Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay Random
This is something I have trouble wrapping my head around. Yes, they were a 27th-place team. But they weren't actually quite as bad as that sounds. Look at the standings, and you will see that they were closer to 22nd (Winnipeg, 84 pts.) than to 28th (Edmonton, 67). They were extremely lucky to have a couple of bad teams pass them in the closing days of the season and finish with the opportunity to draft one of last summer's Big Four.
Basically, the Flames got a player who was mentioned in the mix to go first overall, and they got him after a season in which they finished 25 points ahead of last place. Saying that they finished 27th is factually correct, but it tells less than half the story. This is a bad team, but not an awful one, and it may be easier to turn it around than most people suspect.
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They also played a lot of 1 goal games that could have gone either way. I agree that they're not as bad as people think they are.
A big part of that is how they play. They didn't have a lot of skill last year, but they made up for it by working hard. That is the cultural shift that amazes us all. And that is exactly what Edmonton doesn't have, and THAT is why Dreger lashes out against the Flames.