Quote:
Originally Posted by _Q_
I'm not sure how Calgary got voted to finish second worst in this.
I think a lot of it is wishful thinking honestly. The Flames have two decent goalies, a good defence group with an above average top pairing, and a young, gritty forward group that has potential to break out this season. Plus Hartley is a great coach. I'm not calling them a playoff team just yet, but on paper, there are about 5 or 6 teams that are clearly worse than Calgary this year.
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Saying we have 2 decent goalies doesn't mean much; both Ramo and Hiller haven't proven they're starting goalies as they both have their issues. Their defense doesn't look that good especially compared to most teams in the west and their top pairing is only above average compared to the other pairs. Gio had a great year....year, not years. Expecting players who play at one level for most of their careers and then have a sudden good year doesn't mean that they'll improve more or even maintain that level of play. I hope Gio can play as well as he did last year but expecting him to because he did it once isn't a good idea. Brodie surprised a lot of people with his play and if he can continue to improve it would be great. The young gritty thing really scares me as players who play with that much reckless abandonment tend to get injured sooner or later or start to "fizzle out" as playing that hard all the time takes its toll on them. Heartley was a good coach but at what point do the players start to tune him out....
I am just saying why I think they'll be a bottom place team. If you take "heart" out of it and just look at the players on paper then the Flames have one of if not the worst team in the league. Last year more things went right than wrong for them and they finished 4th last. I don't see that many good things happening again.