The long five day break: Good or Bad for the Flames?

[Zamboniman]

With the rest of the league notching up 32 games each or whatever it is by now, and the Flames sitting pretty at a lowly 4 games played (lowest in the league), will this hurt or help their chances in the next few weeks?

The good: A chance to learn, regroup, fix any problems noticed in the first few games (Hartley's training camp 2.0). A chance for a few bumps and bruises to heal (or, apparently, a few new ones to crop up). A chance for the new guys to gel with the coaches, team and system.


The bad: Watching everyone else continue to play and get further into game shape. Watching themselves, through no fault of their own, falling behind in the standings. An even more compressed schedule from here on in.

More good or more bad? What's the verdict?

[Young-Sneezy]

good for the team, bad for Young-Sneezy.

[Samiz]

Fun Fact: For the remainder of the season, the Flames get no longer than a 2 full day break between games, and this happens only 7 times. Also they have 7 occasions when they play on consecutive days.

Crazy schedule. I'm hoping the 4 full day break will help them out. It should be to their advantage to take some extra time getting used to Hartley's system

[1_Flames_Fan]

If they win tomorrow = good, if they lose = bad

[Dion]

It's good for practicing special teams and players getting accustomed to thier line mates. Some team bonding with the new players.

[Lego Man]

I think it's good. Hudler and Cervenka get a few more days to adjust and the whole team gets used to the new coaching staff. I think that any rust the Flames show after 4 days off will be negated by playing the next two teams on the second game of the back-to-back anyways.

Plus, I also think that once Iginla starts to score regularly - we won't want any 3 or 4 days breaks. Can't have him losing his mojo.

[Trojan97]

If they can have a hot next 10 games (14-15/20 points) it will probably be a good thing. Hot teams who are playing with confidence don't seem to have as much trouble playing every other night. If they struggle, I could see this season snowballing and getting out of hand in a hurry.

[Itse]

I'm thinking good. Iginla mentioned in an interview (on the Flames site) that the new system is "quite different from anything that I've played for a long time" and that there's a lot of new detail to take in.

Basicly, without these few days it might have taken quite a while for Hartley to make the transition from Sutters system to his own happen.

Also, it gives a chance to get two very important forwards in Cervenka and Hudler up to speed.

[dammage79]

Should be a good four days off. Like others have said, time to adjust and hammer out some of the finer details with Hartleys system.

[Henry Fool]

Should be very important. Much of the time, teams barely have time to practice this season.

[flamesfever]

nm

[DeluxeMoustache]

Agree with the sentiment that it gives Hartley a training camp, effectively. So many players underachieved the past 3 seasons and breaking old habits is hard. It took Brent a couple of months to, ahem, fix the team.

And selfishly, good for me, being off the mainland for the week.

[BACKCHECK!!!]

A little too much of a good thing, IMO. You want a chance to settle into new lines (and positions in some cases), and the new way of doing things with the new coach. But practices are going o be hard to come by this season, and it's probably not so great to get your entire season's worth between games 3 and 5, and then just grind out the rest of the season.

[bubbsy]

this avs game is a game that a half decent team needs to win, and i'm not clear if the flames fit this description just yet.

Facing a team without arguably it's top line (landeskog, o'rielly, downie), team playing back to back, and a team that's lost 2 in a row, plus the fact the flames have been off for forever, tons of time to practice, flames neeed to win.

[calgary2220]

Probably would have been better to have this break about 20 games in, not 4.

[FlamesAddiction]

Bad. After missing the first half of the season and most of training camp, the last thing they needed was a break. Other teams now have a step up in both chemistry and getting into game shape.

I know they were practicing during this time, but nothing whips into shape faster than actually playing. Plus, it's just more time for Iginla to get going.

[killer_carlson]

Good. A chance to reinforce system in a mini-camp. Team had a few games to try it out, and now have the chance to work on things after having experienced mistakes in games.

For a team with a new coach, this is just what the Dr ordered.

[SofaProfessor]

If this was a regular season, I would say a prolonged break is a bad thing. But let's keep in mind we're early in a short, condensed season where teams had shortened training camps. A long break like this is a good chance to work on some stuff that may not have received enough practice time. Plus, a break when everyone is playing pretty much every second night should mean the Flames have some fresh legs. Let's just hope they didn't lose their edge.

[foshizzle11]

A little too much of a good thing, IMO. You want a chance to settle into new lines (and positions in some cases), and the new way of doing things with the new coach. But practices are going o be hard to come by this season, and it's probably not so great to get your entire season's worth between games 3 and 5, and then just grind out the rest of the season.

I couldn't disagree more. They didn't have a training camp, many new guys with a new coach. This is perfect opportunity to fine tune in practice. Get more of a read on the competition, understand our system and have more success as a group because of being together on the ice for a longer time than most other teams.

[PeteLFan]

I think it sucks because you want to be rested going down the stretch. Calgary played a good game vs Vancouver and by all accounts a good one against the oilers. A few players started to get into a groove then boom off for four days.

They don't need any rest right now after a mere 4 games. Hopefully Hartley kept the practices intense.

[Parallex]

It's good I'd say. A mere 1 week training camp, a new coaching staff, even less time with new roster members (Hudler/Cervenka), and a winger having to acclimate himself to playing first line center... yeah I'd say that the Flames needed a extra couple of days off early to get all the gears working together more then a very slightly less compressed schedule later on.

[StrykerSteve]

Baertschi was hurt during this "mini training camp", so I'd say it was a bad thing.

[Enoch Root]

All else equal, I would say bad - it would have been better to have it later in the season.

However, considering their very short training camp under a new coach, plus the late additions of Hudler and Cervesa, and Iginla's training camp injury, it could turn out very welcome.

But if they come out flat tonight because of the break, it will have been all for nothing

[edn88]

I think we will see based on the results of their next 5 games. I think having extra time for coaches and players to work on systems has to be a benefit.

Unfortunately a lot of teams have been making hay and putting up points during that time - which puts a lot of pressure to keep up - the Flames have to be looking at the standings, knowing they need three wins over the next three games to keep up. That might be good pressure, it might be bad pressure.

[dino7c]

its bad because it means they have the most compressed sched in the NHL now...fewest games played and don't play on the last day. Also, 2 guys injured at practice

[Komskies]

We have 3 months to fit in 44 games. Unfortunately I think we are going to see lots of injuries (all team in the league will).

On the good side, I'm glad Hartley is utilizing more roster players, even if that means playing Butler.