Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntingwhale
At the beginning of the season, one of the ''stipulations'' for the Flames making the playoffs was that many players would have to have career seasons for that to even be a possibility. 9 games left and we have a pretty good selection of players who are in fact having career seasons.
I've only included players who have played > 40 games, who are projected to exceed their career highs over the course of an 82 game schedule. I didn't include the goalies as their numbers could possibly fluctuate downwards. 3 rookies are on that list. I included them since they have all had pretty stellar rookie seasons and have been big contributors all season long.
Taking the rookies out of the equation, that is 10 players on the Flames who are on pace to having career seasons. Obviously injuries played a role in determining if they actually reach those projections, but there's no reason to think they wouldn't if they were still healthy.
Special shoutout to Wideman. Who saw this guy on pace for 54+ points at the start of the year? Many wanted him gone for a bag of pucks. He's really stepped up and become a solid player for this team.
This really is a season of a lot of things going right for the team. I think it's a lot to ask of the vets to duplicate their numbers next season. But no reason to think young guys like Johnny, Monahan and even Bouma can't increase their totals. |
That's the fun in having a young team, this should be expected. That said, IMO there are names on that list who you have to at least question whether they can equal or continue to improve on that pace next year. Those would be:
Wideman - Got to think he comes back down a bit
Russell - maybe, still improving as a D-man and pretty young so this could just be a normal step forward for him
Hudler - Great player, but doubt he's on the up swing. I think we have to hope that his improved point totals are due to Monahan and Gaudreau's progression and that hopefully if playing with this new caliber of line mate, this is what we can expect.
Jooris - I like what he brings, but to me he's a prime candidate to do what I call Sean Donovan it. He'll be useful moving forward, but kind of think he got hit with lighting in a bottle offensively this year, doubt he keeps up the pace.
So how nervous are we for a regression next year? Can these guys maintain, along with some new young blood stepping in and up (Bennett, Ferland, Poirier)? What about some of our guys who maybe haven't delivered as much as they could having a better year next year like Raymond?