Quote:
Originally Posted by Five-hole
I think a lot of people have an entirely unrealistic idea of what a good team looks like. I think people honestly expect that a good team outshoots the opposition 50-20 every night, lets in two or less goals, and never allows the opposition to establish any sort of momentum or pressure.
Those games happen, but they are extremely uncommon.
The very best teams, year in and year out, still lose more than 3 of every 10 games. On average, they go about 3-2 in every 5 game stretch.
Are the Flames capable of that? Sure. They aren't far off.
Are the Flames capable of being a dominating team that plays close to 0.700 for the rest of the season? On paper, but this looks like a "growing pains" season. Most of our best players are under 25. It looks like they are not used to carrying the mail and dealing with the expectations on a contending team.
Are the Flames capable of an implosion? Doubtful. While I think some sputtering is possible, and missing the playoffs as a result, there's too much talent on this team to really implode. I think the absolute worst case scenario for the season would be 82-85 points.
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Why should this season be a "growing pains" season? That should have been last season with a new coaching staff not this season. This is a disappointing season to date. Not a total disaster because they can still make the playoffs but the fact they are behind an expansion team and only two points in front of the Canucks it's pretty evident the team has underperformed.