The Big Monday Thing - Turns Out You Don't Win Every Game
sometimes you score less than six goals in one match. were you aware of this?
I remember early on in Sean Monahan’s career, I thought he was a bit like a golden retriever puppy. A little naive, maybe kinda clumsy, but handsome, loyal, just a great dog overall, and destined to be great (every golden retriever in this history of the world has been an A+ pooch). Over time I felt like that analogy held up, as Monahan blossomed into a 30 goal scorer and a major part of the core of the Calgary Flames. He was a good boy.
Today, I hate this analogy, and I hate myself for ever thinking it up, because I can’t help but wonder if Monahan, like many aging retrievers, has hip dysplasia. And it sucks.
Our friends at The Win Column recently broke down Monahan’s injury history, and it’s pretty jarring to see all of it collected in one place. You start to see how a man who once was tabbed to be the face of the franchise is now one procedure away from perhaps having his on ice career behind him entirely. It’s a bummer.
We can debate at length as to whether the team should have been letting him play knowing he was injured (I think it’s pretty bad!), but the bottom line is, Monahan’s days as a productive member of the Calgary Flames are over. Objectively, the team has no choice but to find ways to part with Sean, as this business is always moving forward. But the part of my brain that also keeps me loving Sam Bennett unconditionally wants the Flames to do right by their one time star. I don’t know what that looks like, or when it happens and what it costs, but there needs to be something. He’s earned it. He’s literally given his body for his team.
The Week of: March 28th - April 3rd
Results From Past Week: Big thanks to Mike for taking the reigns in this space last week. For me, I’m coming back to review, hold on, let me check out the results from the past seven days, and…oh. Oh God! Maybe I’ll take another week off.
Okay, in the end, maybe it’s not as bad as the results look. The Flames lost to the Avalanche 2-1, and to the Kings in a shootout a couple of days later, and it’s not unfair to say they got goalie’d in both contests. Darcy Kuemper is the last thing I’m going to see before I die at this point, but getting ethered by someone named Cal Petersen is really hard to take.
Luckily the Flames looked like regular, traditional shit in a lacklustre 6-4 loss to the St. Louis Blues to round things out. That game was torture to sit through.
Blech.
Flames Overall Record: 40-18-9, 89 pts
Standings: 1st place in the Pacific Division, 3rd in the Western Conference. A lot of goodwill and banked points prevented a slumping team from doing a freefall in the standings, but they have been surpassed in points by the Minnesota Wild. Calgary technically remains in second due to being the Pacific Division leader and Minnesota has the misfortune of being in the same group as Colorado, but since we here at the Scorchstack are champions of both math and realism, we’re cutting through the bullshit. They’re third.
Soundtrack: ROSE STREET - Vince Staples
Pretty simple: Vince Staples releases a new song, new song immediately gets shared. Vince rocks.
What We Liked:
I’ve been meaning to invest some time in this for a few weeks now and things kept happening that needed more immediate attention, but seeing as not much broke in the direction of “things we like” this week, it’s finally time to put a bit of a shine on the Flames top pairing of Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin, who have somewhat quietly been having stellar seasons.
While it’s true that the blueline as a whole has famously been a boon for the Flames this season, Hanifin and Rasmus has been steadily good to great from the puck drop of Game 1. There is a lot of attention given to Chris Tanev bringing out the best in Oliver Kylington during their own respective career years, and equal amplification to the pairing of Nikita Zadorov and Erik Gudbranson being shockingly good against every conceivable odd, but the top pairing has excelled in every facet of the game, and they deserve the dap. Hanifin and Rasmus have both been (not unfairly) the targets of legitimate concern from the fanbase at times over the past couple of seasons, and there were even doubts going into the year about the efficacy of the duo, given that they both seemed like players that need a boost from a Tanev type instead of relying on each other.
They’ve made us all look stupid and I couldn’t be more pleased. Whether they are thriving under the structure Darryl Sutter has created for them, or they are both peaking in their primes, or both, this has been a coming out party for them, and it’s been incredibly fun to watch.
I’d post some charts, but you’ve already seen all of them. Lots of blue bars this year.
What We Would Prefer Not To See:
I am…uneasy…about Jacob Markstrom. Not worried, not overwrought by any stretch, but some bad thoughts are creeping in.
I’ve been saying all season long - because this has been going on all season long - that it’s a bad idea to overwork him. Coming down the stretch and into the playoffs, you want your franchise goalie to be fresh and on top of his game. He’s still a team MVP for the year, and if it weren’t for Igor Shesterkin going Hasek mode in New York, he’d be a clear frontrunner for the Vezina, so I don’t want this to be miscontrued as me saying Markstrom has been bad. But since the trade deadline, an era where the Flames are now in their final form, they have played six games, with Markstrom getting the nod in all of them. In four of those games, he’s turned in sub .900 save percentages. The other two were brilliant performances against the Avalanche and Kings, which ended with unfavourable results you likely wouldn’t replicate if you tried them again, so there are a lot of positives as well, but this still bears repeating: Do Not Wear Him Out.
Markstrom is 6’6” and a shade under 200 pounds. The way a goalie stands and moves around over the course of a hockey game is slightly unnatural, and it can put a lot of wear and tear on you when you have that much meat to carry around on top of it. I don’t think he’s injured by any stretch, but no matter how good of shape you can be in, that will tire you out after a while.
Dan Vladar is very good, and he’s right there. He’s available to you at any time. Give Markstrom some rest. It’ll mean so much more when the games REALLY start to matter.
Enemy of the Week:
Who in the fuck is Mark Giordano and who does he think he is anyway?
We are throwing out the Forever A Flames banner with #5 on it. Get out of here.
What Comes Next:
Maybe the Flames would be better off if human Dust Bunny Drew Doughty weren’t injured, and you know what, I’m not finishing that thought, forget I ever said it. The Los Angeles Kings host the Flames tonight, a rematch with, let’s hope, a better outcome. The team rolls on the rest of the way with a pretty fun road trip through California with back to backs against the Ducks and Sharks midweek, and spends their Saturday in Seattle against the Kraken.
Very jealous of the Calgary Flames right now.
Seattle Mariners Rookie Alert Of The Week:
Spring Training is essentially over, and baseball is in the air! As the Official Calgary Flames Newsletter of the Seattle Mariners, we’re pleased to announce that Matt Brash has earned his spot as the team’s 5th starter in the rotation, while rookie sensation Julio Rodriguez has indeed found his way onto the team as well (wonder if an inside the park home run has anything to do with that?)
In related news, newly acquired star Jesse Winker is indeed That Guy:
Go Mariners.
Unrelated Fact:
Ring of Honor wrestling made it’s triumphant return this past weekend, following an insanely successful Supercard of Honor, and all is right in the world. If you don’t follow The Business, I’ll make this quick: ROH was at one time maybe the most important promotion in the world, with it’s influence on the industry still overwhelmingly evident today. For a variety of reasons it fell by the wayside over the years, but having some very strong new financial backing and a commitment to return it to its glory, holy shit, I could not be more excited.
Here is a post card press conference with FTR, fresh off an instant classic, best of all time contending match with the Briscoe Brothers. They love this shit, and so do I.
See You Next Week:
Did something happen at the Oscars? I was too busy giving money to charity.