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Another thing that Treliving said about Bennett: In order to get him into the lineup, someone else is going to have to come out. He doesn't think it's a coincidence that Granlund had one of his best games of the year on Saturday. That's the power of competition.


Someone asked about Burke's under-35 policy for player numbers, especially regarding Jooris. Conroy said that Hartley said he could take a lower number around Christmas time, but Jooris had just bought about 20 jerseys for all his family for Christmas. Plus, there weren't many low numbers available at the time (unless they wanted to give him #12, which Conroy didn't think would go over too well), so they said he could keep 86 for the rest of the season.

Conroy wants to allow up to #44, but Burke doesn't like that idea.


There was the usual question about Corsi and the idea that the Flames are defying the advanced stats and set for a crash.

Of course, this prompted Burke to repeat his line about drunks and lamp posts. He also said that he thinks the biggest proponents of advanced stats are guys who are angling to get hired by NHL teams as advanced stats guys.

This did lead to a pretty good discussion about analytics and their value.

Treliving said that they used a lot of analytics in Phoenix, and he continues to use them still today. He said that Chris Snow (the Flames analytics guy) is one of the best and most-thorough in the league.

It's important to remember that analytics is just one tool available, and nothing can take the place of watching the games. Corsi won't tell you how a guy reacts when his coach tears a strip off him on the bench, for example.

Kerr asked how much value teams put into things like Corsi and Fenwick, and Treliving said that most teams are very secretive and protective of what processes they follow for collecting and analyzing stats, but Corsi and Fenwick don't really get used much at all.


They talked about the Flames not being a strong possession team. Hartley has developed a strategy that uses the strengths of the players on the team. The Flames are still a small team, but they're young and fast, so Hartley has focused a lot on scoring on the rush and getting fast breaks. If they can't gain the zone on the rush, they can be prone to dumping the puck in and turning it over. Their lack of size also leads to them getting pinned in the zone more than they'd like. These are all factors that the team needs to address going forward. When the team gets bigger, they'll be able to play a stronger zone game, and their possession stats will improve.