Declining Playoff Hopes in Calgary – Flames Unfiltered – Episode 236 - Flames Unfiltered - Calgary Flames Hockey Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Flames Unfiltered.

(00:26):
We are your hosts, Kyle Lewis and Brad Burd And
that intro is the end of my problems. That's all
I got. So before we get into anything, we just
like everybody to know that today that's been brought with
difficulties and all starts and all kinds of things, not
elected friends themselves.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
So we're as good as our defenses right now. We
shouldn't rip on the defense right now. We're about as
good as geese. Who do I want to pick on today?
I don't know. I'm struggling. I have no notes today
because Microsoft, everybody loves Microsoft. It won't even let me

(01:07):
sign into my notes. So we're just we're completely flying
from the seat of my pants, which is probably what
we should be doing. Hence the way the team. Do
you feel like do you feel like they're like last
Sence lost to Edmonton albeat I thought we played decent
and and and the lost honestly to Dallas. I was

(01:31):
an amazing game, and we'll get into that, but I
just I feel I felt like after the loss last saying,
it's like, all right, well we gained a point, but
when I start to look at the standings, it's like.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
It doesn't matter. I know, you know, actually they're gonna
get this out too. I thought of this earlier and
you just reminded me of it. I really hate when
the official Flames account, like on Facebook, Twitter or whatever,
they'll post like got a point, throw some Yeah, they're
trying to like throw like some crumb of optism at us.

(02:03):
It's like, we can't. One point doesn't help. Like at
this point, it really doesn't help. We needed to. We
didn't get to just put like tough loss, you know,
something like got a point. It's like it doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Man, I'm gonna I know they have to put that,
you know, just for sake of I don't know, but
it's kind of yeah, like last night was like the point.
We don't have any time for moral victories right now.
We just we just don't no, and me in a
point doesn't do us anything right now when you're sitting
here and I can pull the standings up and hopefully

(02:38):
that works on the technical end of it, but you know,
you sit in your look at it and it's like
I just I don't see where where it's gonna matter.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Right, It's it's not the Bluser way way way too hot,
and nobody is going to stumble that badly going into
you know, the last couple of games in the playoffs.
So the worst of it is. And I never like
to look at this, but for some reason today I
caught my eye. The Flames have eighty points. Like they're

(03:10):
in the first Walldco card spot or other the second
one on the East if no in the East the
drinking Yeah, well I thought about it. Yeah, And you know,
it's each conference different. Obviously the West is significantly stronger,
although I'd argue the East is everybody's top heavy. Like
that sucks, you know, and it and it sucks because,

(03:31):
like I guess we should be. I want to say
grateful that we made it till the end of March
being competitive, although all the people are gonna bemoan the
fact because it puts us further away from a high
draft pick. But it's like just a total kick on
the nets. I mean, even the game against Dallas. I
want to talk about that. Do you care why I

(03:51):
start again? We're flying out step parents.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Here Like I care? No, I'm good.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
So here here's the thing about the Dallas game, and
I was super, super angry. Anybody who follows me knows
angry I was because the Flames got dicked around. I
thought the Zari goal probably yeah, you could call that
back for sure. The Fairby one I thought was bullshit.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
I was totally with you on on the on the
Tsari kick in, Like I watched it over and over
and I'm like, you know, I don't know if it's
a distinct kicking motion, but like I could probably get
on board and live with it, right, I get I
can live with it, But you know, we've talked about this.
I don't It's pretty sad when we talk about one team.

(04:35):
And I'm pretty sure we brought up goaltender interference six
or seven times this season on the show, and it's
an issue with NHL, and I think it's a it's
a much bigger issue than is even talked about because
people are starting to question the credibility of the league
and and things like that with with the inconsistencies on it.

(04:57):
And I know they had a meeting at the General
managers beating and all was solved, All was wonderful, and
then we have that one and I have people that
i'm following on X and that are not flames fans
and goal right, And I don't know. I think if
you I think if you asked Dallas after the game,

(05:20):
they probably would have said, you know, jeez, it's not
a goal. Well, it's a goal.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
I'm sorry you heard about the explanation that the PA like,
how bad is that? It's I actually understood, I think
what the rat was trying to articulate in terms of
the goal thunders positioning when the puck win of the net.
But I mean, ultimately it's a mood point because it's like, okay,
you're it's incredibly inconsistent.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Well, the fact though that he said that if it
was shot on the what did they say.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
If it went in, if it was blockers side, I
think was interference and gloveside wouldn't have.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Been So why is that? How? How is that relevant?

Speaker 1 (06:04):
The only thing I can figure and it's and it's
it's not it's not a logical argument at all. But
he's basically trying to insinuate that the smith was in
a position wherein he could have potentially made the save
one step and not the other. But ultimately the player, yeah,
he's in the crease. Ever so slightly. He didn't really
bump him like the goldtender still moved latterly. And that's me.
That's the point. So that's it's called the good screen.

(06:27):
People we used to like that in hockey, used to
applaud it. I just take goals away.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
I I'm I'm super confused, though, I really am. I'm
super confused on where we go with this. And I
thought a lot about it. And I remember back in
the days, and I don't know, you were probably pretty
young in the in the bread hole in the crease days,
you know, uh, Like I thought about it, and I'm like,
I'm almost better going back to that, because at least

(06:54):
I know that if a skate's in there that it's
gonna get called off. At least I know then, right,
at least I know where the rule is. At least
I have some understanding in some black and white definition
of where we go with the goal or not goal.
Right now, I don't have a damn clue. Like, I
really don't have a clue.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Well, that's actually kind of a funny funny point to
bring up with the the ninety nine Sabers Stars series.
So yeah, but obviously the league doesn't have any any
kind of idea. But similarly, Buffalo was never gonna win
that series, Like, it just wasn't gonna happen, right because

(07:34):
they ever done what they was four to one and
then I believe it wasn't looking at it now, Yeah,
they lost the series. I don't know, actually a lot
in six games. Yeah. So anyway, all that to say,
the Stars were a really strong team and Dominic Assick
was the main reason Buffalo was there. Buffalo had a
good team, but Hasseck was otherworldly. So even though it's
funny again because of both the Stars, even though the

(07:58):
Flames get kind of screwed on the disallowed goals and
that game and I wout played the shit out of
Dallas for most of the evening. They were completely undone
by the worst players. Yeah, like breakdowns led to the
Dallas goals. A couple of misscalls for sure, but total
breakdowns by the fourth line, the third pairing. Like, and
it's kind of the narrative shifted in my head. We
used to talk a lot. That's still a good point

(08:20):
about the Flames not having any real star power. I
think the bigger issue because you could take a team
like the La Kings they don't have any real superstar
power right now that I can see, but they're a
very deep team. In the case of the Flames, they
don't have any star power, but they have. Their depth
just falls off a cliff at a certain point, like
an absolute cliff, to the point where you can't even

(08:40):
trust putting those guys in the ice.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah. Well, I went off last week and I was
pretty critical and hard on Ryan Husk and I and
I I still have the same questions I had last week.
But you know, he puts in I mean, just for
an example, and I'm not saying that this is pure coincidence,
but he gets Cheron Govic back in, which I guess

(09:05):
he's the only reason he got back in is because
he got hurt, and we'll talk about that chartly. But
he puts Pahoul in again. And I've been a proponent
of Pahoul all year, and quite honestly, there's a hell
of a lot of Calgary Flames fans that are big
Bradon Pahall fans, and rightfully so, I know you you
were up at the top of the list. But puts
him back in and then he just gets a goal

(09:26):
last night. I thought he had a strong, strong night
last night. And I sit in it and I look
at a guy like Mirimanoff and and you know, and
even you know, I'll even throw Jake Bean into it too,
I said. And I watch them and I'm like, okay, really,
what positivity do they bring to the plate, Like what
what do they bring into us? And and I know

(09:47):
and I know, me and you both brought up about
Miramanov and say, well, you know he's he was a
forward change to a defenceman, and he's got the capability
of putting offense and he can fill in up front
if we I mean, come on, this is the NHL, Like,
what are we doing here? We're worried about a guy
being able to play I'm like, I just want him
to freaking pee able to play defense, right, Like That's

(10:07):
what I want. And I don't think he can at
this level. I don't.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
I don't really see the Bean can either.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
I don't either, And that's why I lumped him into this.
And I'm sitting here thinking, you know, we have a
bottom pairing that I don't trust out there in ninety
nine percent of the situations, which is scary and and
makes you not be a playoff team. That's exactly what
it does. It makes you not be a playoff team.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
Well that's and again it's the same thing with the
fourth line, right It just it's hard to and when
people like Backland are injured or are playing poorly as
he I didn't to get every good game gets Edmonton,
it really exposes those other lines so much more like
in the bottom parts of this roster are terribly constructing,
completely and effective and actually aren't just ineffective, they're detrimental

(10:51):
to team's success. So I'm home. I mean, the summer
is going to bring some changes, as it always does,
but my biggest hope is that there's some major changes
to the bottom him defense bearing as well as the
fourth line.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
The fourth line I think, I mean, I honestly, I
think Klapka has been better and probably I'm fine having
him on the right wing of the fourth line. I
probably am. I don't know how I've even I hate
to say this, I well, this is crazy because I
know a lot of Calgary fans are going to probably
crucify me for this. What does Ryan Lomberg bring into

(11:25):
the plate right now? For us?

Speaker 1 (11:26):
Cardio? He's doing a lot of Cardio he You know,
I thought he was really effective in the early parts
of the season. He brought a lot of energy. Obviously,
the guys in the dressing room love him, but I
don't think that he is the kind of guy that
you play in eighty two games necessarily at least, or

(11:50):
you know, he needs slightly more capable center because Kevin
Rooney's not it right. So I don't know where I
landed him by just some surprise. He's played as much
as he has, and I.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Don't know where I land on him either. On trad
to say, it's kind of what I've got bouncing around
in my hand, is trying to figure out, like, really,
what does he bring for us? Like, I mean, I
want that grit and that, you know, that toughness on
our fourth line. And I feel like he's a suitable
capable player. He's not a melon luteach out there. I'm
not expecting the fourth line to put up big points
or anything, but I am. I think for a for

(12:22):
you to be a playoff team, your fourth line has
to contribute every night in multiple different ways. Right, Once
once in a while they got to pop in that
odd goal. But I sit and I watch, I watched
him play and I'm I'm not so sure I really
understand where we came to the justification of two million dollars.

(12:45):
And one of the things that I'm really frustrated in
Calgary and it seems like we hear this all the time.
It's like the guys get along really good, which I
want that, Like I want that, don't you?

Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah, generally speaking, but I wanted rap the win. Yeah,
I wouldn't we all.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
I mean, I mean at the end of the year,
like when we're done here on April seventeenth, God, we're
talking like we're totally done and we're gonna get to that.
I just want to. I do want to break down
the playoff race, I really do. But when we're done
for the season, like no one's gonna like, I'm not
gonna feel any better. The team gets along good.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Yeah, yeah, I'm the same boat. I mean, I I
like from watching you know the chase on YouTube, like
how close knit the group is. But I mean, ultimately
that's not that's a factor, you know in winning, But
it's not the end all be all, and I I
don't know, I mean, it's it's so strange and it's

(13:47):
almost hard to do this show because it's like Thursday night,
I pretty well threw in the towel. I didn't oh yeah, oh,
I just don't like the Flame. The Flames put their
destiny in other team's hands full stop. That's what they did.
They didn't win enough games. They lost way too many
games that they should have won, which they could have
one had they've been able to generate more offense or

(14:10):
not had those weaker parts of the roster we discussed,
you know, completely fall apart at key points in hockey games,
or because they're deployed, you know, improperly. God, it's so
much going to my head to as I talk about this,
it is hard to even stay on track. It's just it's. Yeah,
I mean, it's great to have a roster that gets
along and likes each other and whatever. But ultimately, at

(14:31):
the end of the day, this team didn't get it done.
And you can point in as many factors as you want,
the end result is you have to play good enough
hockey through the course of eighty two games to give
yourself a bit of a cushions. That's what you're not
relying on other teams to get you in. Now, we
need somebody to absolutely collapse to make the playoffs. So
we're not going to make the playoffs. That is, that's
a certainty. Get this way. I don't care if the
math says or not making it.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
Let's talk about it like I would say, there's a
high likelihood that the playoff pushes over.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
I think it's done, not even entertain but let's.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
Dive into this a little bit, right, Okay, So Sing Louis,
we're not catching St. Louis. They have eighty seven points,
they're a plus seventeen goal differential. We have a better
chance in Minnesota falling back to US than we do St. Louis.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
I was sick that. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
Now Vancouver sits at eighty one points. They've played one
more game than us, so they have nine left. We
sit at eighty points and we have ten games left.
I would I'm willing to write off Utah, are you?
They sit at eighty points, are seeing to be seventy
six points and have nine games left. I don't see
how they get in.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
Yeah, and the Canucks, by the way, as we're recording
down three one to the Jets with what seven minutes
left in the third period.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yes, so that is a factor they're going to only
have I mean, they're gonna have eight games left and
be at eighty one points. Yep. I mean we probably
mathematically have a better chance than they do. But I
sit and I look at the Minnesota and I think
with the way they've been playing lately, they're five to
four and one in their last ten, they have a

(16:06):
minus nine I was, I don't know. I'm a big
goal differential guy, you know, because it usually means if
you're a playoff team or not. And you know that
the Saint Louis Blues are plus seventeen goal differential and
the only other team in the Western Conference that's in
a playoff spot that has a negative goal differential is
Minnesota minus nine.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yeah, but you want to hear.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
A scary stat. Calgary currently as we record this on
a Sunday afternoon, is minus twenty four. Yeah. It's wild
that we're even in this race is wild? And can
it be done?

Speaker 3 (16:37):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (16:38):
It can, But we're going to have to We have
ten games left. I would believe we're going to have
to win.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
Nine of them.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Eight of them. I think we win eight, we're in.
I think if we win eight we're in. Now a
tall order. Can we do that? Yeah, but it's not
a hill to climb, it's a mountain to climb.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
I would if I could conjurept it even worse analogy
I toss it out there, but yeah, it's bad. It's
real bad. Now we know the biggest reason, despite that
gold differential, that we're still in this is, you know,
Dustin Wolf was we talked about. There's two things I've
given up on. One was the playoffs. Number two was

(17:24):
Dustin Wolf winning the Calder.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
No, he's not winning the Calder, And.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
Because of the bias for the Canadians and other Eastern
teams things like that, I didn't think he had a
great chance, even though he was the most deserving for
the vast road of the season. He has not put
together enough strong starts lately, and Lane Hudson had like
another three assists today he's at fifty. Some assists like
it's Laine Hudson's winning the Calder Trophy. And I mean,

(17:49):
I love Wolf to win it, and you can still
make the case, but nobody else is in the conversation
and they shouldn't be.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
Can I ask you a question though about Dustin Wolf?
And I love what he's done this year. And I
still think when when I walk away from this season
and let's say we don't make the playoffs and I
have all these tankers, I'm gonna call them tankers screaming
in my ear about this, I'm gonna say, listen, we
gained three things this year. We gain the fact that
we know Dustin Wolf is a Number one NHL goalie,

(18:17):
which is huge, huge, huge, huge. We also gained players
like I know, younger players like Cornado and Sorry, and
those guys have stepped up and have come to a
different level and know what a playoff race is now
and and have played in situations like that. And we've

(18:39):
also learned this year on guys who can't play on
a on a playoff NHL roster. So we've learned a
lot this year.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
Absolutely, Yeah, this team is still very well equipped going forward.
And all this talk about the draft pick I finally
interesting because the truth is, teams that are a little
bit closer, you know, to being competitive, we're already are competitive.
They might look at a team like CALGreen and say, hey,
you know, we'll trade with you so you can move
up in the draft, but we'll take your first and
we want a prospect thrown in because we still have
a ton of prospects that are very desirable, and a

(19:09):
lot of them are in the midst of their own
playoff chases, including the Mink, the Wildcats, and CMRF for example. Yeah,
so the narrative around you know you're not getting that
that draft pick, blah blah blah blah blah. First of all,
there's the argument of how deep the draft is, which
is always something you need to look at. But also
there's all kinds of crazy trades that happened, crazy moves
like I'm not married to the idea that the Flames

(19:31):
had to bottom out to get a high pick. I'd
rather have the fun of a playoff chase, and we
had that. I don't think we do anymore. But until
it's mathematically done, anything's possible, I guess, So, shel See.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Can I answer you? I kind of I took myself
off track here. I get a question, though, did you
think this is I don't know if it's fair or not.
Do you think that Dustin will spend mediocre in the
last two games? Because I have.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
Absolutely he has the differences and a better team we
wouldn't notice as much.

Speaker 2 (20:02):
Totally agree I totally totally agree, but I have seen him,
you know, I felt like we got a dustin Wolf.
Early in the year. It was okay because he was
splitting a lot of time. Then once we gave him
the reins, I thought he was really really good. And
then the last four games before Four Nations break, I
thought he was either mediocre or below average. And then
he got some rest, and then he came back from

(20:23):
Four Nations and he was like basically all world In
my mind, I was off the charts happy with him,
and I just I noticed in the last couple of games,
it's just like, I don't think he's been bad at all.
I think he's been really been fine. And by no
means of my pinpointing any loss of points on him
in the last two games, but I felt like he
was just okay. And honestly, last night in Edmonton, I

(20:47):
kind of thought Dan Vladar would get the NOD. I did.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
I think a lot of people did, because he's had
some success against the others and he's been fantastic the last.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
Yeah, really good, really really good.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
But as far as it's funny, I don't like to
give a lot of time to these things because they're idiots.
But somebody tried to make the argument on X that
the Wolf the position was less important than what Hudson
was doing in Montreal, which is just ludicrous because we've
all seen goalies win Stanley Cups, right, Steel Series. It
happens all the time.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
So you want to know something like these awards, you know,
I don't know. I mean maybe I'm just a old
crabby bastard. I just like I think they can throw
them in the garbage, like I don't. I don't give
a crab like I don't. I don't care. I don't
care if Dustin Wolf gets named the Calder Trophy winner

(21:37):
this year. I know what Dustin Wolf is, the Calgary Flames.
The management knows, and Dustin Wolf knows. And that's a
hell of a lot more than we knew twelve months ago.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
Oh yeah, one hundred percent. And I mean there's also
the other things, like we've often talked about in this show. Now,
the North Trophy goes the top offensive defenseman, doesn't go
to the best defenseman, hasn't in I don't know that
it ever has. Actually, you know, things of that nature.
And then whatever team has the bigger market share or
the bigger market exposure, their player is gonna win if
it's a tight race. That's you know. I think I

(22:07):
told you before on an episode quite some time ago,
the last surprise that I remember with any trophy race
was Barrett Jackman.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
I remember that.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yeah, you know it was it was wild.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
But all that, all that said, it's like we did.
We did learn a lot of things this season, and
there's still things regardless what happens that we can look
forward to, one of which is the Segon of Spirit
are getting their heads kicked in the first round of
which all playoff series, which means Zane PreK could be
available to join the Flame sooner than later.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
Okay, so, and I'm not I was, Actually it was
in my notes to talk about it. If I had
my notes, Kyle, I would probably be talking about it.
But and another guy too soon you have hit UMass
lost yesterday to Western Michigan, which was a really really
good game that I watched. But uh, he's out now

(23:02):
of the of the NCAA tournament, and so he's available
to sign with Calgary, and he's a guy that may
step into the lineup too. And for you know, I'd
say we don't see any of these guys until the
final couple of games, depending on where we're at here
and how things go. But that's an interesting thing that
that U We're probably going to get a look at

(23:23):
it at one or more of those guys. So that's
that's kind of exciting. I guess, I don't know, I
mean the zame Correct thing, like I'm super excited, you know,
I just really, really really I really hope there was
some lessons learned in camp this year.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
I think there was. I mean, he might do really well,
you know, playing along the side like the hall next
year and like a little bit limited minutes when he
finds his finds the game.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, no, that's that's a strong point. That's a strong point.
They'd be a good pair simply because Bahall's that bigger,
I'm tougher stay at home guy, and and then Correct.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
Played at the level right. So and that's not to mention,
you know, like we've there's a lot of other things
that happened to we should jump to quickly. So Owen
say signed his free agent with the Flames. Yes, like
a guy who's considered to have uh some minchel upside
each month Ontario originally some pretty good stats at the
college level as well. And the bigger news I guess is, uh,
Jacob Battaglia signing with the Flames as well. It's had

(24:22):
a really strong season. I got really confused when the
Flames tweeted it too. Did you see that when the
Flames sent it out?

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Why? I just saw. I guess they.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
Tweeted Baits, which is like, I guess a nickname for him,
but I immediately think of Baits Pataglia, who played for years
in the NHL with the Carolina Hurricanes. But there's no
relation between the two.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
There's no relation.

Speaker 1 (24:44):
Nope, no a name like Pataglia and there's no relation
between those two guys as well.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
I would have thought it was his dad.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
We all would have thought so, right. But anyway, the
I guess trying.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
To make is that there's second round in twenty four, right, Yeah, yeah,
so three year level deal. That's that's good. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
Well, the on the prospects side, they're taking care of business.
You know, not to get BT stuck in your head,
but they're cleaning things up, they're getting guys signed, they're
heading into kind of off season mode. I mean, they're
gonna Obviously, the narrative within their room and to the
media is going to be all where, you know, we're
still hopeful to get in or whatever. Be that as
it may. Conroy's you know, tiding up some loose ends,
and I think we're gonna have an interesting summer. And

(25:24):
as far as the guys go to their on this team,
uh Audrey, for example, set an unbelievable second half, I
don't see him replicating that again next year. So maybe
he's a trade ship. As we've often talked about here,
there's lots of things going on.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
I want to can I can I say my piece
on that. I was pretty critical around trade deadline of
moving Kadrey, and I still think we should have moved Kudrey,
especially now where we're at. But hindsight's twenty twenty, right.
I love what Nasa and Kadri has done for this
team this year. I have nothing but good things to say.
And what he's done with scoring two OT winners in

(25:59):
a row, I believe that's the first Flame to ever
do that. He has scored so many clutch goals, he
has seven hundred point the other night. It just he's
just done one thing after another and it's it's been
awesome to watch. It's been awesome to watch.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
And.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
I love what he's done with us this year. I
just look at his contract and look at his age,
and I'm like, man, let's make hey what we can
and you get something for this guy and move him out,
move that contract out, and let's see what happens here.
And I know that sounds completely ludicrous, but this is
a this is a project, right, This doesn't happen overnight,

(26:37):
and it is a retol that's gonna take a few years.
And I think that would even that would speed our
retool up even and help put this team in better
position to open the new Arena with a much more
potent offensive team.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
I guess depends what's out there for deals. I mean,
I think the team also feels an affinity to keeping
some veterans around, which I understand already have a few
that are.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
Hubert Oiger. Yeah, totally good.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
Here's a here's a difficult question, actually, because it's been
on my mind a lot. I said in a more
recent episode that Wiger was like my captain. I love
the way he plays, all the way he conducts himself.
I love his kids. As a poison demeanor on the ice.
I understand why they give it to Backland, and Backland's
been you know, with the team forever in a day.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
He's been good.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
Do you feel that Do you feel that Batlane was
the right choice for captain?

Speaker 2 (27:37):
Yeah? Absolutely on that I am. I am, And you
know what, I think it's perfect timing too, because here's
why when we gave him captain. If we wouldn't have
given it to him, we would have given it to
Anderson at that moment. At that moment, I think we've
learned in the last twenty four months that Anderson may

(28:00):
not be here. First of all, I think Backland's done fine,
and I think Backland's got one more year in Calgary,
and then I think it gets handed off to Wiger
and we move forward. Right.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah, I was.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
A really good decision because you knew it was a
safe choice, right, you knew what you were getting with Backland,
says we had X Last night I tweeted out that
a captain doesn't Turtle, come on, give me a break.
Perry jumped him like, what are you doing here?

Speaker 1 (28:27):
Like?

Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, that was also.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
It's also just a stupid thing to say in general.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
I mean, I just I just saw that. I was like,
just shook my head. But I think his Backland played
to the level we wanted him to this year. No,
but you know what, I'm definitely afraid that's what we're
gonna get with Cadrey two years from now.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
Oh yeah, most certainly. The only thing that can happen,
and Huberto kind of did it in a positive sense
this year. The only thing to happen with the players
as they get older is they have to find ways
to simplify and modify their games such that they're still effective,
not as effective as they were when they're younger, because
God knows that possible, but to age something like a
fine wine. So like you know, Ray Bork was an
affected defenseman until he retired. Mark Gordonno, you know, was

(29:10):
so effective for so long. When his play finally dropped,
it dropped quick. Huberto, you know, not being as effective
of a playmaker, probably because he doesn't have as much
support as he had in Florida, but getting to the
front of the net and scoring goals. I mean, if
these guys can adapt their game and Backlan is the
guy that can safely slide down your lineup from like
I'm not an ideal second line center, but a second

(29:30):
line center to the perfect ThReD line center to good
maybe next maybe next season, Yeah, maybe next season. He's
the best fourth line center in the league, which is
you know, we're thirty second in that category this year.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
So he'z the Rooney fan club there.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
Ah, But you know, and I don't even want to
blame him. The guy is still a pro hockey players
played syfinitely more meaningful hockey than I'll ever even dreamt about.
But it's just watch the games, man. You know. The
results are there, they're not there depending on how you
look at it. And it's uh, it's frustrating this and
again I'll come back to that point once more, just
to you know, get people thinking about it. Look what

(30:07):
Morgan Frost has done. Look what Zari's done when he's
not dealing with the banged up knee. There's talented players
in this team. They're not McDavid, they're nowhere near that good.
But there's enough offensive pieces in this team that if
they're deployed properly, and you can count on your lesser
pieces to not get their heads beat him when they're
on the ice. This is a playoff team. Thanks largely
again to Dustin Wolf, but it's it's not a lot

(30:29):
of star.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Parwer defense in defense of the team, though most playoff
teams do have a good goalie. So you know, he's
a piece, right, He's a piece of this puzzle. And
I don't know. I I sit and I look, and
I look at what Morgan Frost did in the Dallas game.
I wish you could replicate that more. I mean, he
was off the charts good that night. I thought he was.

(30:52):
He was super super good. And I think that'll come.
I think we'll see that more and more out of him.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
It was still a great trade.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
It was a great trade. It was it was a
great trade. Let's talk about the injury.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
Oh god, Yeah, what can you say?

Speaker 2 (31:10):
Just how bad a luck er? I mean, I feel,
I feel for this guy and I and I hope
this doesn't start hurting his progression. That's my biggest fear
is because, like you know, injuries, you just don't know
how bodies are going to react, right, And I think
they skated by pretty luckily on the first injury, and

(31:32):
this one looked as bad to my mind. Just then
he was been in the opposite direction, right, and it
didn't look good. It didn't look good at all, and
I thought, I can't believe this is happening. That's all
I could think of, is like, I can't believe this
is happening, and I don't know. I the news has
not been fully released. We've heard week to week lower

(31:53):
body injured, lower body injury, and I I guess if
I had to throw in my two cents, I would
I guess I'm highly doubtful we see him again this year.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
I would have just ruled him out for the rest
of the regular season. There's no benefit point of him
coming into play game any winner Game eighty two. I agree,
it's completely useless and in fact it's probably dangerous considering
he's doing it's the same knee again, right, So I
would just shut him down. If they happened to buy
a miracle of God get into the playoffs, then you
can have that discussion then. But I forget about it. It

(32:29):
was a freak accident. I thought it was kind of
reckless and weird looking on rampan. It's part of the
way it all like happened, but it is what it is.
There's no mal intent there. It's just it's a shitty,
shitty play, and uh yeah, I mean that's it's just
awful luck. And that was the most unlucky game I've
ever seen. I don't want to fixate on just the
Dallas game and all the bad luck that cost them that.

(32:51):
I also have a tendency of late to fixate on
the two losses in Saint Louis in January, and so
people said, oh, well, you know they could have got
those points anywhere else. It's like, well, no, you gave
the points up to the team that you're chasing, right, like,
gave them away. You played terribly, but hey, come point,
overarching point. There's many many things that went wrong this season.
The shitty thing is that so many more things went

(33:13):
right that with a little bit of luck, we would
be in a playoff spot. You have to believe. So yeah,
I mean it is what it is. But as far
as he goes, I mean, he's a huge piece of
this team going forward. I think he's gonna a breakout
year next year if you can avoid injury. Realistically, the
injury in Anaheim. The first time you heard his name
was kind of beginning of the end of the season,

(33:35):
you know.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
Kind of that wouldn't like it. But gole, we just
we we man. We battled through some things this year
and a minute ago. I mean, we catch a couple
of breaks, and we're in the playoffs here and and
none of us like we I think we lose track,
like we we alter expectations. And I know I do
it too. I'm guilty of it. But if me and
you would have been sitting here on October fifth saying, hey,

(34:00):
we're gonna be battling for a playoff spot com April one,
we would have thought it was an April fool's joke, right,
oh one hundred.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
This team looked awful going into the season and then
went five oh one. It's like, what the hell? And
they're like, oh, just waiting for every other team to
figure it out, and then they ate and they slid
a bit, and but yeah, a little you know, had
Vladar been as good all year as he had been
in the games that he played of late, had Zarai
not got hurt, had Sharon Govich repeated any semblance of

(34:34):
last year's success, that's a playoff team. You can point
to just a handful of things, like a little bit
of tweaking. This is a different story. But it's unfortunate,
you know, Uh, this is the situation we're in. But
the feature still bright. We still have a new arena
being built, and we have a lot, a lot, a
lot of really good players in the system and more
to come. So I try to focus on the positives.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
Speaking of positives, that's not a positive of what I
saw last night is okay, I got a question for
you in through my my Canadian buddy Hockey in Canada,
how do they determine who the broadcast?

Speaker 1 (35:09):
I was gonna talk about this.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
This this brings us, yes said, brings us to our
X factor, and it comes from anything as pospital. No
way they're making us listen to Jack Michaels. Why is this.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
I've talked to Kelly Rudy a little a little bit,
and I kind of like to ask his opinion on that,
because I don't there's enough broadcasters to do national broadcast.
I don't think that we should have had John Abbott
on that on that broadcast, and we should not have
Jack Michaels. And I can't stand. I can't stand Jack
Michael's not just because he's the oldest guy, but just
you know, his delivery, just it's not for me.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
Why who makes I mean, how can in Canada is
such a damn good job. I love their intermissions, I
love the after hours, I love everything. Like I just
don't understand, like national broadcasts are supposed to be neutral.
That is like the furthest thing from neutral you can get.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
Oh, it's terrible, there's there's absolutely no need of it.
It shouldn't it shouldn't happen. It's the same as what
I said about Cassie Campbell being married to the Flames
assistant Gym should not be calling Flames games, and she
hasn't for quite some time, thankfully. Louis Debrusk should never
be calling Jakebrust games in Vancouver or Boston. At the
time when I first made their comment, like, there's certain
ethics of journalism that should be applied here, and one

(36:32):
of them should be a national broadcast. You get somebody neutral,
you know, mind, well it is because it's like we've
gotten so far away from some of the basic tenets
of broadcast journalism, and to me, that's kind of one
of them. And I'm sure some people like, oh, you
guys make big deal because you're Flames fans. No, it
was John Abba I feel the same way. I'm watching
a national broadcast. This isn't my Tuesday night Sports Net
West game.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
Totally different, totally different, Yeah, totally yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:55):
And the and to be fair to others fans, those
are those games for you. That's when you get your
Jack Michael's that simple.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
They surely don't have an NFL playoff game, have one
of the team's broadcasters. It just doesn't happen.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
No, and it and again it shouldn't happen, right so,
and it kind of takes away from like the luster
of like, you know, like everybody was so torn up
when we lost s ric Ball and rightfully so. I
put on a Blackhawks game a week ago maybe, and
it's like, oh, there's Rick Ball. I miss him, but.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
A voice, you know, I think, but I will say
that that that I think John Abbott's been done a
really good job this year.

Speaker 1 (37:28):
He has done a really good job. I guess my
point though, is that, like, you know, Rick Ball is
now Chicago's guy, and he's somebody who should have ascended
to doing national games for NBC or for hacking et
Canada or something that hasn't happened at least as yet.
But now he's Chicago's guy, and good for them they
get a great guy, right, Yeah, but I don't I
don't want to hear Chicago's guy Rick Ball on Hakin
Canada between Calgary and Chicago.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
Oh, I know, like I know, I'm with you.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
Maybe that maybe that point won't make it known that
we're not biased about this speaking others game because we
all want to hear it Ball again. Right But anyway, Okay.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
So let's talk about your your your hockey for Heroes.
You're two thousan fifty five dollars.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
Correct, Yeah, actually got a little bit more cash here.
I gotta throw on the people have given me for
some some tickets to win some booze. So I have
a nice time booked at our junior rank the avenuear
Center on Friday for myself and the guys I'm playing
with to just got get acquainted and pass the buck
around for an hour or so.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
Yeah, it's got the next level three thousand, correct.

Speaker 1 (38:33):
Next level three thousand, three thousand is where in you
get the opportunity to uh play in the alumni shootout,
and then if you go to five thousand, you can
actually play potentially in the alumni game. So I hit
the first chair, which means I get a I get
a free Warrior stick to go along with the sweat.

Speaker 2 (38:49):
I want to the stick used. So let's keep going.
We need everybody to get on. We got a link
on the web page, we got a link all over
the place. We'll see it the social media again this week.
It's for a great cause, Kyle, what's the cause again?
New Brunswick heard.

Speaker 1 (39:03):
Hearts Heart Stroke Foundation? So I mean everybody who's anybody
has been affected by you know, those medical issues in
the past, of course. So yeah, it's for a great cause.
Of RAIS is a ton of money. It's a lot
of fun for the community to to come out and
see some guys with the cheered for the NHL as
well as the idiots they know like me.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
So yeah, actually I want to see it on video
and we will. We will have it. If Kyle is
in the shootout, we will have a video of it
on the podcast. So, like, we need to get him
up to that level. We need to get to three
thousand this week and then in the coming weeks, let's
try to push that to five because it'd be really,
really fun to watch him play in this game and
of course, the money is going for a great cause

(39:41):
on top of that, so please help us out.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
Yeah, I got to read this part of our group
chat too. So we added this new guy to the
group because we need an extra player, and SOB to
put in quotations average hockey player, great drinker boys. He
found the right team. So I said, what about crappy
hockey player, full blow and alcoholic and buddy reflies? That
works to team captain?

Speaker 2 (40:02):
Oh boy?

Speaker 1 (40:03):
But yeah, it really, it really is all for the
fun and the interaction with the with the former NHL guys.
And I mentioned some names before. They're all on the
Heartstroke Hockey Heroes Foundation website and we'll check it out.
You can google that.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
There will be a link. I will have a link
for you. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
I've already been asked to, as I mentioned previously, to
h to mess with Matthew Barnaby on behalf of a
Sabers fan.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
And got money for Ryan Kesler slash right.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
Yes, yeah, and then what was the other one?

Speaker 2 (40:34):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (40:34):
Who am I trying to think of here? I'm not
gonna mess with dere McCarty because I mean, if I
mess with any these guys are gonna get killed, right,
but oh yeah, but just yeah, So the Ryan Castler
slash was, Yeah, that's that's probably the big one. If
Corey Perry was actually retired and he probably spending a
night in jail.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
We probably could get to you over way over the
five thousand dollars mark if we could guarantee Corey Perry
cross check.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
If the money was going directly to me and not
the foundation, I could probably higher with what I'd raise
for assaulting Corey Perry. So especially after what he did
to our captain last night. But anyway, he.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
Was expected He's got to do that because you know what,
his team look like a bunch of cowards and are
the game before in Dallas and no one came to
the defense of their goalie either they don't like him
or they know he sucks, and nobody came to his fans.
So Corey Perry is like, oh shit, I gotta go
out and be a tough guy here now against Michael
Backland of all guys to pick picks Backland to be
tough guy against Wow, geez, yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
Right, And actually is this kind of segue is one
of the reasons I mentioned about you know, star power
versus depth. I said, talking to West Coast Hockey byas
he's a really good Twitter follow ex whatever I'd said
to him that I felt this might be the year
that the Kings knock off the Oilers because they're just
a deeper team, right sure, because you know, and again

(41:49):
like Edmonton is just so top headed with their stars.
But you know, we'll see. That's the beauty of the playoffs, right,
I mean, if the Canadians can sneak in, they could
do some damage. Obviously, the jets of a strong team.
So even if the Flames end up missing out like
it looks like, they will still lots to look forward to.
And again, we have so many good prospects the junior
in college levels, pay attention. Mondon's up to nothing on

(42:12):
Quebec right now. They're going back to Quebec for three
games and back home for two if necessary. But they're
up to nothing. Uh, Saganaw is down to nothing? Would
imagine this? Ramuski the host city of the Memorial Cup
this year, the second best team behind Monked and the
Quebec League. They beat the Charlottetown Islanders ten nothing in
the playoff game last night. Ten nothing in a playoff game.

(42:34):
Yeah yeah, Wow, that's scary, right, Wow.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
This week busy week for the Flames fans. Monday night
in Colorado, Tuesday night in Utah, Thursday night in our
home to Anaheim, and Saturday night home to the Vegas
Golden Knights. The road. It doesn't get any easier, and
it doesn't get any it gets busier, right.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
Yes, And a quick update because, as we've been recording,
with minor change, Vancouver did lose three to one to Winnipeg.
Standings as of now, Calgary is seventy two games eighty points.
Vancouver's played seventy four eight eighty one, so two games
in hand, one point back Saint Louis three games in
a hand on them, but seven points back.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
So I think that's the only way in is Minnesota losing.

Speaker 1 (43:24):
And I am inclined to agree with you, So yeah,
Minnesota is the seventy four games played and tied with
eighty seven points with David the Blues. So I don't
want to believe because it just get my hopes up
and my notori serving any So I'll leave it back all.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
Right, playing shamp We're back again next week as we
head out tonight. Music from Searching for Scarlett and It
also ends with the video they just released at the
end of the podcast. Also, so stick around, watch that
good guys, good music. Searching for Scarlett Blamesvan. We're back
next week. Have a good week. And you know what
it's somehow let's we we have to run the tables.

(44:01):
We we got to run the table.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
Yep, follow doube all right, take care, funst take us.

Speaker 4 (44:32):
Thanks for listening to Flames Unfiltered with Brad Burud and
Kyle lewis your source for unfiltered Calgary Flames hockey talk.
Keep it locked on Flames Unfiltered dot ca, a subscribe
where you get all your podcasts to never miss an episode.
Flames Hockey Talk every week presented by Inside Edge Hockey
media group.

Speaker 5 (45:00):
H I crawl out from the vein of yesterday.

Speaker 3 (45:45):
I crawled to you and I said all the things
that you said to say.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
Have I said enough to your lagging? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (45:56):
Do your lagging?

Speaker 1 (45:57):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (46:00):
I know you play these dirty games, the killing me,
and I know that you love to watch me.

Speaker 5 (46:09):
Beg so here I am.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
Do you like it yay?

Speaker 5 (46:13):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (46:14):
Do you like it? Yeah? Yeah.

Speaker 5 (46:18):
I don't want to be the love it.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
I don't want, but the hand is feed.

Speaker 3 (46:24):
I don't want to be a circle for you, Oh,
yes you. I hate myself for beg hate myself for stealing.
I hate myself for this thing too. You. It's still little,

(46:47):
too late and I can't escape. So I'm begging you,
please I change all the things that you told me
to change.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
No, momenty, I don't want to be the prophet for you.

Speaker 1 (47:03):
I don't want to, but I handle this beating.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
I don't want to.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
Be a sucker for you. I guess your pat myself
for baka. I hate myself for stay. I hate myself
phone this think. So I just wanna get out.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
Stop inside of.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
This waiting for some finger, waiting to exist. Cap help
you love mist promish I.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Do you?

Speaker 5 (47:51):
Do? You do.

Speaker 4 (48:03):
It?

Speaker 2 (48:07):
I don't of me's a puppet for you.

Speaker 5 (48:11):
Don't wanna my dad this, madam. I don't want to
be a son up for you, Yes you.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
I hate myself for cret cake. I hate myself fustaking.
I hate myself for this thing to share, for this statue.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
Je listening to Jo for thistening tou

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Declining Playoff Hopes in Calgary – Flames Unfiltered – Episode 236

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Declining Playoff Hopes in Calgary – Flames Unfiltered – Episode 236