Are the Flames that good? No. You don't get a really good team sitting 26th overall, no matter how you slice it you need to take into account the entire season.
I absolutely love the attitude and enjoy the winning as much as all of you. I think a large part of it has come because certain players are currently on hot streaks. All I need to do is remember the end of Dec and the beginning of Jan, when we couldn't buy a goal. If the other team scored first we were almost certain it was over.
Don't forget as our players become better, the book on them also gets larger and larger so they will be a little easier to defend against. For example, Monahan's scoring streak in the beginning of the year was in large part because teams didn't pay him that much attention.
The Flames did succeed in building a locker room, with great attitude and amazing work ethic. I just hope it stays that way for next season, because the locker room will be gradually changing and so will its attitude (depending on the free agents the Flames sign). In large part drafting a talented individual is only the start in hockey, setting him on the right pass to have a successful career is extremely important. So far, I think our coaches are finding the right buttons to push on most players, not so much on others(Baertschi).
Finally, the continual improvement in goaltending and team defense really helped the Flames this year. Now all we need is to find a way to not give up the lead first, and be more disciplined when we get one. If we accomplish that we could reach the playoffs(in 2-3 years). However, lets not forget that reaching the playoffs and finding ways to win in the playoffs are two different things.
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