If it wasn't for the McDavid Sweepstakes that the Flames decided not to partake, the beginning of this season would've been just another one of those rebuild status for the club. 30 teams in the NHL - I'd say about 20 of them positioned themselves to either go for McDavid or to get some kind of a higher draft pick than normal based on the quality of the players available in the last draft. The Flames rebuild hasn't even finished and yet the team and the fans are thinking about winning the Cup this year or within a couple of years. That's totally unrealistic expectations.
Secondly, the Flames defense is still small, especially with Russell and Wideman playing second pairing together. Everyone's figured out that these guys will try to block a shot than play the body. Even though Hamilton is big, from what I've seen so far, he's not playing the body in his own zone like he's supposed to. Basically, what you have with the Flames defense is everyone is playing the puck either to get a fancy play going or to block shots.
Overall, the Flames are still a smallish team. Take a look at teams like the Blues, Hawks, Sharks, and Jets. These are big teams with big d-men that'll smack the Flames forwards around and clear the front of the net. Their forwards have no problems dancing in the Flames zone for 40 minutes a game.
|