Im kinda conflicted about this evening, given that the Buffaslugs became my second favorite team in the NHL last night.
Ahh, sweet Oiler suffering.
Anyways, Buffalo comes in fat and sassy having won 7 of their last 10. The vicious curb-stomping from last night pushed their GD up to +10 on the season, moving them ahead of the Flames in that regard (+8). Course, that might be a little deceiving since the Sabres managed to quintuple the ol' GD in one fell swoop.
Actually, the Flames and Sabres share a lot of similarities. Both teams score and get scored on a lot. Both have the same record in the last 10 games. Both are top 5 on the PK (3rd and 4th) and both have decent, if not spectacular, power plays (10th and 13th).
The contrasts are more subtle, but still apparent. Buffalo's scorers tend to get out-shot at ES, unlike the Flames. As such, the Sabres are the inferior club at 5on5 so far (-8 vs +1), despite playing in front of the superior goaltender. The thing that brings the two club's GD closer together is actually SH goals against: the Sabres have surrendered 0 (!) so far. The Flames? 9 (yuck).
Good news is, this is the second of a back-to-back for Buffalo and I think they used up a month worth of bounces last night. If Calgary can get through the first 10 minutes of rust (and manage not to give up 2 SHG) I think they can take this one. Also, neither Roy nor Regehr were suspended for the various shenanigans they pulled versus the BJ's (intimating the league implicitly supports cross-checking to the head and throat slash gestures). Yay!
Prediction - Flames 5, Sabres 3. Iginla, Langkow, Bertuzzi, Giordano and Lombardi for Calgary. Connolly, Roy and Gaustad for Buffalo.
PS - I'll be liveblogging the action over at thescore.com tonight. Join me via this link, or go over to thescore.com and click on "liveblog" when the time comes around. This is my first go for a third party, so any support would be appreciated.
20 comments:
Sorry about the DNS delay on flamesnation.ca going live. It takes awhile for it to spread across the interwebs. Most people could see it right away. I think its available to everyone now.
Kiprusoff must love it when Toni Lydman comes into town. Finally, someone who appreciates Turbonegro as much as Kipper does!!!
i would love to liveblog with you, and may show up for the first tiny bit, but i've got to be somewhere around 630 so it sure won't last.
have fun !!!
"somewhere"...how mysterious!
Wow, that was a really enjoyable victory. I don't think there's a more enjoyable thing to do than beat the hell out of a team which beat the hell out of the Oilers the night before. Sublimely satisfying.
Great victory tonight if we can get through the next 5 games look out.
What's that? We're 11 points up on the Oilers now?
What a great two days this has been.
The whole game I was so happy but couldnt help but wonder the odds of resigning Cammalleri. Knowing Sutter I think he would offer 5.5 mill. On the open market he could get offers for 7+ mill. I know they cant give him that money at all but how do they do it? Aucoins hit is coming off the books (4 mill) and move sarich or vandermeer (2.3-3.6 mill) you would need a replacement and depending on a replacement in the system from Pelech or Negrin they may need to spend some money on a 6th defender (~2 mill). Can it be done? That being said I'm sure most hope this doesnt happen but will Bert look past money and stay for about the same figure? Backlund will hopefully work his way in so that Boyd can replace one position.
"somewhere" = date, mr.noseypants.
gio jersey: 2-0-0
Couldn't see the game, went to TSN for highlights - they weren't there (yet), but they did have post game reaction, including Keenan near the end...worth watching for his reaction to a light bulb popping, or something like that...pretty funny.
The Cammalleri situation is tough, since the better he plays, the more I want to see him back, but the more he's going to cost.
I think the decision depends a lot on predicting Iginla's future. Is he actually moving towards more of a playmaker role, or is that a coincidence of Cammy's hot streak?
No matter what happens, the future of the team looks a lot better now than it did six months ago. The shift from expensive mistakes to high performing bargains is a positive one.
Realistically what is his value though? If he gets paid 6 mill im sure we will look back and say thats a bad deal next year; 5.5 is doable and likely pretty accurate. Combine a 4 mill cap space from aucoin and his current cap hit of 3.3 it is doable. No new big contracts are coming their way either.
cant give him more than langkow
I'd consider keeping Cammalleri for 5 and change. Anything around 6 or above and you get into high risk of underperforming I think.
Ironically, the potential dip in the cap might actually lower Cammalleri's value on the open market this summer: a lot of team's aren't going to have the cap space to throw around.
cant give him more than langkow
Sure you can. He's younger, and has more upside at this point in his career. That's not to say he means more to the team than Langkow does, but that's not how it works, or Robyn Regehr would be making as much as Jarome Iginla.
Cammalleri's proven pretty valuable to this team, especially in a year when Iginla's been off. Two snipers are better than one.
I wouldn't go above 5 mill for Cammy, despite his recent hot streak. I think he might get 6 on the open market, but then again he might not, given the economic woes many teams are facing, combined with the uncertainty of the cap number. Sutter has proven pretty adept at getting guys to sign for less (not as good as Holland, but probably in the upper echelon of GM's that way), so you never know. If they could get him for 3 years @ 5 mill, I wouldn't mind that deal at all. He gets some security with the cap potentially decreasing and the Flames get a 2nd major scoring threat.
maybe the joy of playing with Iggy is all the inspiration Cammalleri needs to stay (at a slight slaray increase). Hes been very voal about his excitement to play with Iggy and any team offering him 6+ mill is a team going no where. Florida, or Vancouver, or Atlanta. My buddies brother-in-laws sister is doing him so maybe shes enough to keep him around (although shes an oober bitch, hot though). Whats Bert worth, you know Sutter will try. What does he ask for? Will he keep the same salary?
Also, Cammy's been pretty vocal about how nice it is to play for a winning team. I'm guessing he won't want to go back to another losing team that's offering big money. Especially if the Flames do well in the playoffs.
Even though Bert has been decidedly less horrible recently (I can't think of a single time where I cursed at him last night, shocking!), I still think a 1 and done situation is best for him. If he scores 20-25 this year, he's going to want more money anyway, and that would be a *bad* idea. He's just barely tolerable at ~$2mill. Pay him any more than that and the risk of him being a major albatross is way too high.
Yeah, I agree.
No more Bertuzzi after this season.
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