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"The opinion of the uninformed"
Calgary, AB • Canada • 24 Years Old • Male

Kiprusoff and scrap

Posted 12:31 PM ET | Comments 4
Haven't been on here much in the past month what with Christmas and work but I just wanted to comment on a couple of things. I'm not going to discuss the Flames up and downs, simply some of the players performances and thoughts. Pictures however are from ESPN.com.

- Warrener has been a healthy scratch the last two games. Is he worse than Eriksson or Hale? I know Keenan thinks Eriksson is the best thing since sliced bread, but Playfair has got to see it otherwise. The only thing I can think of is that they like the pairing of Dion with Anders over putting Phaneuf with any of the other three, being Aucoin, Hale or Warrener.

- Kiprusoff. He played fantastic last night. Neither of the goals was his fault, and it could be argued that there was goaltender interference during the first one. In the first 37 starts he has made this year, his GAA, SV% and Avg Shots against were 2.86, 0.886 and 26.7 respectively. In his last 10 starts, his GAA is down to 2.73, his save % is up to 0.910 while getting an increase in shots of 30.7 per game. They aren't his usual stingy numbers, but at leas it's a start.

- Iginla in the shootout. Finally he scored without going in and trying to snap a wrist shot home. I'm not saying shooting is bad at then fo a 60 minute game when the ice is usually pretty bad. In fact I would argue that it is a great decision. But like Brian Rolston, when the goalie knows you are going to shoot, any advantage you might have is gone. Also, the way Iginla curled in towards Backstrom looked eerily similar to the Huselius goal, and funny enough when Iginla went back to his teammates to celebrate the win, the guy skating towards him with a huge grin on his face was none other than Kristian Huselius. You think maybe Iggy wants Juice around for next year?

If you didn't get a chance to see the shootout, the highlights are linked (sorry, I couldn't get the embedded version to work) at the bottom of the page. Huselius' shootout goal was at 4:20, while Jarome's starts at 6:30. Thank you NHL.com.

- Lastly, I read in the (Calgary) Herald today that Darryl has a plan on developing the future of this team. The kids on the farm team are important and the way you develop them is crucial to long term success. That being said, he also mentioned that there were kids on the Quad City team that could be playing minutes in the NHL right now, but that bodies on the NHL team were standing in their way. That means we don't need to bring back the majority of players with high salaries on the last two lines, such as Yelle, Nilsson, Conroy or Nolan, at the end of the year. Let the kids play, bring back Giordano and trade Eriksson.

Until the next game.

http://www.nhl.tv/team/la...ch.htm?hlg=20072008,2,688
Filed Under:   Flames   nhl  
January 17, 2008 1:09 PM ET | Delete
Kipper was a beast.
January 17, 2008 2:18 PM ET | Delete
How could say that you want to get rid of Yelle? You bastard!
January 17, 2008 3:39 PM ET | Delete
orry buddy. I love the guy as much ... well not even as close to as much as you, but still, you know I appreciate the hard worker. But it just isn't working this year. If he wants to resign for 600k$, then I'll think about bringing him back, but at 1.4 per season, I'm just not sure we can afford him, and the rest of the garbage, what with all the other contracts we need to sign ...
January 17, 2008 3:50 PM ET | Delete
Yelle's best years are now behind him... he's not a defensive stopper/faceoff winner anymore. And he wouldn't be caught dead scoring a goal... so... I want to see Grant Stevenson called up. He put in quality minutes with the Sharks last season and is probably our best player on the farm. This guy can grind and also put the puck in the net.
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