FlamesNation Mailbag: Return from the road trip

Having finished off their longest road trip of the year so early in the season, the Flames head back to Calgary for an entertaining homestand against Toronto, Arizona, Edmonton, and Philadelphia. There’s been some positive takeaways, and some negative takeaways.

Let’s start with the positives (not many questions about the positives, understandably). The powerplay started clicking again and the penalty kill, despite an ugly performance against Detroit, has looked steady the past few games. The first line of Gaudreau-Monahan-Ferland has found another level and just can’t stop scoring goals. David Rittich is the early contender for “feel good story of the year” after winning his first NHL start playing with his hockey hero.

There aren’t a whole lot of negatives to take away from that trip besides things we already knew were negatives. Such as the second pairing defence, questionable player usage, and the long-term backup solution.

Hunter . Shinkaruk is a puzzling case. He had strong junior numbers, some good numbers on some poor Utica Comets teams, and a great start to his Flames career, where he ended the season looking like he belonged with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau.

Since then, it’s been concerning. His first full season with the Heat was productive (52-15-20-35) but not good enough to warrant a serious NHL look. Some of the numbers then had been heavily influence by a lack of ice time, as his estimated per 60 stats suggested that he was a first liner with second line minutes. It wasn’t unthinkable that he could come to camp flying under the radar and snag himself a spot.

That didn’t happen, and Shinkaruk hasn’t put up much of a case to earn a spot since. He currently has seven points in 16 games, and his per 60 stats aren’t pleasant to look at. There’s still time to turn it around, both this season and in the next, but if a hockey player isn’t that much in their fourth AHL season, it’s unlikely they’re much at the NHL level.

Undeservedly so.

Tyler Wotherspoon’s ceiling may not be what folks once thought it was, but he’s clearly been one of the better AHL defenders in Stockton this year, if not the whole league. He’s a 5/6/7 D who can probably come in every once in a while and play some low event, safe hockey at the NHL level. It’s a shame he never found a spot, but given the construction of the Flames’ defence combined with the prospect push from below, it seems he’ll be doomed to the AHL lifestyle unless the Flames can find a suitor for him (before you get excited, take in the wisdom of Ryan Pike: “every team has a Wotherspoon”).

I’ll start with Dillon Dube and Matthew Phillips, because they’re the most exciting and there’s some clear cut spots for them. With Jaromir Jagr, Kris Versteeg, and Matt Stajan all likely on their way out, that’s a whole line that needs replacing. Both can play centre and on the wing (Dube is a LW, Phillips a RW) so there’s some versatility. I don’t expect them to blow the doors down, but they seem the most able to handle the task straight out of junior.

Expanding the question to the other junior prospects, the only one with a chance next season is Juuso Valimaki, but there’s a bit of a logjam both at the NHL and AHL level, so I feel they can take it easy with him. Ditto for Adam Fox, who will probably spend next season in the AHL if he signs this offseason.

It doesn’t.

Rittich stepped in and had a great game, but it is just one game. At the AHL level, he has bounced between being a brick wall…

…  to being the exact opposite of that…

…  to being somewhere in the middle…

Those are all results from last season, but his seven games in the AHL this year don’t suggest that he’s changed in any major way:

Rittich did his job, but there’s going to be a night where he will be atrocious. With Mike Smith playing the way he is, Rittich is going to be used very sparingly. If he can step up and make those saves every two weeks, the team will be fine.

His career history says otherwise, however. Rittich is likely going to be a temporary solution while Eddie Lack finds his footing again. Rittich will have his struggles as the season goes on, and Lack will probably rebound and the status quo will be maintained again. Finding a quality NHL backup isn’t that easy.

From reputation (mostly detailed last week), Travis Hamonic is the issue. T.J. Brodie has been atrocious this past week, but uncharacteristically so.

To fix it, you can’t just hope TJ plays like the TJ of old. There’s a lot of evidence that points to Hamonic being an anchor, almost a Troy Brouwer on the blueline situation.

Here’s the list from Natural Stat Trick, 75 minutes minimum:

Yikes.

I guess the obvious solution is staple them to the 3M line while keeping Gio-Dougie with the Gaudreau-Monahan-Ferland line. Sure, you break up a monster unit, but you’re spreading it out so that one unit isn’t absolutely lousy. If the first line can hold up their production, it’s workable and promising.

I’m giving up on the justifying Brouwer angle. They’re going to play him until they don’t have him anymore.

Matt Bartkowski is inexcusable, especially given that we can quite clearly observe the difference between him and Brett Kulak on the ice. With the exception of those few first games after Hamonic went down and Rasmus Andersson was on a plane ride over, they’ve never needed to ice Bartkowski. He’s bad by every way you measure a hockey player. What really prevents them from waiving him and calling Wotherspoon up?

Matt Stajan, I still don’t get the vitriol for. The guy has been the best option for 4C and it’s not even close. Curtis Lazar and Freddie Hamilton are the two worst corsi forwards. Stajan is the third best centre on this roster by the same measures. You shouldn’t ask why Gulutzan is using Stajan in that role, you should ask why he isn’t.