Monday, June 26, 2006
ALEX FREAKIN' TANGUAY? YES!!!
Yeah, that was about my reaction when I flipped to the draft on Saturday and saw the news ticking across the bottom of the screen.
How much is there to say, really? I don't think there's a better move Sutter could have made to improve the Flames. We needed to acquire a gifted offensive player, and here he is. Tanguay has been more than a pt/Gm player each of the last two seasons; he can pass and score, and his numbers are not overly heavy on PP points.
Leopold will be missed, but I'm not sure by how much. He was a top-pair, tough minutes, shutdown defenseman: the question is, to what extent will that apply to anyone who's paired with Robyn Regehr? The D now looks something like this:
Trivia: Alex Tanguay was quite nearly a Flame once before, prior to ever playing an NHL game. Back when the Flames sent soon-to-be-UFA Theo Fleury to the Avs in March '99, they received Rene Corbet, Wade Belak, and a prospect to be named later. The deal with the prospect was that they had a list of 4 guys, and the Flames had ~ a month to choose which one to take. They settled on Robyn Regehr; Alex Tanguay was one of the other choices.
The next step is to sign Tanguay to a long-term deal. I'm guessing his contract should be about 5x5, or maybe $5.5M x 5 years. Sold, as far as I'm concerned.
WOOOOOOO!!! A #1 line of Tanguay-Lombardi-Iginla is as good as any line in the league. Now Sutter just has to sign up Jarko Ruutu as a UFA, lock up Lombardi for a couple more years, and the offseason is basically done. Go Flames.
How much is there to say, really? I don't think there's a better move Sutter could have made to improve the Flames. We needed to acquire a gifted offensive player, and here he is. Tanguay has been more than a pt/Gm player each of the last two seasons; he can pass and score, and his numbers are not overly heavy on PP points.
Leopold will be missed, but I'm not sure by how much. He was a top-pair, tough minutes, shutdown defenseman: the question is, to what extent will that apply to anyone who's paired with Robyn Regehr? The D now looks something like this:
Robyn Regehr-Andrew Ference
Roman Hamrlik-Dion Phaneuf
Rhett Warrener-Mark Giordano
Extra: Richie Regehr, Hulse/Marchment/Veteran To Be Named Later
Trivia: Alex Tanguay was quite nearly a Flame once before, prior to ever playing an NHL game. Back when the Flames sent soon-to-be-UFA Theo Fleury to the Avs in March '99, they received Rene Corbet, Wade Belak, and a prospect to be named later. The deal with the prospect was that they had a list of 4 guys, and the Flames had ~ a month to choose which one to take. They settled on Robyn Regehr; Alex Tanguay was one of the other choices.
The next step is to sign Tanguay to a long-term deal. I'm guessing his contract should be about 5x5, or maybe $5.5M x 5 years. Sold, as far as I'm concerned.
WOOOOOOO!!! A #1 line of Tanguay-Lombardi-Iginla is as good as any line in the league. Now Sutter just has to sign up Jarko Ruutu as a UFA, lock up Lombardi for a couple more years, and the offseason is basically done. Go Flames.
# posted by Matt @ 10:56 am 
Comments:
A bit late, but better late than never. I think that Tanguay is definitely a good move by Sutter to improve the team. However, I eagerly wait to see the hit in his points total from playing under the Sutter system and the subsequent explosion in Leopold's points playing in Colorado.
I don't think Leopold's points will explode in Colorado. Their d definitely gets better though. A healthy year from Warrener will go a long way to filling the tough minutes for the Flames. Phaneuf and Hamrlik won't be able to do it.
I think Tanguay's numbers will drop unless he really does play heavily with Iginla. (Assuming Iginla's 05/06 was an aberration of course) He's got nice numbers but they've never been decoupled from Sakic or Forsberg. I've never really rated Tanguay for that reason to be honest. It'll be interesting to see what he looks like away from those two.
Having Tanguay and Iginla is like having LaDainian Tomlinson at Running back and Terrel Owens at Wide receiver. The problem is you don't have a good quarterback to get them the ball.
Iginla was not the same player without Conroy, and Tanguay won't be the same player without Iginla.
The way I see it is now Calgary has another star player to underperform. Way to go Sutter!
Oops, I meant "Tanguay won't be the same player without Sakic"
sorry.
I expect Tanguay's numbers to drop--a bit--too, since the system/mentality in Calgary (regardless of if/how they tinker) is more defensive than Colorado.
I'm not concerned at all, though, about bing's take. I've noted this many times throughout the season: more than Iginla needs someone to feed him the puck, he needs someone to cash in the scoring chances that he creates, and Tanguay is that guy.
Plus, I'm still counting on Lombardi making a breakthrough and becoming more consistent on the attack.
Why in the world would you want J. Ruutu? You like a guy who takes bad penalties (and a lot of them) and isn't very good defensively?
By all means, make yourselves worse.
For the shootout! (And, much like everyone who becomes a Flame loses their scoring touch, everyone who becomes a Flame suddenly becomes good defensively).
Matt, for all this to work out, Lombardi has to make the leap. Right now, the Flames have good potential first, second(Tommy, Langkow, Kobasew) and fourth lines(Nilson, Yelle, Donovan) if Donovan resigns affordably. If Lombardi can't make the Horcoff leap, they're still thin up front.
That third line particularly looks like a black hole. Amonte? Lundmark? Your favourite, LeClerc? McCarty looks like a 13th forward at best. They still need at least one more good forward. A proper 3rd line center would likely be enough. Given the style the Flames play, a veteran defenceman so that they have 7 guys, including Giordano, that can play regularly is also a need.
I envision a Flames first line of Tanguay-Langkow-Iginla working out nicely. I'd peg Tanguay and Iginla to get roughly a point-per-game if they play together. Maybe I'm delirious, but I don't think it's unreasonable.
Of course, getting a certified 1st line centre this summer would be nice too.
Saying Tanguay-Lombardi-Iginla is anything more than a donut line is a little suspect, Fenwick; Lombardi hasn't even proved himself a Brendan Morrison-type, able to play over his head with good players, never mind shown the potential to be a member of the "best line in the league."
As for Ruutu, I agree with Golbez: if you really think the Flames need a guy to slash people and look silly in his own zone, I'll play for pretty cheap.
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A bit late, but better late than never. I think that Tanguay is definitely a good move by Sutter to improve the team. However, I eagerly wait to see the hit in his points total from playing under the Sutter system and the subsequent explosion in Leopold's points playing in Colorado.
# posted by 
: June 26, 2006 11:22 am
: June 26, 2006 11:22 am I don't think Leopold's points will explode in Colorado. Their d definitely gets better though. A healthy year from Warrener will go a long way to filling the tough minutes for the Flames. Phaneuf and Hamrlik won't be able to do it.
I think Tanguay's numbers will drop unless he really does play heavily with Iginla. (Assuming Iginla's 05/06 was an aberration of course) He's got nice numbers but they've never been decoupled from Sakic or Forsberg. I've never really rated Tanguay for that reason to be honest. It'll be interesting to see what he looks like away from those two.
Having Tanguay and Iginla is like having LaDainian Tomlinson at Running back and Terrel Owens at Wide receiver. The problem is you don't have a good quarterback to get them the ball.
Iginla was not the same player without Conroy, and Tanguay won't be the same player without Iginla.
The way I see it is now Calgary has another star player to underperform. Way to go Sutter!
# posted by : June 26, 2006 12:09 pm
: June 26, 2006 12:09 pm Oops, I meant "Tanguay won't be the same player without Sakic"
sorry.
# posted by : June 26, 2006 12:10 pm
: June 26, 2006 12:10 pm I expect Tanguay's numbers to drop--a bit--too, since the system/mentality in Calgary (regardless of if/how they tinker) is more defensive than Colorado.
I'm not concerned at all, though, about bing's take. I've noted this many times throughout the season: more than Iginla needs someone to feed him the puck, he needs someone to cash in the scoring chances that he creates, and Tanguay is that guy.
Plus, I'm still counting on Lombardi making a breakthrough and becoming more consistent on the attack.
Why in the world would you want J. Ruutu? You like a guy who takes bad penalties (and a lot of them) and isn't very good defensively?
By all means, make yourselves worse.
For the shootout! (And, much like everyone who becomes a Flame loses their scoring touch, everyone who becomes a Flame suddenly becomes good defensively).
Matt, for all this to work out, Lombardi has to make the leap. Right now, the Flames have good potential first, second(Tommy, Langkow, Kobasew) and fourth lines(Nilson, Yelle, Donovan) if Donovan resigns affordably. If Lombardi can't make the Horcoff leap, they're still thin up front.
That third line particularly looks like a black hole. Amonte? Lundmark? Your favourite, LeClerc? McCarty looks like a 13th forward at best. They still need at least one more good forward. A proper 3rd line center would likely be enough. Given the style the Flames play, a veteran defenceman so that they have 7 guys, including Giordano, that can play regularly is also a need.
# posted by : June 26, 2006 1:24 pm
: June 26, 2006 1:24 pm I envision a Flames first line of Tanguay-Langkow-Iginla working out nicely. I'd peg Tanguay and Iginla to get roughly a point-per-game if they play together. Maybe I'm delirious, but I don't think it's unreasonable.
Of course, getting a certified 1st line centre this summer would be nice too.
Saying Tanguay-Lombardi-Iginla is anything more than a donut line is a little suspect, Fenwick; Lombardi hasn't even proved himself a Brendan Morrison-type, able to play over his head with good players, never mind shown the potential to be a member of the "best line in the league."
As for Ruutu, I agree with Golbez: if you really think the Flames need a guy to slash people and look silly in his own zone, I'll play for pretty cheap.
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