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2SKATES1STICK

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Posts posted by 2SKATES1STICK

    Sven Baertschi | LW

    in Alumni

    Posted

    Does anybody else absolutely hate Brian Burke? I know he did some good things for our organization but IMO he's the most pompous a*shole on the planet. All those things he said about Bobby Ryan and Keith Yandle when he cut them from Team USA last year...

    I find him very overrated as an NHL executive. He handcuffed Nonis with all his moves in Toronto and now Nonis is taking the flack (though Nonis did sign some of those contracts).

    nonis signed every dumbass contract on the leafs

    clarkson to infinity and beyond

    kessel to infinity

    phaneuf to infinity

    bought out grabovski, let macarthur walk for only 3.5m.

    Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW

    in Alumni

    Posted

    I follow them very closely and watch a lot of tape on players. I spend a lot of time getting to know minor league players and their tendencies.

    You could also ask the exact same question if the guy I was responding to, but you won't because you want to believe Jensen is something he's not.

    lol oh please

    • Upvote 1

    Sven Baertschi | LW

    in Alumni

    Posted · Edited by 2SKATES1STICK

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/burkes-first-blast-aimed-at-baertschi/article14610874/

    True to his word, Brian Burke kept a low-profile during his first fortnight with the Calgary Flames.

    After joining the NHL team as president of hockey operations, he promised general manager Jay Feaster and head coach Bob Hartley would do most of the talking. Burke was in and out of town during September. He had a few charitable obligations to meet, bought a house and a pickup truck.

    LDR111-NHL+Islander+Falmes2.jpg

    But on the eve of the 2013-14 season, Burke gave a progress report on what’s happened since he took over – and after suggesting a lot of people had assembled for not much news, he was his usual, predictably candid, self.

    By far and away his most interesting observations came in relation to left winger Sven Baertschi, who, before this summer’s NHL entry draft, was the No. 1 prospect in the Flames organization.

    Burke spent some time Monday evaluating the Joe Colborne trade – made last Saturday with his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs – and gave a largely favourable report on the play of Sean Monahan, Calgary’s top pick in 2013. Then came an innocent question about Baertschi – and he got it from both barrels.

    Clearly, the winger didn’t win over the new boss with his training camp performance.

    Baertschi, the Flames’ first pick in the 2011 draft, has played parts of two seasons in the NHL. There were some people who thought the 20-year-old took too much for granted this September, and, as a result, didn’t compete nearly hard enough to earn his place. Baertschi did survive the final cuts, but the jury is still out on how much and how well he will play this year.

    Burke is not above sending a message through the media and so, when asked what he’s learned thus far of Baertschi, he answered: “That I don’t know. That I don’t know. I’m not sure. … All I’ve seen so far is flashes of brilliance. Flashes of brilliance are fine if you’re working in the university, but they’re not much good to people in an NHL building.

    “There are three zones in the ice surfaces in this league. I don’t see that he’s learned to play and compete in two of them. He’s got to learn there’s a clock in this league and there’s so many minutes in the game and that you’ve got to compete through all of it. I see this is a guy who’s focusing on one area [scoring] and even then, sporadically,” Burke said. “So I don’t know what we have.

    “I’m not ready to quit on a young kid. I’m not ready to throw him under the bus here today and rip him, but I think you can tell from my comments that I see big holes and I see a lack of commitment that’s not going to get him anywhere in my books.”

    It was vintage Brian Burke – all measured, not angry, just stating the facts as he sees them. If that doesn’t fire a light under Baertschi, it is hard to know what will.

    Burke also had some interesting thoughts on Colborne, who came over to Calgary for a fourth-round pick. It was Burke, in his former role as Maple Leafs GM, who originally brought Colborne to Toronto (acquired from Boston in a package for defenceman Tomas Kaberle).

    Burke said the Flames prize Colborne’s size – six-foot-five, 213 pounds – because they were too small a team across the board, but they were also well aware the 23-year-old isn’t “a black-and-blue” player.

    This, by the way, can be a unique perspective in the industry of hockey, where teams almost always insist that if a player has size, he use it to play a crash-and-bang style. There are of course other ways of capitalizing on being that tall; being able to fend off checkers with your reach is one. (For example: David Steckel used his six-foot-five, 217-pound size and strength to evolve into one of the NHL’s best faceoff men for close to a decade.)

    Burke wants Colborne to undergo what he described as a “religious conversion” and change his style to a checking role. If Colborne does so – and it wasn’t immediately clear if he knew that was what was expected of him – Burke predicted a long career ahead for the former first-round pick (16th overall in 2008).

    It wasn’t a surprise the Flames kept Monahan on the NHL roster when they got down to numbers Monday – the 23-man squad doesn’t include Michael Cammalleri, who is on injured reserve because of a hand injury. Burke indicated Monahan’s stay would be predicated on how many minutes Hartley was prepared to play him.

    He used, as an illustration, how the Maple Leafs handled prospect Morgan Rielly last year. Rielly didn’t stick because coach Randy Carlyle was only prepared to use him about eight minutes per night. That, according to Burke, wasn’t enough to enhance his development. Returning him to junior, where he could play constantly and in every situation, was the better choice for Rielly – and it may be for Monahan as well.

    “There are two good outcomes,” Burke said, “and Sean’s going to dictate with his play early on … if he can justify the minutes in situational ice time that we would need to keep him here. … He hasn’t been as physical [in the preseason] as he was in junior, but that isn’t unusual for an 18-year-old. I was impressed. I am impressed.”

    Bo Horvat | #53 | C

    in Alumni

    Posted

    he's at 1.91pts/60min 5 on 5.

    comparisons include;
    sekac at 1.38,
    granlund at 1.54,
    pearson at 1.89,
    stone at 2.24,
    drouin at 2.29,
    gadreau at 2.36,
    forsberg at 2.68.

    --------
    canucks comparisons ESP/60
    bonino 2.07
    higgins 1.74
    matthias 1.46
    richardson 1.92
    burrows 1.78
    hansen 1.61
    vey 1.37
    kassian 1.32

    • Upvote 1

    Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW

    in Alumni

    Posted

    So no 18/19 year olds can make the NHL? That's the argument? Based on all of the games you've seen him play live with all your hockey evaluating skills? Interesting, Canucks should hire you. I don't care if you have an opinion but don't base it like it's fact.

    lol what the eff are you on about.

    dont base it, bro

    Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW

    in Alumni

    Posted

    I hope Ferraro's wrong and he becomes a 1st or 2nd line forward, otherwise we've wasted the highest pick this franchise has had in over a decade.

    Good teams don't waste top-10 picks on a 3rd liner. Good teams make first and second line players out of these high picks (and even later picks). I sincerely hope we haven't blown this.

    It just hurts when you see Nylander and Larkin, who were drafted after Virtanen, absolutely dominate the world juniors and really show their stuff. It's hard to judge players in their own respective leagues before they're compared to their draftees in a tournament like this, but good drafting teams like the Red Wings and Bruins find ways to draft fantastic players before seeing them develop.

    it hurts? wow

    the kid was nearly the youngest player there, and came off surgery so he's another 6 months behind his development.

    mdc didn't even make the team, ritchie was so slow.

    virtanen holds the puck, knocks down checks that come at him, and keeps going. he was faster than everyone.

    don't be butthurt, theres a lot to be stoked about

    Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW

    in Alumni

    Posted

    Am I the only one who was pulling my hair out watching this kid play today?

    I'm a huge Virtanen fan, think we made the right choice and supported him all the way up to the draft

    But let's not sugarcoat it. The play died on his stick tonight, he looked so lost out there, and he was floating more than he was engaged.

    Looking for him to bounce back next game

    he made the third goal possible.

    Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW

    in Alumni

    Posted

    Virtanen had a number of good chances. Man, he can lay the body and is physical. Great to see as that's something we're missing. Gets in there and supports his teammates.

    Great feed in the neutral zone for I think the third goal (I think the third one). Just a quick, redirect pass up and hits his man in stride.

    his interception and immediate feed is what bought us the space on that goal.

    kid is soooo good, so young.

    he is chippy but smart enough not to take bad penalties like ritchie.

    people go to hit him in the neutral zone and he still gets the puck deep AND the opponent is more likely to fall.

    smart player. fast fast fast.

    • Upvote 1

    Thatcher Demko | #35 | G

    in Current Roster

    Posted

    demko has lots of bad habits. he's got great reads when he's not so jittery though. will be interesting to see, as he develops, how he adapts to a more traditional goalie technique. maybe it takes away his edge, maybe is more of 'a natural' like tim t. still, its hard to be consistent night in and night out the way he plays.

    so athletic though. he could be really special.

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