TSN: Chris Johnston on That’s Hockey on what the Calgary Flames should do at the trade deadline.
Gino Reda: “The Flames are right there on the play bubble right now, actually just percentage points out of the wild card (Monday night). What are their plans between now and the deadline.”
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Johnston: “Well I think it’s very much in Brad Treliving’s mind to be adding to this team. He’s been looking throughout much of the season to bolster them upfront with another forward. Perhaps someone for the top-six. They could probably use another defenseman.
All those things are great but what the front office of the Calgary Flames still need to see, is what this team is. I think that they are as perplexed as the rest of the hockey world. About the ups and downs of the roster. Things have not really gelled.
They’ve had some hot stretches. Even the game over the weekend, they go down a couple goals, they score a whole bunch. I think that really, it’s a bit of holding pattern to see where they’re at as get as close to March 3rd as possible.
Ultimately I think they’re going to add but they’re not adding just yet. They want to see where the groups going to be at come deadline.
Jeff O’Neill: “They could have performance wise trade CJ for free with some of the players they have on their roster. Just performing to a normal level type of standard Gino. And everybody knows who I’m talking about.
There’s two or three guys on the Flames roster, you watch the highlights, you watch the games, you’re just not seeing their names enough.
Darryl Sutter said it the best the other day, the opposition scored a big goal at 1-1 to make it 2-1, we’ve been saying that a lot this year. When the coach says that, he’s like, our key guys have not shown up enough in big games. So that’s what they’re looking for.
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Jonathan Huberdeau, he’s just got to be more of an impactful player. He’s capable. He almost won the Hart Trophy last year. And it doesn’t have to be Hart Trophy-type quality play, it just has to be better than it is. Better than what it is. Better than what it is. Bring something to the table and be an impactful player when the game is on the line. That’s why you’re there. That’s why you get paid what you do.
