11 replies to this topic

[kehatch]

Invites:

Forward

• Backlund
• Baertschi
• Begin
• Byron
• Cammalleri
• Cervenka
• Comeau
• Glencross
• Horak
• Hudler
• Iginla
• Jackman
• Jones
• Stajan
• Stempniak
• Street
• Tanguay
• Winchester

Defense

• Babchuk
• Bouwmeester
• Breen
• Brodie
• Butler
• Carson
• Giordano
• McCarthy
• Sarich
• Smith
• Wideman

Goalie

• Karlsson
• Kiprusoff
• Irving

Schedule

Jan 13 - 12:00 - Practice
Jan 14 - 10:30 - Practice / Scrimmage
Jan 15 - 10:30 - Practice
Jan 16 - 10:30 - Practice / Scrimmage
Jan 17 - 10:30 - Practice
Jan 18 - 10:30 - Practice
Jan 19 - 11:00 - Practice

Lines for January 14

Glencross-Tanguay-Comeau
Baertschi-Backlund-Cammalleri
Hudler-Stajan-Stempniak
Horak-Jones-Jackman
Begin-Winchester-Byron/Street

Giordano-Bouwmeester
Butler-Wideman
Smith-Sarich
Brodie-Carson
Breen- McCarthy

Missing from practice: Iginla (Groin), Babchuk (?????), Cervenka (Clot)

[DirtyDeeds]

For those wondering about our invitee to training camp:



He is Big. Really Big ! He may turn out to be the grit that Feaster mentioned he wanted to add to the team.

He has been playing in Finland from the looks of things.

[kehatch]

A few items of interest:

• Iginla has a groin injury. Precautionary. Similar to last year.
• Tanguay is currently centre and Glencross LW on the 1-line. I assume Comeau if filling in until Iginla is good to go.
• Media speculation is the Babchuk is hurt. Shoulder.
• Bouwmeester and Giordano are currently the top pairing with Butler with Wideman on the second.
• Brodie is currently sitting outside the top 6D
• Horak is currently on the 4-line

Obviously all of this is subject to change as this is day 1. But interesting none the less.

So far I am not a fan of the D-pairings at all. I think Butler-Wideman will get crushed. The forwards look interesting. I like the 2 and 3 lines. But I don't like Glencross on the top line. It will also be interesting to see where Comeau slots in when Iginla is back.

[Pyromancer]

Expanding Slightly On Brad Winchester's CV:

BRAD WINCHESTER

[cross16]

i dont mind inviting Winchester to camp but I don't expect him to make the team. Flames don't need a player like him on their 4th line they've got that and Winchester is nothing more than a 12th/13th forward but worth a shot.

I also don't like the D pairings that idea of Butler and Wideman playing together scares me a great deal I think Butler needs to play with either Gio or Jbo but we'll see how that goes.

[DirtyDeeds]

I imagine the defensive pairings will get some heavy shuffling through camp. The top 4 should remain pretty much the same but a lot of juggling with the others.

Roger Millions seems to think otherwise:


I expect Brodie to be banging on the door for top 4-5 spot this season. I hope so as he has played fairly well this year.

[kehatch]

I imagine the defensive pairings will get some heavy shuffling through camp. The top 4 should remain pretty much the same but a lot of juggling with the others.

Roger Millions seems to think otherwise:


I expect Brodie to be banging on the door for top 4-5 spot this season. I hope so as he has played fairly well this year.

Agreed. I actually like Giordano-Bouwmeester. But I think Brodie/Butler/Wideman will be exposed in the top 4 without either Gio or Bouw as their D partner to help carry the weight.

[The_People1]

We need to put Bouwmeester on the Left side so he can't play with Giordano. Keep Giordano on the left side as well. I actually think Giordano - Sarich combination has been solid in the past. If Sarich can keep up to speed, then we should go with that.

Bouwmeester - Wideman
Giordano - Sarich
Whoever - Whoever
x: Whoever

[cross16]

We need to put Bouwmeester on the Left side so he can't play with Giordano. Keep Giordano on the left side as well. I actually think Giordano - Sarich combination has been solid in the past. If Sarich can keep up to speed, then we should go with that.

Bouwmeester - Wideman
Giordano - Sarich
Whoever - Whoever
x: Whoever

That "whoever" will likely wind up being Brodie - Butler and that's a pairing that worries me... Brodie needs that more veteran guy beside him and I thnk he and Sarich worked great last year and I also don't like the idea of requiring 18mins plus out of Sarich.

I'd tinker with this,

Bouwmeester - Wideman/Butler
Giordano - Wideman/Butler
Brodie - Sarich

you have some flexability if Wideman doesn't click with someone but i think the idea of Giordano - Wideman more than another other pairing for Wideman.

[The_People1]

That "whoever" will likely wind up being Brodie - Butler and that's a pairing that worries me... Brodie needs that more veteran guy beside him and I thnk he and Sarich worked great last year and I also don't like the idea of requiring 18mins plus out of Sarich.

I'd tinker with this,

Bouwmeester - Wideman/Butler
Giordano - Wideman/Butler
Brodie - Sarich

you have some flexability if Wideman doesn't click with someone but i think the idea of Giordano - Wideman more than another other pairing for Wideman.

As much as I agree Sarich should play less than 18 minutes game, i also think Butler should stick to the 3/4/5 role. I really don't like Butler as a top pair Dman.

[kehatch]

I am hoping Brodie can slot in as the 4th D this season. He has been playing a tonne of minutes in Abby and has looked really really solid.

Regardless, Bouwmeester, Giordano, and Wideman are our 1-2-3 D and they all eat big minutes. There aren't going to be that many minutes left for the other 3 regardless of who they are paired with.

I also have to agree with Cross, Butler-Brodie isn't a good tandem. Their styles don't compliment each other well and they lack size. Especially for a bottom pairing.

[cross16]

As much as I agree Sarich should play less than 18 minutes game, i also think Butler should stick to the 3/4/5 role. I really don't like Butler as a top pair Dman.

I think even strength he is fine as the top guy with jbow and personally I feel more comfortable with him in that role than I do with Sarich playing anything more than a 5/6 role. There were more than a few games last year where I struggled even watching Sarich play any minutes becasue the pace was too much for him. Butler had his game's too but I think he will get better Sarich you know what you have. Butler only played 18mins/game last year even strength which I think is fine for a player like him and should decrease to a certain degree with Gio hopefully healthy for a full year and Wideman coming in, and to that point I hope Jbow's minutes go down some too. They could always try Wideman with Jbow as well but then how comfortable are you with Wideman as a top pairing dman? personally I'd prefer Butler I think he is pretty underrated by most Flames fans.

[mssandhu]

I wouldn't mind if Winchester made it especially with Bouma out the whole season and the fact that he provides that size that Feaster has been preaching about needing