Todd Cordell: A closer look at the Derek Ryan and Austin Czarnik signings

Czarnik is going to be an interesting one to watch. Little baffled Boston didn't just re-sign him. At the end of the day you can bury most of his salary.

Czarnik is what the Oilers hope Yamamoto turns into.

love both signings, treliving has done a great job filling out the bottom of the lineup. Add in mang, dube, and foo and that's a whole lot of depth. Talented depth too not the trash we've had for the last couple seasons.

Czarnik is what the Oilers hope Yamamoto turns into.
- Razzdazzle1

A guy that is maybe making the NHL at 25 or could be done at 26?

Flames line up as of today. Pre preseason that is.

JG-SM-JN
MT-MB-EL
SB-DR-MF
TB-MJ-AC
(CL)

MG-TJB
NH-TH
BK-RA
(MS)

MS-DR
(JG)

Can’t wait to see what preseason brings out of the kids. Lots of players challenging for spots. Gonna be the best season in a while. Is it September yet?!?

Flames line up as of today. Pre preseason that is.

JG-SM-JN
MT-MB-EL
SB-DR-MF
TB-MJ-AC
(CL)

MG-TJB
NH-TH
BK-RA
(MS)

MS-DR
(JG)

Can’t wait to see what preseason brings out of the kids. Lots of players challenging for spots. Gonna be the best season in a while. Is it September yet?!?
- Flamin_Irishmin

I almost want to switch Czarnik for Frolick. Do not think Fro is a good fit for that 3rd line.

Time will tell.

Flames line up as of today. Pre preseason that is.

JG-SM-JN
MT-MB-EL
SB-DR-MF
TB-MJ-AC
(CL)

MG-TJB
NH-TH
BK-RA
(MS)

MS-DR
(JG)

Can’t wait to see what preseason brings out of the kids. Lots of players challenging for spots. Gonna be the best season in a while. Is it September yet?!?
- Flamin_Irishmin

I bet they keep the 3M line together and put Bennett, Jankowski, and Lindholm on a line. 4th line should be Mangiapane, Ryan, and Czarnik. Hopefully they can roll all 4 lines this year.

Brouwer can be the healthy scratch guy and fire Lazar into the sun.

Ya I would rather see AC on that 3rd line, poor janko....

Really excited to see Czarnik come October. By the way the management talk about him, he seems to be a lock for the team.

My bold prediction is he'll put up 40 points in a bottom-6 role this year leading to the end of the Bennett era in Calgary who will get traded by the TDL.

Genuinely hoping SB finds his path this year but it hasn't looked good for him. An up-and-coming Czarnik could make him expendable.

Really excited to see Czarnik come October. By the way the management talk about him, he seems to be a lock for the team.

My bold prediction is he'll put up 40 points in a bottom-6 role this year leading to the end of the Bennett era in Calgary who will get traded by the TDL.

Genuinely hoping SB finds his path this year but it hasn't looked good for him. An up-and-coming Czarnik could make him expendable.
- LittleBroDougie

To be fair he's never really had great linemates or consistent ones. Perhaps playing with guys like Ryan or Frolik will help him

A guy that is maybe making the NHL at 25 or could be done at 26?
- Lahey

Lmao hopefully he's just getting started... but ya pretty much!

Honestly would rather see a top-9 like this:

JG - SM - EL
MT - MB - JN
SB - DR - MF
SF/AM - MJ - AC
TB

Lindholm has been good at FO when he's played as a C (allowing FO flexibility on the top line) while also adding a RH shot for multiple shooting threats. I watched a highlight video of him from last year and he has a quick release - something JG would tee for him.

Next Neal with MB and MT would create a lethal 2nd line scoring combo which would ease pressure off the top line.

SB gets sheltered by highly defensive yet play-driving forwards allowing him to play more relaxed and not worry about mistakes. Again, DR provides the RH/LH stability to the line.

4th line is the most flexible. Janko and AC are probably locks but I'd love to see Mang/Foo push Brouwer out of a spot.

Should be a fun year (I hope)

Really excited to see Czarnik come October. By the way the management talk about him, he seems to be a lock for the team.

My bold prediction is he'll put up 40 points in a bottom-6 role this year leading to the end of the Bennett era in Calgary who will get traded by the TDL.

Genuinely hoping SB finds his path this year but it hasn't looked good for him. An up-and-coming Czarnik could make him expendable.
- LittleBroDougie

What possible reason could you have for thinking Czarnik will outplay Bennett? He's older, less skilled, and has done less than Bennett with his NHL time. Mangiapane was just as effective in the AHL last year, and didn't look like he'd be stealing Bennett's job any time soon.

Czarnik is also tiny. Getting rid of Bennett for him would be a huge mistake.

To be fair he's never really had great linemates or consistent ones. Perhaps playing with guys like Ryan or Frolik will help him
- FLAM3SFAN

See my latest post - I completely agree with you

Really excited to see Czarnik come October. By the way the management talk about him, he seems to be a lock for the team.

My bold prediction is he'll put up 40 points in a bottom-6 role this year leading to the end of the Bennett era in Calgary who will get traded by the TDL.

Genuinely hoping SB finds his path this year but it hasn't looked good for him. An up-and-coming Czarnik could make him expendable.
- LittleBroDougie

Traded for who???? Nobody's going to give us anything of value for him, and if all else fails he'd be a great 4th line grinder. It's not like his salary is hurting the team.

What possible reason could you have for thinking Czarnik will outplay Bennett? He's older, less skilled, and has done less than Bennett with his NHL time. Mangiapane was just as effective in the AHL last year, and didn't look like he'd be stealing Bennett's job any time soon.

Czarnik is also tiny. Getting rid of Bennett for him would be a huge mistake.
- Hunkulese

It's a bold prediction - it doesn't have to have any rationale to it

I've never seen AC play (what metric are using for "skill"? Neither of us have watched him play) so I'm just going on the hype around his history. He never really had much NHL playing time either so it's hard to compare the two.

AM had a very short stint with the team and was left on the 4th line which is hardly a fair comparison.

Traded for who???? Nobody's going to give us anything of value for him, and if all else fails he'd be a great 4th line grinder. It's not like his salary is hurting the team.
- Razzdazzle1

The concept of a bold prediction appears lost around here

I'm sure a handful of teams would be willing to trade another prospect who needs a change of scenery for a player with a high pedigree such as SB.

The concept of a bold prediction appears lost around here

I'm sure a handful of teams would be willing to trade another prospect who needs a change of scenery for a player with a high pedigree such as SB.
- LittleBroDougie

Need to actually come up with a bold prediction for others to see it like that.

It's a bold prediction - it doesn't have to have any rationale to it

I've never seen AC play (what metric are using for "skill"? Neither of us have watched him play) so I'm just going on the hype around his history. He never really had much NHL playing time either so it's hard to compare the two.

AM had a very short stint with the team and was left on the 4th line which is hardly a fair comparison.
- LittleBroDougie

What hype? He went undrafted, played well in the AHL (which a lot of undersized players are able to do), didn't do much in his first 50 games with the Bruins, and didn't make their team last year.

There's really not much to say he'll be any better than Mangiapane or Foo, let alone Bennett.

What hype? He went undrafted, played well in the AHL (which a lot of undersized players are able to do), didn't do much in his first 50 games with the Bruins, and didn't make their team last year.

There's really not much to say he'll be any better than Mangiapane or Foo, let alone Bennett.
- Hunkulese

I never said he was going to be better than SF or AM! I made a prediction for what I think he could reach and that's it. Stop reading so much into it. Peters mentioned he might see some PP2 time so 40 points on a team with this much forward depth isn't out of the question.

SB has been in trade rumours since the start of 2016-17 which usually spells the end of a player's time in the city.

These signings fill out our depth well. We have no reason not to be scoring now.

As for all of this Bennett talk, if he doesn't show anything this year then he'll be on his way out. No matter what line he plays on we shouldn't be able to use the "crappy linemates" excuse we've given him for years. This is his make or break season, I think. This will he the year that we see if it really was his linemates, or if he's just a bust.

The less predetermined the roster is; the better off the Flames will be.

When I first saw the announcement of the preseason games in China I was pretty happy that the Flames would likely be sending the bulk of the guys that will be making the opening day roster so they would actually start playing with each other sooner, and not going through the painful split squad games. The idea of them getting an earlier start at developing as lines was appealing.

Now, I almost don't like it, because there will be some previous notion ideas about how the line-up should look, versus simply judging the skill and talent based on what they earn in training camp!

I just want them to ice the best team possible, even if that means buying out Brouwer, waiving Lazar, or otherwise moving out, or down the guys that didn't earn an opening day roster spot.

These signings fill out our depth well. We have no reason not to be scoring now.

As for all of this Bennett talk, if he doesn't show anything this year then he'll be on his way out. No matter what line he plays on we shouldn't be able to use the "crappy linemates" excuse we've given him for years. This is his make or break season, I think. This will he the year that we see if it really was his linemates, or if he's just a bust.
- Helios

Why would the Flames get rid of him? He'll be an RFA again. Even if has another 26 point season, he's still worth bringing back at the price it'll cost them.

It's going to take a step back from Bennett and major steps forward from their AHL Allstars to even consider not bringing Bennett back.

The less predetermined the roster is; the better off the Flames will be.

When I first saw the announcement of the preseason games in China I was pretty happy that the Flames would likely be sending the bulk of the guys that will be making the opening day roster so they would actually start playing with each other sooner, and not going through the painful split squad games. The idea of them getting an earlier start at developing as lines was appealing.

Now, I almost don't like it, because there will be some previous notion ideas about how the line-up should look, versus simply judging the skill and talent based on what they earn in training camp!

I just want them to ice the best team possible, even if that means buying out Brouwer, waiving Lazar, or otherwise moving out, or down the guys that didn't earn an opening day roster spot.
- InSutterWeTrust

Completely agree. The more competition there is for roster spots, the better the roster is going to be. I'm completely fine if Brouwer has to sit in the press box because Mangiapane outplayed him and took a spot. I'm equally fine if Brouwer is in the lineup and Mangiapane isn't because Mangiapane didn't earn it. What I'm not okay with is Brouwer being in despite Mangiapane playing well enough to take his spot or Mangiapane being in when he didn't play well enough to earn it.

Ice the best possible team and deal with what you have to with your roster after.