I would say things are pretty bleak. If the Flames have been so damn dominant in their play, generating all these great fancy stats, and it has lead to being only ahead of Arizona, Vancouver, and Edmonton, that is a pretty disappointing outcome. The fancy stats pretty much say we can’t play much better, but the results say it isn’t good enough. If they can’t play much better, where do you find improvement in either play or results? In that context the outlook is pretty damn bleak.
Fortunately the fancy stats are a big steam pile of crap. The Flames generate a lot of low quality shots. Sure, they generate a lot of them, but quality always outdoes quantity. The Flames are a team that pass up too many shots from high quality scoring areas to move the puck to low percentage shooting areas. The fancy stats show a shot was generated, but the eyeball test shows an opportunity lost. The fancy stats are garbage. Always have been, always will be. Way too many articles are driven by this drivel when the most important stats are being ignored.
Until the goal differential reaches positive numbers, and the real wins become positive numbers, the outlook remains bleak. Until the PP gets untracked and climbs to the top half of teams in efficacy, the outlook remains bleak. Until the team starts winning on home ice, the outlook looks bleak. The fancy stats don’t mean a hill of beans if these numbers are all not in the top third of the league. The great fancy stats have lead to this team having too many teams to have to climb over to get back into the race. We’re behind Colorado for crying out loud! Things look pretty damn bleak, regardless of what the fancy stats have to say.
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