The Giordano - Brodie pairing is the very biggest surprise for me.
That chart that was posted showing Gio-Brodie not only having the toughest quality of opposition and toughest zone-starts, but also out-performing them to me is extraordinary. To think that pairing is doing better than any other pairing in the entire NHL is beyond 'surprise'.
Hartley was the next biggest surprise. I initially didn't want him hired, but once he was hired I liked his philosophy on how he likes his teams to play - aggressive at both ends of the ice and entertaining, with some toughness. This year, however, I didn't quite expect that I would like him or the way the Flames are playing THIS much. He has been incredible with the young players and rookies. I was expecting many more 'blowout' games against the Flames - rarely happened. The Flames are one of the more 'likeable' teams in the NHL this season it seems due to their work ethic.
Colborne was the third surprise for me. I didn't want that trade to happen - felt it would just unfairly place an obstacle for a guy like Horak or Knight. Safe to say that Colborne has had a wonderful development year and looks to be like one of the more important pieces of the future.
There were other notable huge surprises - Ferland's slow start than 'explosion' showing the quality of prospect he really is. Granlund, Knight, Wotherspoon, Ortio - just leaping up and showing themselves to be quality prospects. Reinhart just being absolutely amazing in increasing his offensive stats - it becomes difficult to accurately guess this guy's ceiling.
Gaudreau's near 2PPG pace was a bit of a surprise - didn't think that would happen, though I expected an improvement over last season of course. Nice to see him take charge of games like that, and attain that kind of success even though he was 'rested' quite a lot, with less PP time than the majority of top-end NCAA players.
For a rebuilding year, this has been a very positive season in so many ways. In the end, this is an entertainment business, and even though the Flames did not have a 'successful' season measured by wins/losses, they were mostly a very entertaining bunch, and that to me was perhaps the biggest surprise of all.
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