The whole advanced stats debate as it pertains to the Flames this year is fairly useless (IMHO) because they're not a finished product.
It's year 2 of a rebuild that will likely take 5 years to play out completely. They're playing the kind of game that their roster and skill set can execute sufficiently to stay competitive.
It just so happens that they're doing quite well playing that way, but there's no doubt in my mind that the coaches would prefer to be a higher possession team. They just don't have the horses for that and they're making the best with what they do have.
Between now and the 5 year mark of the rebuild, the roster is going to turn over significantly and the style of play is going to change in line with the players they have to execute a game plan. By 2017-18, the Flames could be the league leader in possession, so there's no need to judge a team that is just starting out a rebuild for how they play.
That's the difference between the Flames and the Leafs of last year. That Leafs team was a (horrible) finished product. The Stars, Avs and Wild were building teams and that's why the rush to judge them over the last few years has been ridiculous.
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