowing how Keenan has a quick trigger finger on pullling goalies and knowing this was a veteran team that's built to win now was a huge oversight on Sutter's part. CuJo would've been ideal but they either needed a veteran netminder that still had gas left in the tank or they should've went after a talented younger goalie that had more upside than Curtis caught in a numbers game. They could've pried Karri Romo from TBay at the start of the year possibly with how high they were on M.Smith or maybe even Halak at the start of the year from Montreal considering they wanted to move him and were gonna play Price and play him a lot. Nevertheless, we're where we are, and if things don't change this team is gonna be done FAST and they might not even have home-ice in round 1, and GOD knows they NEED home-ice to do anything. *******

By: Romey Rome

Romey Rome — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:03:26 +0000

****** Absolutely terrible effort. Though this fan sounds extremely angry and illogical, he makes some valid points. I'm a HUGE Flames fan and right now the issue is definitely NOT the skill on the squad. They're literally loaded, it comes down to focus, heart and coaching. Coaching is last in this case cause I can't totally fault Keenan. He hasn't done a horrible coaching job, but when players aren't playing hard, they're as inconsistent as this team is and you completely mismanage the goalie/starts situation.. it might be time to move on. It's unfortunately easier to fire the coach than trade the players. I'd seriously consider moving Phaneuf, and I NEVER thought i'd say that. We need money to keep guys, we could get a king's ransom for him right now and spread that 6 mill per out more evenly along with sending a MAJOR message to whoever's left that ANYBODY (with the exception of Iginla) is movable. The defense is abysmal right now and that's hard to stomach because that's always been the fortay of this club. Kipper's been up and down, though I can't blame him totally with the burnout factor. However, he still has to be better. He can look like a world-beater one night and other nights look like he should be a backup. We need R.Bourque back and healthy ASAP. He was playing phenomenal hockey before he went down. *******

By: daryl

daryl — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:25:42 +0000

The thing is other teams ramp up their play in the playoff push. Calgary? They are still trying to stick to a gameplan for 60 minutes. That's what separates winning teams and losers like the Flames of late.

By: Barry Flames

Barry Flames — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:43:46 +0000

The times McelHinney is in they loose, and then the times he relieves Kipper they loose. Poor guy. The team can turn it around, but they need something to kickstart....

Kipper is been mostly consistent, but you get the notion he's tired.

Iginla has always been streaking, and since we don't know what goes on in the dressing room we can't really comment. He's still at the top of the league in scoring despite no points in two and goals in seven.

By: Del

Del — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:44:31 +0000

We should play Mcelhanney. Kipper is past being an elite goalie.

Making rare highlight type saves is not why he is being paid the big bucks. I'm sure I'll get an arguement on my statements but the truth hurts. He is no longer the bounce back goalie that took us to the Stanley Cup.