Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
While advanced stats may be better the results in the standings are almost identical despite better goaltending. It can't be understated that last season's Flames were saddled with historically bad goaltending. Not Winnipeg Jets bad, but historically bad to which you have to go back decades to see a team that had goaltending that bad. Now the goaltending this season hasn't been great but it's nowhere close to historically bad like last season so the fact this team is nearly identical in the standings is pretty discouraging and I'm pretty sure the owners can't be happy that they are paying Hartley to sit at home while his replacement is doing no better.
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Underperformance has been the biggest issue, but instead of the goalie's single-handedly ruining the team's place in the standings, this has been a collective effort, mostly from our top players both at forward and defense.
I somewhat expected that to happen this year, as it's the first time these young players have ever had to play a structured system instead of free-wheeling and doing whatever they wanted. It was clear through training camp that most of the player's were struggling with the adjustment.
Crucify Gulutzan for that failure if you want, but overall I see the team making the transition from a Maple Leafs style of team, that's all about high flying plays based purely on skill, to a team that has learned how to play a winning style of hockey, and is poised to make a serious playoff run once they get a couple more key pieces in the lineup.
I was under no illusions that this team would be any better than a playoff bubble team this year, and they're right where I expected them to be, with the added bonus of looking much better in just about every aspect of the game (team defense, neutral zone play, power play, penalty killing, face-offs, possession, etc.). The only thing that has suffered a little this year is 5 on 5 offense, but I'm happy to trade that for progress in all the other areas I mentioned.
Oh, and don't forget, the team tanked right after Ramo got injured right around this time last year because Hiller was just that terrible. With halfway decent goaltending down the stretch I imagine they would have been fighting for a playoff spot.