Neuigkeiten » then at least reduce the impact

The next level. Barry Bonds Jersey . That is the aim for this seasons edition of the Calgary Flames under new general manager Brad Treliving, who sat down on Friday with TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie. For Treliving, success for the Flames this season will mean a step foward. "Ultimately, how is that step foward determined?" asked Treliving rhetorically. "We go into this season with the goal of making the playoffs and I dont think that should ever change. Our goal, our mission as an organization is to make the playoffs and we need to see progress and progress can be measured many ways. Weve got some internal indicators, but we need to see our team, collectively and each player, to make a step forward." In his first year with the Flames and his maiden voyage as an NHL general manager, following 11 seasons as both the assistant GM of the now-Arizona Coyotes and GM of their AHL-affiliate San Antonio Rampage, Treliving, thus far, has enjoyed working under the teams iconoclastic president of hockey operations, Brian Burke. "Its been everything Ive envisioned it to be," said Treliving of the relationship. "Brians my boss and a big part of the reason why I came to Calgary was having Brian there. Ive seen it over the course of the summer now the ability to share ideas, the ability to go a short distance to get opinions on things. Hes allowed me the ability to go out and make decisions and do what I feel is the necessary thing to do for the organization, but were working lockstep. Its not something where an idea or thought goes by without me sharing it with Brian and vice versa, but its been excellent. As I said, its been everything I thought it would be. Hes a guy with a great deal of experience. You dont have to ask him or push to share his opinion and its been a marvelous working relationship." Now almost five months into the job, Treliving sees the building blocks in place for the Flames. "As an outsider last year looking at this team, you couldnt help but respect or notice how hard it worked, how hard it competed," said Treliving. "The message were trying to have internally over the course of the summer is we have to not only maintain that, but we have to take that to another level. "I think its going to be an expectation of this team of some non-negotiable items and one is going to be how hard we work as an organization. Frankly, we cant afford not to when you look at where our team is in trying to grow our talent base. So that will be our number one and, number two, we need more. We need to improve." Chief on the list of things to improve for the team is goaltending. The clubs .899 save percentage as a team last season was third-worst in the NHL. To remedy that, Jonas Hiller was signed to a two-year deal worth $9 million. Though excited about the arrival of Hiller, Treviling was quick to state that his signing was not reproof of the performance of the incumbent netminder, Karri Ramo. "What I think what weve done is created competition in the net," explained Treliving. "The signing of Jonas in the summer was by no means an indictment of what Karri did. I think Karri, for coming back [to the NHL] had a strong season, especially late. But again, creating competition throughout the organization is only going to make us better. So thats a battle that will be interesting at the start of camp and going into the preseason and beyond. Ultimately, their performance will dictate who plays and how much." The concept of performance dictating play isnt something that will die with his goalies. Of that, Treliving is adamant and it will determine whether or not some of his prized young players will make Bob Hartleys squad. At the top of that list sits Sam Bennett. Taken fourth-overall in this past summers NHL Entry Draft, Bennett could leap right into the NHL, much like Sean Monahan did last season with the Flames. Taken sixth-overall in 2013, Monahan scored 20 goals in his rookie campaign. For his part, Treliving is quick to point out that the circumstances of the pair arent identical, but that Bennett certainly could be playing in the NHL this season. "The quick answer is yes," Treliving said as to whether or not Bennett has a real shot. "We spoke to our young guys the last couple of days and the message is, when youre 27th in the league, I dont think there are any spots that are locked up," explained Treliving. "Having said that, weve been honest and very open about it. I think the fact that Seans rookie season is so fresh in everybodys mind in Calgary, theres some distinctive differences when you look at the two players. Obviously, age. Theres almost a years difference from where Sean was last time and where Sam is this year. "I think Sam still has some development to do physically. So there are some areas [of concern and] we dont say those to deter Sam by any stretch and I know that hes singularly focused to come in and make this team and make the general managers comments make a little silly." The key for Treliving, though, remains whether or not the pro game is right for Bennett. "Ive said many times that theres lots of people who can play in the league," said Treliving. "Now, whether they can have success, whether they can help the team and, ultimately, whether its the right thing for them - those are questions, ultimately, Sam will answer for us over the course of the next few weeks." The same applies to Johnny Gaudreau. The winner of the 2014 Hobey Baker Award as a standout at Boston College, Gaudreau played in one game late last season for the Flames and scored in his appearance before going on to impress at the World Championship this past spring. As with Bennett, Treliving will not rush the 21-year-old. "Were going to go through step one and step one for him is going through the rookie camp," said Treliving of Gaudreau. "Were not going to worry about whos going to make the team. People dont make [the team] or get cut this week. Ultimately, his steps and his progression and his performance over the course of the next several weeks are going to determine where he and several other guys start. You cant deny the skill or the intelligence. How that translates, well see here in the coming weeks." Along with Bennett and Gaudreau, Treliving cites the likes of Markus Granlund and Corban Knight as "players on the cusp." While their potential may be tantalizing, Treliving is cautiously optimistic. "What theyll do and when theyre ready to play, whether its October, November, January or next year - thats the exciting thing for us," said Treliving of his young charges. "Were not going to force-feed people into the line-up who are not ready to, but I think weve got a number of guys right now who will make this camp interesting." If theres one thing that concerns Treliving about his team, its the ability to score goals. The team was 23rd last season in goals scored with 209, but Treliving acknowledges that generating offence is something that every team in the league has to worry about. "As much as you need to defend, you need to create," said Treliving. "Thats one thing when I look at our line-up right now - and I think were going to have some very interesting competition thoughout the line-up - goal-scoring and the ability to create offence is something you can never have enough and well see where were at in that area." Calgary Flames training camp opens on Thursday. Duane Kuiper Jersey . Alexander was released last week by the Edmonton Eskimos, where he spent the past three seasons at safety. He had 121 defensive tackles, five special teams tackles and seven interceptions in 51 regular-season and three playoff games. Will Clark Jersey . Halak, 28, split his eighth NHL seasons between the St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals, compiling a 29-13-7 record in 52 games. http://www.sfgiantsapparelsshop.com/bruce-bochy-jersey-c-13/ . On Wednesday night, they showed that stellar defence and a little small ball can get the job done too. With pinch-runner Kevin Pillar aboard after Dioner Navarro opened the bottom of the ninth with a single, Anthony Gose dropped down an excellent bunt along the first-base line.Im going to write in defence of Capitals RW Alex Ovechkin, if only because there have been some recent attacks and, while I can certainly live with them being directed at Ovechkin, the analytical process ought to be better, particularly if its going to be a hit piece on the leagues leading goal-scorer. Yes, Im writing to defend a player that is on pace for a 59-goal season, when the second-best goal-scorer in the NHL this season, Torontos Phil Kessel, is on pace for 43. Naturally, I didnt think that Ovechkin would be a player that needed much defending, but hes taken some hits lately. Im going to largely ignore his contributions on the power play because its not in any dispute that Ovechkin is great with the man advantage and can make a difference even when he doesnt score. On one side of the discussion, we have the Toronto Star, with their Department of Hockey Analytics, and while there are plenty of flaws in Ovechkins game, they somehow determined that his goals-for/against percentage was the way to illustrate the problem. Never mind that goals for/against percentage is essentially measuring plus-minus. Ill get to that in a moment but, first, also peruse the Hockey News piece by Ken Campbell who, after Ovechkin was minus-5 against Columbus, decided that Ovechkin has to decide what kind of player he is. After all, Ovechkin was minus-17 on the season after that game. Whats odd about using plus-minus to denigrate Ovechkins contributions is that anyone doing serious analytical work in hockey has been against using plus-minus because it involves so many factors beyond an individual players control (not least of which are the contributions of nine other skaters and two goaltenders when the game is 5-on-5) and, generally, involves small samples because goals are relatively rare events. Its funny to find myself in this position, because I can be a bit of an apologist for plus-minus. You spend enough time around the game and that thinking can be pretty common, and when the sample is large enough, you can get a pretty decent list of players at both ends of the spectrum. (For example, heres the list of players with the best cumulative plus-minus since 2000, and here are the worst.) But, Ive at least learned that there are many other factors that go into whether a player is a plus or minus player, and they must be considered if youre going to attempt to pass judgment on a single season or, especially, a portion of a season. So, lets take a look at some factors that are at play to make Alex Ovechkin a minus-17. First off, the shooting percentage of others on the ice with Ovechkin at 5-on-5 is ridiculously low. His 6.3% is only ahead of fourth-liners Aaron Volpatti and Jay Beagle among Capitals forwards. The suggestion could be made -- and of course it has been -- that Ovechkin isnt making those around him better, but here are the 5-on-5 on-ice shooting percentages when Ovechkin has been on the ice for the past five seasons: 10.36%, 8.62%, 8.05%, 11.76%, 9.09%. Youre really going to have to dig for reasons, other than poor luck and ineffective shooters, to explain even-strength shooting effectiveness declining by 40% over last season, especially when Ovechkin himself is shooting 10.6% (18 goals, 170 shots) at 5-on-5. Taking away Ovechkins 18 goals on 170 shots, leaves the other Capitals to score eight goals on 242 shots (3.3%) with Ovechkin on the ice. Marcus Johansson, his most common left winger, has one goal on 51 shots. This undeniably effects plus-miinus, right? Of course it does. Deion Sanders Jersey. Give Ovechkin an average on-ice shooting percentage (say, 8%) and that is a difference of about seven goals. At the other end of the rink, Ovechkin is getting burned with a .909 save percentage at 5-on-5. Naturally, the argument will be that Ovechkins defensive play is what leads to that low percentage. Keep in mind, that percentage is well below career norms for him (.922 over the past five seasons, including this one) and ranks near the bottom on the Capitals roster. Use that typical save percentage, on 439 shots against, and that becomes a difference of 5-6 goals. So, why not take a look at where the shots are coming from with Ovechkin on the ice? According to Some Kind of Ninjas Shot Tracker, shots against the Capitals with Ovechkin on the ice at even strength, come from an average distance of 34.5 feet. In the previous five seasons, it has been 34.2, 36.6, 35.8, 34.6 and 35.9 feet on average. There can be an argument made, based on those average shot distances, that Ovechkins most effective defensive performances were in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 (the Dale Hunter season), but there really isnt a huge difference; goaltenders arent suddenly flummoxed by 34-foot shots when 36-footers are easy pickings. On top of that, best of luck trying to identify those particular seasons as anything close to Ovechkins best. Why? Because he scored 70 goals and 150 points in 157 games over those two seasons, producing the two lowest point scoring rates of his career. Yes, even lower than this season, when virtually no one else puts the puck in the net with him on the ice. Of course Ovechkin is not a defensive whiz, but that shouldnt stand as an indictment any more than it has for elite offensive players throughout the history of the game. Seriously, take a look at the Top 10 goal-scorers in the league, none of whom put the puck in the net like Ovechkin, and identify the ones that are notably strong backcheckers. Some are: Joe Pavelski, Alexander Steen, Patrick Sharp, but theres no reason to believe that right wingers Kessel or Corey Perry or Patrick Kane are doing brilliant work in the defensive end. Heres the thing: theyre all great players! Part of the trouble for Ovechkin is that the Capitals havent been able to win in the postseason, so he gets painted with the brush of failure for a whole host of team shortcomings. Thats what comes with being a superstar. This Capitals team is flawed. They rank in the bottom third of the league in Fenwick Close (measuring shot attempts, not including blocks, at even strength, with the score close), which is a good indication of team puck possession, yet Ovechkin has relatively solid possession numbers. If you want to break down a players overall contribution, and feel that you must use one statistic in order to do so (better yet, dont), then at least reduce the impact of others on the ice and look at the possession stats, because it wont matter that linemates arent finishing or that, for whatever reason, goaltenders arent stopping the puck. Shooting and save percentages fluctuate and while they affect perception -- just ask Tyler Bozak -- they dont get to the bottom of a players on-ice contribution, and so it is with Ovechkin this year, who is having a fine season, no matter what his plus-minus says. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '