Edited Dec. 6, 2022 at 9:19 p.m.
Quoting: WranglerWranglin
I love good conversation on here, you are lacking that so I'm just teaching you a thing or two. You're welcome.
Only one of us has their name in two rinks in Alberta for working the operations side of a junior A team in the province, and one as a builder for a Major Midget team, I am certain it isn't you.
Can't pursue agency due to conflict of interest.
Stone has blood clot issues and said he will never play anywhere outside of Calgary, that was news at the start of the year, Phillips will be in another teams AHL line up next season. Valimaki wouldn't make the Flames roster still.. what would you like them to do with him!? Hahah sit Zadorov? Or your golden boy Stone? That's what bad players do, they move onto worse teams and try resurrect a career. Good on them.
You do that, you're riding the coat tails of two guys with what would be the NHL's greatest single season shooting percentage. One of them not even in the NHL.. if Ruzicka had a league average shooting percentage which he will likely end the season with he'd be at 2 goals.. you have to understand how shooting percentage works right?
Why have you now gotten so upset yet still haven't provided a tangible piece of an argument to forward your point, all I have done is give you numbers to think about, you're blinded by really really simple parts of the game which as a fan you should be, that's the fun in it, but to adamantly push bad ideas like they have merit is disingenuous at best. '
Discredit the Stone numbers that you were trying to push earlier, that would give you a bit of a leg to stand on, you think Stone is a powerplay guy and his shot rarely gets saved, I presented that it gets saved and held 85% of the time while missing the net or getting blocked 40 times this year. What part of that really solidifies him at a powerplay guy? It's not his feet or his mobility, it's literally "puck go zoom" in simple terms.
Firstly, Congratulations for your Success and Thank you for your Contributions to Alberta Hockey Sir, you obviously know hockey better than I do.
Secondly, as a fan, I too enjoy discussing hockey, but I don't enjoy and find it extremely annoying being talked down too by an egotistical know it all. Your thread is about Matthew Phillips and the Flames issue has been a Lack of Scoring, yet we're talking about Kevin "Freaking" Rooney and the 4th Line, as if that's the problem that if given a tweak or two will provide the solution to all of Calgary's problems.
If Rooney came in @$750-850k, I probably wouldn't be so dismissive of him, but the fact is he's holding back someone else from getting an opportunity. Same goes for Lucic who has scored in 40 something Regular Season Games and actually 50 something games when you include last seasons playoffs. These guys just aren't doing it for us.
I understand the 3rd & 4th line are considered checking lines and the 4th line is typically made up of a combination of Older Veterans, Checkers and Enforcers whose job is to hem the puck in the other end and to wear down & tire the opponents in short spurts, but there's no rule or law that it has to be this way. You could have an Energy line or Young Scoring Line instead. Seemingly both Yourself & Sutter are so closed minded, stubborn and traditional that you fail to realize the game is much younger and faster now. Guys are coming in at 20 years old and are killing it, look at the New Jersey Devils for example.
The Flames need to put up 3 Goals per Game NOT INCLUDING Empty Netters and they're struggling to do that. Sutter and Yourself may like close 1 goal games, but I'm hoping for a true Stanley Cup Contender and what he's tried and you recommend hasn't been working. What has been effective though is Stone, Ruzicka & Phillips:
Phillips has 15 Goals and 30 Points in 20 GP and leads the entire AHL in Scoring. His 27.7% Shot% is not sustainable, but it just shows how great & accurate of a shot he has, how can you just dismiss this? Is the 16.9% and 1.06 PPG he put up last season not excellent as well? I mean the guy can obviously finish & score, which is what the Flames have been needing. He's Hot and Full of Confidence, this is a perfect recipe and time for him to be inserted in to a lineup looking to spark more goal scoring.
You act like Ruzicka & Stone are only having success this season, when they played very well for us last season too:
Ruzicka had a 15.2% Shot Percentage and put up 5 Goals in 28 GP given just 10:13ATOI. Is it not fair to assume if given more ice time, better line mates and time on the Power Play that his 15.2% would translate to more scoring this season!? Well that's exactly what happened. He has 6 Goals in 15 GP. Sure a 24.0% Shot Percentage isn't sustainable, but that's what he's shooting now and even if it does, it won't be by a lot, he's got a great shot. You think demoting him when he's Hot and Full of Confidence makes sense? If somebody else was playing better & contributing more, I'd say sure, but nobody is. The closest is Ritchie with 18.5% than Lindholm with 14.1%. Ruzicka's Shooting Percentage has been twice as effective than Kadri, Dube & Mangiapane and is 2.5x more effective than Toffoli; until they start netting pucks more efficiently,Ruzicka deserves to be in the Top-6
Stone is Better at Contributing Offensively than he is at Defending. His Shot % this season is 6.5% and he's put up 0.40PPG as a 3rd Pairing D-Man given less than 14:00ATOI, that's very good and he didn't just do it this year. Last season he put up 0.55-0.56PPG with an 8.33% Shot Percentage in BOTH the Regular Season and then he did it again in the Playoffs. He's obviously playing the Best Hockey of his Career right now. He's Hot, he's Confident and he's generating Goals, what more can you ask for!? He should be used more and thus more goals will be created as a result.
As for his play on the Power Play, Stone's SThr% was 70% last season and is 57.1% this season, which is very good. He rarely misses the net or hits his own teammates. Again, if he doesn't score himself, he typically takes an opposing player or their stick out or many times the goalie gives up a rebound. Very rarely does a Goalie stop or glove his shot and even when they do, that shot is very intimidating and rattles the goalie, especially when they take it in the Chest, Shoulder or Mask. A Goalie can only take so many of those before it throws them off their game. If opponents try to stop it, that just opens up more space for the other Flames, so that blast from the point is very useful and no, nobody else has that hard or accurate of a shot, including Andersson
Andersson is decent at distributing the puck, but isn't very good at Scoring on the PP with only 2 Goals last season and 0 this season. On the PP, Andersson missed the net 18/81 times and had his shot blocked 22/81 times last season for a SThr% of 50.6% last season, but this season he's even worse having missed 6/28 and having 11/28 shot attempts blocked for a dismal 39.3% SThr% this season.
Hanifin isn't any better having only scored 1 goal on the PP last season and 0 so far this season. He has an accurate wrist shot but still missed the net 10//56 times and was Blocked 19/56 times for just a 48.2% SThr% last season. He has been better this year with only 2/24 missed shots and 6/24 that were blocked for a 67% SThr% though
Weegar hasn't had much PP time, but his Career SThr% on the PP is 60% and like Kylington and other Offensive Defensemen, Weegar likes to pinch down when there's an opening for a one timer. Given the points he put up last season and his career Shot% with FLA of 5.2% vs. Hanifin's 4.2% and Andersson's 4.5% with CGY, he appears to have the more accurate shot and offers another Right Shot to the mix.
Now Kylington has a better 6.9% Shot%, but he only Scored 1PP Goal in 73 Games last Season. 4/28 of his shot attempts were misses and 9/28 were blocked for a 53.6% SThr%. Statistically it's better than I thought he did, but I didn't really like him on the PP last year at all tbh
To me it's obvious Stone will Score far more than any of the above, but Andersson & Hanifin are the better Puck Distributors. We don't really know about Weegar since he hasn't played a ton of PP in his career.
My point is if we're looking to increase scoring, you gotta go with the guys who are Hot & Confident. Changing up a couple 4th line "replacement" players isn't going to do that.
Not sure where you're getting your 85% saved & held and 40 blocked shots, that must be overall, but again it's still effective at creating O-Zone Faceoffs and Damaging Opponents and/or leaving them Stickless and sometimes even Bladeless which gives our Team an advantage as a result. Play him as long as he can keep his play over the last year up, he's at his best right now and hasn't been a defensive liability. Go with what's most effective and has been working