Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
And how is that any different from how top Eastern conference teams - the Penguins(Crosby/Malkin/Kunitz) or the Lightning (Hedman/Coburn/Stamkos/Sustr) are built?
My point is that the imaginary divide between "rough n tough west" and "soft, skilled East" is a perpetual myth. Yes, there are some especially big teams out here in the west - specifically Winnipeg, Anaheim, L.A. and St. Louis. Yet you don't need to be them to beat them in the west, but there are still claims like "Makes you wonder if any of the eastern teams would be able to make it out of the Pacific or the Central." and "Until a skill team beats a physical western conference style team in the finals, things will not change." Heck one of the big pieces St. Louis added this year that they lacked the past few years? Robbi Fabbri.
Certain teams get cherry-picked as the "Western" way to win... while they get knocked out in the first or second round to quick, speedy teams that can hang with them just fine. And meanwhile you have guys like Kesler making claims like "No man can withstand that many hits" as if hitting ensured the Ducks a series win over the Hawks. And also, the Jets have yet to win a playoff game in their franchise history.
People constantly ignore that our own Flames are not an especially small team anymore. Yet they think there's a desperate need to get way, way bigger.
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Personally I just think the teams in the West are better built overall - has nothing to do with soft skilled vs rough n tough IMO it more that the teams in the west are skilled & big & fast.
Think the big thing in the West is that the top teams are all big, skilled, and also very fast. Kings, Ducks, Blues, Preds, Sharks, Stars are all actually pretty big teams, that also have a ton of skill, and can beat you in different ways. You don't have to be huge like the Jets and Kings, but you can't play small (and slow) and the issue is the Flames have done that at certain times the last 2 seasons.
I actually agree for the most part that the Flames are not as far away as some may think at this point in time. Especially if guys like Jankowski, Ferland, Poirier etc can take that next step. Issue is we have some veterans in the bottom 6 that don't really provide any size, and even worse no speed, which hurts the line up a lot. IMO the issue that some of our smaller guys were also quite slow (Stajan, Hudler, Wideman) or lacked hockey sense (Raymond) and you can't be small & play slow in this NHL. If you are going to be small you better be playing quick.
Personally I think a top 6 winger with good size and speed, injecting more youth into the bottom 6, and a d-man that is more of a bigger stay at home guy would really solve a lot of the problems.