[GranteedEV]

Everyone is sad that we've lost seven games. The losses to Vancouver, Edmonton, and Winnipeg hurt because those were games we could/should have won. Yeah, okay. Last year we lost to the Leafs, the Sabres, the Hurricanes, heck we got swept by an injury-plagued Blue Jackets. Sometimes undesirable losses happen. And in fairness Winnipeg is a good team even though we totally should have wiped the floor with them.

But I should remind you that the Blues, Islanders, and Rangers all swept us last season? So before thinking "this year's team is so much worse than last year's team" look at the how many goals the Flames scored on the Blues, Islanders, and Rangers last year:

VS St. Louis (2 goals in 3 Games)
VS NYR (2 goals in 2 Games)
VS NYI (2 goals in 2 games)

Total: 6 goals in 7 games.

So what were we expecting? So far we have 4 goals scored in 3 games against those teams. We're actually scoring more goals.

That leaves Washington. Last season our first game against the Capitals we lost 1-3. This year's Caps team is much improved, but we actually scored one more goal against them than the equivalent game last year.

It sucks that this team hasn't taken a step forward offensively, but they haven't necessarily taken a step back either. We already know Johnny Hockey is a franchise player, and as Bennett, Monahan, and Jankowski develop at the crucial center position, things will change there too. That'll take patience, we don't right now have a #1 Center but unlike the Sutter days we don't need to trade for an Olli Jokinen. We have three very good 19-21 year olds who could potentially be that #1C and they're all still developing. We can't forget Markus Granlund either, whose offensive talent is too good for the AHL right now. When you look at the Red Wings' equivalents to Granlund and their AHL Stats - guys that come to mind are Filppula, Hudler, Tatar, Nyqvist, and Pulkinnen. He's no career tweener, he's still a kid on his ELC who really, should be a top 9 forward on the Flames right now except management is committed to 3rd liners like Raymond/Colborne while having Granlund center scrubs like Bollig when he does draw in.

The defense? It's coming together. The last two games were not games where the Flames or even the Flames goaltenders deserved to give up 4 goals. They've played well in their zone other than Dougie Hamilton, who I expect will be in a 3rd pairing role for a good while as Brodie returns. And a Smid-Dougie or Dougie-Engelland 3rd pairing is a lot better than what we had at this time last year, Smid-Engelland - those pairings not only bled goals against but couldn't even clear the zone.