Flames: 1-5-0, 7th in Pacific, 14th in West, 29th in NHL.
Red Wings: 3-3-0, 5th in Atlantic, 10th in East, 19th in NHL.
Well, when you're 2nd last in the league you have to change something. The team that is last changed their coach. I don't think we were about to do something like that just 6 games into the season, especially when your coach is coming off a Jack Adams winning season, but it is funny how often the Adams award is a curse to the coach the next season. Bob obviously deserved it last year, but I almost wish he hadn't won it. Clearly the awards and praise have made this team complacent. I guess when you build your identity on being the underdog and having an Us vs. The World mentality, when you start to have success that identity suffers. Now that the team is expected to be competitive, and possibly be a playoff team, they need to find a new identity. No longer can they be the young upstart club that nobody expects to win. They now have to deal with expectations and pressures. This is never easy in an intense hockey market like Calgary, but they've been able to step up to the plate in the past, so there's really no reason they can't do it again. I still believe this is the right coaching staff and leadership group to get the job done.
So what do you do if you can't do the quick fix of firing a coach? Well, you have to look at personnel. Karri Ramo was put through waivers and sent to Stockton, presumably to work on his game, but I think it might be for good. I remember Treliving saying the same things about Setoguchi when he sent him down. That leaves Hiller and Ortio to man the net. Management and the coaches don't think it's appropriate to put a young and inexperienced goalie (at the NHL level) out there in front of a team that is pretty much a shambles, and I agree. So it's up to Hiller to stop enough pucks to help the team get things back on track.
Brett Kulak was returned to Stockton with Treliving saying that the league was "starting to catch up to him". Jakub Nakladal was recalled, and Ladislav Smid has been deemed ready to play for tonight's game. Not sure which defenseman enters the lineup, but my money is on Smid only because of his experience and the loyalty of Hartley. Hopefully he can add some solid d-zone play that this team has been sorely lacking so far. The Flames rank 3rd worst in GA/G with 4.17. That's a far cry from last year where the defensive numbers were at least on the league average.
It's hard to win if you aren't generating much offense either. The Flames rank 25th in GF/G with just 2.00. That's not going to get the job done, even if you have Carey Price in net. The offense has to start coming from all players, not just Gaudreau and Monahan. The Flames are also 3rd worst in SF/G with just 24.8. Compared to the 31.7 they give up per game, that's a bad differential.
One of the only teams that has fewer shots per game than the Flames is the Red Wings, at a minuscule 22.7. Yet the Wings have scored 2.67 GF/G so far. That's is a sparkling shooting percentage to start the year at well over 10%. It's not because of the power play either, operating at just 10.5% so far. The Wings have also given up more shots against per game than the Flames at 32.5. Sure, they're 3-3-0, but they had the good fortune of drawing the Maple Leafs once and the Hurricanes twice to start the year. They've lost their last 3 in a row, and look about as effective as the Flames right now.
With both teams struggling, it will come down to who is more desperate for a win. You have to think that the Flames will have more desperation, but I worry that they're so fragile that any early setback will result in a loss. The Red Wings aren't playing that well, but they're a professional group that always puts in an honest effort. This one could go either way.
Flames
Gaudreau-Monahan-Frolik
Bennett-Backlund-Hudler
Ferland-Colborne-Jooris
Bollig-Stajan-Jones
Giordano-Wideman
Russell-Engelland
Smid-Hamilton
Hiller
Red Wings
Larkin-Zetterberg-Abdelkader
Tatar-Sheahan-Nyquist
Helm-Richards-Pulkkinen
Miller-Glendening-Ferraro
Kronwall-Ericsson
DeKeyser-Green
Quincey-Kindl
Howard
Go Flames Go!!!