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It's almost like Sutter has completely changed his philosophy (and lost his mind). He now goes after soft players and hands out six year contracts like nothing. Bourque's contract is a little front loaded with the last two years paying $2.5M per. If he really does degrade by then I'm sure a team trying to hit the cap floor will take him.

Speed and hard work > skill This is why Heatley and Thornton are useless against teams like the U.S. His major problem outside of injuries is his tunnel vision but who is he going to pass to? Langkow who I doubt can bend his wrists any more? Or Dawes who goes five hole every time? I think it's interesting though that Kotalik and Higgins are on the second line right now with Bourque playing on the third line. Something has to be coming and it definitely does not involve Higgins.

Perfect cap hit. If he went to FA I'm sure it would have been higher. The term is questionable for such an injury prone player but hell the Flames probably won't be in contention for anything in six years. He was on 70 point pace all year until the whole team fell apart. Keep in mind the Flames have been winning or losing every game 2-1 so 70 point pace is pretty good. I would say he has easily been the best Flame forward this season due to Iginla's lazyness. Contrary to popular HFBoards belief, he is not a complimentary player. The second line was being carried by Bourque the entire season and he is responsible for the majority of his production.

Yeah lets get rid of cage-raging so that kids will become even softer!

I thought Babcock was a good coach until watching Canada play tonight. There is no way in hell a good coach rolls his worst lines in overtime. Morrow is a gamechanger and every shift he had was a beauty yet his TOI is non-existant.

Bigger rinks = less attendance less atendance = less money I'm not sure how many NHL arenas can be expanded. The Saddledome was able to at one point but I think they made it permanent NHL size. I wouldn't mind seeing the rinks go to international size. Mobile defensemen would become even more valuable...

Phaneuf is going to win the Norris now that he is in the center of the universe. It disgusts me that three games after being traded Phaneuf has gone from being an overpaid and overrated defensemen to being one of the best in the NHL. Same with Keith Aulie, a week ago it seemed like only the most knowledgable of Flames fans knew who the guy was but now he is hyped up to be the next Tyler Myers. Don Cherry talks of how Phaneuf has improved his game since being shipped to Toronto. He is playing the exact same way as he did in Calgary. I hate Toronto. He was also making a point that a lot of the top U.S. prospects are playing in the CHL.

Tanking is a complete myth. The Penguins couldn't afford their players, the Hawks had a horrible owner, and I'm not all that sure about the Capitals. Look at a team like Colorado. They had one of the longest sellout streaks going until they missed the playoffs. Now that they are back in it they are having trouble selling out their building. No player is going to accept losing because doing so would mean they lose a year of their career and a shot at the Stanley cup.

Philly tries to be gritty but it backfires on them in the form of playoff eliminations. They try way too hard to be like the broad street bullies and as a result they haven't done anything in the playoffs despite having great teams.

I totally voted Fleury. He is probably the best goalie in the NHL at playing the puck...

Yeah the game after he got cut from Team Canada he was a machine until he was thrown out for the hit on Kopitar. When Jokinen was first traded to Calgary he scored 8 goals in 6 games. I'm not too worried about the new Flames after one game. Can't expect guys to come in and play great a day after being traded. Especially when two of the guys on the team know they are about to be traded.

Matthew Barnaby said it on TSN right after he was traded to Calgary. It was disputed by Aluminium Mike and former teammates. Today on OTR Steve Ludzik said he was hard to coach. Is it a coincidence that two guys rumored to be cancers were traded in two days?

To be fair to Olli, he was the only player that showed up in the playoffs last year.

Rumors have been going on for a while that Phaneuf was a cancer and then he gets traded. Olli was traded and on the radio Sutter said he wasn't accepted by anyone. Darryl Sutter is ridding of cancers and the only thing that has gotten worse for the Flames is their future. They have added depth and are trying to fix damaged goods while forming chemistry - something this Flames team was lacking the entire season.

I hope teams figure out how to shut them down. They have yet to prove anything in the playoffs so I'm not going to accept that they're great until they do so.

The Flames can't develop young talent? On average how long does a Wings sit in the AHL until being called up?

Yeah it's a win already without having seen what the affect on the Flames will be.

Calgary also has/had a poor faceoff percentage. Stajan is just above 50% and Mayers is around 58%. I like the idea of a Prust-Mayers-McGrattan fourth line..

As long as the Sedin-Sedin-Burrows line keeps ticking the Canucks are the best team in the west. I hate to say it but with the injuries their team has had if you take a look at how they have been playing and their GF-GA differential it's pretty remarkable. Their only real issue lies with their defense where they lack a number one guy with Ehrhoff being pretty close to filling the spot. With a guy like Heatley on their team I can't see San Jose doing to well. If Thornton has a bad game then Heatley will have a bad game as well. Marleau is great and everything but it says a lot when a guy either couldn't deal with the pressure of being captain or had trouble scoring without Thornton. I've noticed that Thornton has stepped it up this year though so that may be a good sign for the Sharks.

To be honest as a Flames fan I don't even think they will win tomorrow. If they win tomorrow it would mean both teams fans get what they want and that just isn't going to happen.

I thought it was pretty funny No harm done. I guess they have to give a fine though.

Mike Vernon is the first guy that comes to mind

There have to be five threads centered around the Flames on their main NHL board right now. That place is run by Canucks fans and the Canucks mod trolls about. A lot of those guys talk down to teams because of hockeysfuture prospects ratings which are completely inaccurate and inconsistent. Instead of watching a teams prospects they go and check their rating and use that to try and make a point. I hate HFboards.

Well Babcock is a warrior so hopefully for Flames fans he gets Iggy going. It would obviously hurt his team though...

It just seems a little odd to leave off their leading scorer at the last Olympics.