Slack Sundays: looking back on October

The month of October has come and gone, and now we’re into November! The first month of the 2017-18 campaign saw ups, downs, and the Calgary Flames signing Jaromir Jagr. To reflect on the month that was, we’ve assembled our crew for our weekly chat.

Ryan Pike: Gang, the first month of the season is complete. What did you think of the Flames’ October?

karimkurji (Karim Kurji): Mediocre, so I’m pretty happy with it

billtran (Bill Tran): Exactly. Definitely could have been better but at least it’s not worse.

karimkurji: It’s an improvement over previous seasons. Smith looks like a stud, Johnny is elite, and Brodie is back. Lots to be happy about.

Ryan Pike: They were 4-5-1 last October and they were okay with horrendous goaltending, so I’m reasonably content with 6-6-0 with some bright spots.

billtran: They played well in Southern California so that was nice.

karimkurji: They’re also a great possession team which is exciting

Ryan Pike: That’s the thing I like; they’re just not scoring, but for the most part their possession game has come along nicely.

billtran: Tkachuk is the antithesis of the sophomore slump and I couldn’t be happier about that.

Ryan Pike: Mike Smith called him the heart and soul of the team the other day.

croatis (Christian Roatis): They’ll adjust in two places. Sh% will increase and Sv% will decrease. But given their current 100 PDO, it’s a good chance there’s a net 0 result in terms of wins.

Ryan Pike: It depends where the spikes are.

croatis: I mean over the long run. Like if Sv% drops and Sh% doesn’t recover at the same time, it’s Good Night Jim Kyte

billtran: Given how snake bitten half the team has been, I feel as though SH% is likely to bounce back better than how much the goaltending will regress.

ctibs (Christian Tiberi): They’re starting to outplay teams now so things are looking better. If they can get the third line scoring, look out.

croatis: Yeah I’d agree Sh% regresses more than goaltending.

Ryan Pike: Imagine if they get zero secondary scoring all year.

croatis: They won’t. Sam Bennett will have more than 0 goals.

ctibs: Him and Jankowski are on pace for zero points all season. Busts.

karimkurji: I’m incredibly excited for Jagr to come back. I feel like he completes the roster.

ctibs: What do folks think of that third line now that we’ve seen them in 5 (or so) games?

karimkurji: I like Janko.

ctibs: I think Lazar has looked a little bit better. All three guys seem to be figuring it out and might eventually become a useful unit.

billtran: Agree about Lazar.

karimkurji: That’s true, they do seem to be figuring it out a bit more each game. Not sure I feel the same way about Lazar though.

ctibs: For now, they’re 50/50. Occasional good bursts, but they see more shots against than for and have some defensive issues.

billtran: I think having Jankowski as a linemate actually helped Lazar’s case.

karimkurji: They start significantly more in the offensive zone.

ctibs: I dont think it’s Janko or Bennett as much as it is getting regular ice time with the same teammates.

karimkurji: Jankowski was 100% OZ% last game if im not mistaken.

ctibs: Glen only uses them in the offensive zone. Results have shown that they don’t really merit starting in the defensive zone. And why would you when you have the 3M line?

billtran: The defensive zone is exclusively for 3M.

ctibs: And the fourth line at home, especially against other teams’ first lines.

karimkurji: Let’s just not get into that.

billtran: Gulutzan just had a soft spot for Dallas.

karimkurji: But yeah I think when Jagr comes back the biggest thing will be allowing lines to stick together to establish chemistry because that matters the most.

ctibs: What happens when Jagr comes back? I think it leads to Lazar being pushed out because they’re never scratching Brouwer.

karimkurji: Sure seems like Lazar will get the short end of the stick, but personally I’m fine with that. I don’t think he’s an NHLer

Ryan Pike: I wonder if the goal is to have Lazar push Stajan to the press box.

ctibs: I don’t think that he’s been that good. He’s Bennett-lite in that he’s been better on the wing than at center throughout his career.

Ryan Pike: Fun fact: heading into Saturday’s games, the only goalies with better ES SV% than Mike Smith are Tristan Jarry (1gp), Malcolm Subban (3gp), Carter Hutton (3gp), Anders Nilsson (4gp) and Oscar Dansk (4gp).

karimkurji: So Smith is the best goalie in the league? I can get behind that. Smith is such a beauty, he seems genuinely jacked to be on a team that can actually win games. The closest he’s come to that was the Canadian Olympic team.

ctibs: Remember that he is notorious for having ten good games and then having ten bad ones.

taylormckee: I just hope in the end, his season balances out to something that doesn’t actively sink the team (i.e- what has happened in previous years). And this start has been a nice surprise to be sure.

billtran: Smith has been red hot but I think the Flames have to be wary. I doubt they’re going to get a Talbot-esque workhorse performance out of him. When Lack gets more starts I would hope the Flames figure out how not to implode in the first period.

Ryan Pike: Here’s a nice broad question: let’s pretend we all have the power to get one pro prospect NHL games this year. Who do you use that power for?

taylormckee: Assuming those NHL games aren’t on a line with Tanner Glass, you’d have to think it’d be Mangiapane. The forward pro-pool has been so distressingly disappointing the last few years.

karimkurji: There’s no room for Mangiapane though. It’s gotta be Andersson for me.

taylormckee: But I’m a prospect genie Karim, Ryan endowed me with this power.

ctibs: Andrew Mangiapane? He sounds good to me.

billtran: I’m inclined to agree with Taylor here. Mangiapane is currently one of the more enticing prospects that can have an immediate impact.

karimkurji: Where does he fit in though? Especially when Jagr is back.

Ryan Pike: I’m gonna go with Morgan Klimchuk, if only because I think it’d be instructive in terms of what his value is overall.

billtran: By the powers vested in me by Ryan, I’m banishing Brouwer to the press box.

taylormckee: Klimchuk, yeah, I’d like to see what they’ve got in that guy.

Ryan Pike: But I’m of the mind that the next two guys up are Andersson and Mangiapane, in some order.

karimkurji: Will they call up Andersson with this Hamonic injury?

taylormckee: In the other chat, Christian T suggested Kulak with Brodie if we have to endure Bart again and that sounded great.

Ryan Pike: Kulak with Brodie or Hamilton could be a lot of fun.

taylormckee: But you know it’s gonna be Bart playing RD and just tossing that pair into the sun.

billtran: I wonder if they’d be willing to test that out. There’s always the possibility of “Brodie has played with Stone before so let’s go with that.”

ctibs: Keep the suck contained to one pairing instead of spreading it out over two pairings.

taylormckee: Do they recognize Stone as suck though?

Ryan Pike: Hopefully Hamonic’s not out for very long, but what happens will be very instructive in terms of how they view a lot of their depth options.

ctibs: Maybe they give Spoon a shot.

karimkurji: Christian might be totally right, I forgot Wotherspoon even existed.

ctibs: Low consequence guy, wont matter if he gets healthy scratched.

taylormckee: True, doesn’t help the RD situation though.

Ryan Pike: To close this sucker out, what’s everyone’s favourite moment from October?

ctibs: Signing Jagr, Matthew Tkachuk two goal game

taylormckee: Recency bias be damned, I think it happened last game. Tkachuk’s edgework putting Crosby and Rust on rollerskates.

billtran: Taylor that is so November.

taylormckee: DAMNIT.

billtran: Gotta go with Mike Smith’s first shutout as a Flame… in no better venue than the Honda Center.

taylormckee: THE STREAK ENDING THEN OBVIOUSLY ALL HAIL JOBU.

billtran: YES.

karimkurji: Jagr’s debut as a Flame. It was just so cool.

Ryan Pike: I’ll go with Gaudreau’s ridiculous pass to Monahan for the tap-in against Washington.

billtran: Can’t get more cherry picked then this, but Gaudreau played the entirety of October without being held off the score sheet for more than one game.