Quote:
Originally Posted by Weiser Wonder
It wasn't a talented team but it was a well built team. It was strong down the middle, good defensively, tough, young, fast along with two franchise players in their prime.
Craig Conroy was not just a second line center. He was elite defensively, good offensively, fast and big. He was a very valuable player. As was Stephane Yelle, who didn't add much scoring but was also elite defensively.
The reason the Flames did so poorly this year is because they didn't bother with role players, and settled with just stacking the team with secondary scoring.
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I agree.
The 2004 version of the Flames was not a weak team. It was a young team that got stronger as the season progressed, with more toughness added around the trade deadline. It gets called a weak team by people who just look at goal scorers. They were a hard checking team, great at cycling and control of the boards. The defense was young and as a group was starting to be considered one of the best in the league. There were several analysts who said at the start of the playoffs that nobody wanted to play against them in the first round. The remnants of that team were good enough to win their division 2 years later. Contrast that with what happened to the 2007 Oilers or the Panthers. As Ville Niemenen said in his interview last week, that was areally good team that was really hurt by the lockout the next year. If they had been able to play in the locked out season, I think they would have been near the top of the league.