[Caged Great]

The next seven games will give you all you need to know about this team and it's fortunes for the balance of the season.

They play Vancouver three times, Colorado twice, and once each against Arizona and Anaheim (in CGY).

They realistically should go 5-2 in those 7 games at a minimum. If they accomplish that, they will be on pace to push for that elusive playoff spot. Anything less than that, and you can increasingly look forward to which RW the Flames will be taking in the top 10 this year. You cannot surrender more than a couple points to lousy teams and expect to be a playoff team. 6/10 of the remaining games in January are against good teams, coughing up points early makes it significantly more difficult to get them against the better clubs.