Hanifin has been our best defenseman this season. Why are you demoting him?

I wouldn't rule out Ben Jones being called up either.


Toffoli is the whipping boy for some reason. He's been as good as you could hope. The issue has been Huberdeau really struggling in the first 10 games.

How do you figure, he hasn't contributed offensively and is -4? Zadorov has been our best defensemen this year

I like to have one offensive d-man partnered with a defensive one and in this case, one NHL Veteran on each Pairing to shelter the new guys. So put Hanifin who is defense 1st, but also has a good pass and shot with the rookie DeSimone who is better offensively and would need more protection and sheltering

Andersson gets his points from being on the PP as a puck distributor, but I'm not that impressed by his shot or offensive presence 5on5 from the point. The only goal he has this season is from a break away coming out of the penalty box. Stone, Hanifin, Weegar and Zadorov have much better and far more dangerous shots, so Andersson would be the defensive guy allowing Weegar the freedom to be more offensive like he was back in FLA

Zadorov has been doing it all this year, crushing hits, good defense, puck control and passing with his very effective long reach and jumping in to the rush which has him leading all defensemen with 3 goals, good enough to be tied for 3rd most goals on the team. Put him with the Defense first Meloche

Not sure what happened with Stone or how long Tanev or Kylington will be out, but Mackey hasn't played well enough in his 3 Games Played and Hanifin & Anderson have sucked together since the regular season last year, so time to switch things up. If Weegar becomes the #1 LD like I think he eventually will, I see Hanifin being moved by next off-season tbh

100% Agreed, Ben Jones seems to be having the best start of all Wranglers. I'd call him, Phillips or Zohorna up before Zary & Pelletier

Yes, Toffoli is getting hate for being too slow on that line, but he's still a very effective player and only Kadri is hotter and playing better than him right now. I'd like to see Toffoli at LW with Backlund & Coleman eventually. In the meantime, nobody wants to try Phillips (who can obviously score) or Ruzicka at RW with Huberdeau, so would you go Kadri, Mang, Dube, Coleman, Lewis or Ritchie?

I think Mang should go back with Backs & Coleman for now, because I really don't want to break up Coleman & Backlund, Dube's > Ritchie & Lewis, but in the end Kadri's the best out of all of them

Lewis on the 2nd line is a sure bet to equal disaster.

Why!? He's a Hard Working, Defensively Responsible Centre with Decent Speed & Good Checking. He's an effective Penalty Killer against other Teams Top Forwards, so I don't see the issue

Let's see what chemistry Dube & Toffoli can create together with Lewis trailing and being a shoot first/get puck on net type guy for Dube & Toffoli to clean up the garbage rebounds.

Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman, should eventually be the 2nd line, but Dube-Lewis-Toffoli currently deserve more ice time than those 3 and Sutter won't play Ruzicka, so what other options are there?

Put Dube at 1RW and Kadri @at either 1C or 2C, which would work OR throw Zary to the wolves at 2C?

I just think Kadri at 1RW for a few games will help Huberdeau & Lindholm's games & confidence tremendously

+/- is a joke of a stat. Andersson is -6. Dont use that as an argument lmao

DeSimone turns 28 in 2 weeks, he's not going to play over Mackey even in a call up, hell Poirier would probably get a call up first. He's not some rookie with potential You are literally just bringing him up because of the way he holds his stick.

Zadorov has definitely played more sheltered minutes than all of the top 4, thats not up for debate. Also Hanifin despite missing a game still leads the team in takeaways by quite a bit.

Weegar being on the team should have zero effect on whether Hanifin stays or not. That's like saying NYI should trade Pulock because they have Dobson, Pelech, and Romanov. Or Colorado should trade Toews because they have Makar and Byram. Or Carolina with Pesce because of Slavin and Burns

DeSimone & Gilbert were both just called up, should have been Meloche instead of Gilbert but I guess I’m on to something, hey!?

I know +/- isn’t the greatest stat, but it is what it is. More goals are going in while Hanifin & Andersson are on the ice than the other defenders who also play against the other teams top players from time to time. Can’t match the lines 100% of the time. If they can’t stop the speed the Oilers & Devils bring, than they’re not good enough to win in the playoffs

That’s a lot of money tied up on defence come next season and clearly we need a Top-6 Forward so might have to move Hanifin to do that and having Weegar, makes that decision easier is all. I’d prefer Kylington to be moved but he’s not going to bring back a 1.00PPG+ forward by himself, whereas Hanifin should

I think it takes a top 6 injury for Phillips to get a recall. If it's a bottom 6, it's Zohorna/Jones/Duehr. +/- is what it is, but Zary is a -11 with the Wranglers. I don't place a to into that stat but when it's by far the worst on the team, it's something to look at. Pelletier is having a bit of a slower start to the season

1. Predicting recalls when Stone goes on IR, Tanev is injured but not on IR and we are leaving on an east coast road trip, isn't "being onto something", it's basic common sense that the Flames would want 7 healthy defensmen on the road, they would have recalled someone before Saturday's game but w/ the Wranglers and Flames both at home, there was 0 need.

2. Hanifin & Andersson are our top pairing, and have been for 2 seasons, don't mess with that.

3. Based on your Wranglers comments throughout the thread you haven't watched them at all. Jones has been okay, but in no way has he been better than Pelletier or Zary. And Meloche has been much worse than Gilbert and DeSimone.

Zary has been one of the better Wranglers, with watching all the games, I am actually shocked his +/- is so bad. The Wranglers biggest issues are no offensive luck (they are finally getting some today), giving up too many quality chances through godawful defensive play, and bad penalties (Duehr, I'm looking at you)

Poirier can't play defense in the AHL, he would get destroyed by NHL players. Calling up DeSimone and Gilbert was 100% the right call.

I definitely wouldn't say you were on to something, the Wranglers defense has been pretty brutal this year so expectations should not be high at all.

9 games is still far too early to call them out considering they were a a top 5 pairing in the league last year.

With no changes to the d-core next season they sit at just a bit over 30% of the cap, which is completely reasonable. For example Colorado sits at around 38% this year. That should drop to around 33-34% next year with Byram's raise and Johnson coming off though. The only reason to move Hanifin is if he won't sign an extension.

I don’t know if it’s high expectations or just hope by trying some of these guys out, we might discover something internally. To me, they can’t do much worse, so give it a whirl. It might make the regulars reflect and compete more

We haven’t seen Weegar with Andersson yet, so let’s see it now given Hanifin is struggling. Even if it’s just for a few games. Keep adjusting until there’s something worth giving time too and being patient while it develops further

Also, I’m just not a very patient person and if things are going well I like to do something about it, not leave it as is

Sounds like you know the Wranglers better than I do, so we’ll go with your assessment. C’mon who would have thought DeSimone. I thought Meloche looked better in Training Camp than Gilbert and is hoping he’s a 3rd Pairing Shut Down & PK Specialist. Is he not playing well!?

I hear ya on the puck luck and I’ve heard Poirier’s defensive ability was pretty suspect before. Good to know

I’d still like to see what Weegar & Andersson looks like together.

Why do you say Hanifin is struggling though when he's not? For example, yesterday the first 2 goals against were because of Mackey and Ras not covering the man in front. If anything the reason to separate Hanifin and Ras is because Ras is struggling

You might just be right there, good point

Interesting how Gilbert & DeSimone are taken out and the Wranglers explode though, hey!? Hmm 🤔

Because the defensemen were the reason the forwards weren't scoring? What a dumb reply. Especially since I pointed out there lack of offensive luck before that game.

Relax, it was just an observation.

Poirier & Meloche had good games anyways