In Response to the Flames' Preseason
Posted 5:42 PM ET | Comments 0
Rob Kerr was saying the same things last night; the preseason dousn't mean much, but you gotta be worried. Keenan openly admited the boys havent had much practice time, on some occasions they were NHL veterans getting beaten by minor leaguers.
One can use the excuse that it's just preseason, unfortunately now the bets are off. A record under .500... hell .700 is just unacceptable. Based on his record, Mike Keenan had better make this team win before it implodes itself.
Keenan will get his practice time and hopefully he'll work the team hard enough to get them forechecking. Which was 70% of the reason the Flames couldn't hold a candle (no pun intended) to the Red Wings last year.
I remember attending a game years ago, when I was quite young, and asking my dad why anyone wasn't skating fast. My dad pointed to the the middle man of the Chicago bench hosting Ron Wilson, Daryl Sutter, and Mike Keenan and said, "The coach is having his players hit ours before they can get any speed built." That's the way I remember Keenan and that's the way I hope to see the Flames play.
With practice hopefully that gets done. I attended several games and watched others on TV and the only players carrying that ideal was Nolan and Conroy; two guys that have given us a chance in every game they both played in.
In my oppinion we havent seen Keenan's system yet, therefore it's difficult to judge how they'll do in the season. To say this means nothing or dousnt matter seems to be reaching. The Flames have started the two previous seasons with terrible records, In 06 is was lack of talent on the PP and in 07 is was Regehr going on IR and the team's lack of response to that.
If it happens again I wont be heartbroken because we've all seen how well the Flames can pick up their record around December. The difference will be if Keenan can make this team work from the get-go, they could be competing with Vancouver for the Division.
I'm planning on posting this under my blogs as well.
One can use the excuse that it's just preseason, unfortunately now the bets are off. A record under .500... hell .700 is just unacceptable. Based on his record, Mike Keenan had better make this team win before it implodes itself.
Keenan will get his practice time and hopefully he'll work the team hard enough to get them forechecking. Which was 70% of the reason the Flames couldn't hold a candle (no pun intended) to the Red Wings last year.
I remember attending a game years ago, when I was quite young, and asking my dad why anyone wasn't skating fast. My dad pointed to the the middle man of the Chicago bench hosting Ron Wilson, Daryl Sutter, and Mike Keenan and said, "The coach is having his players hit ours before they can get any speed built." That's the way I remember Keenan and that's the way I hope to see the Flames play.
With practice hopefully that gets done. I attended several games and watched others on TV and the only players carrying that ideal was Nolan and Conroy; two guys that have given us a chance in every game they both played in.
In my oppinion we havent seen Keenan's system yet, therefore it's difficult to judge how they'll do in the season. To say this means nothing or dousnt matter seems to be reaching. The Flames have started the two previous seasons with terrible records, In 06 is was lack of talent on the PP and in 07 is was Regehr going on IR and the team's lack of response to that.
If it happens again I wont be heartbroken because we've all seen how well the Flames can pick up their record around December. The difference will be if Keenan can make this team work from the get-go, they could be competing with Vancouver for the Division.
I'm planning on posting this under my blogs as well.