[Cali Panthers Fan]

I keep reading from fans on this site that the Flames "should" be doing better or be higher in the standings. I can understand that from a team perspective because we improved the roster somewhat over last year, and we expect the young players to grow. But instead of focusing on the standings or the team play, I figured I would take a snapshot of how each player is doing so far compared to last year when this team made the playoffs in the final spot.

To make it easier to read, green text means the player is improved over last year, orange text means they are pretty much on par with last year, and red text means their performance is significantly down over last year.

Johnny Gaudreau
Last year: 61 points in 72 games = 0.85 ppg
This year: 56 points in 48 games = 1.17 ppg

Sean Monahan
Last year: 58 points in 82 games = 0.71 ppg including 27 goals
This year: 43 points in 47 games = 0.91 ppg including a 40 goal pace

Micheal Ferland
Last year: 25 points in 76 games = 0.33 ppg including 15 goals
This year: 30 points in 47 games = 0.64 ppg including a 33 goal pace

Matthew Tkachuk
Last year: 48 points in 76 games = 0.63 ppg including a +14 rating
This year: 32 points in 46 games = 0.70 ppg including a -1 rating (points are up, but overall defense isn't as good)

Mikael Backlund
Last year: 53 points in 81 games = 0.65 ppg including a +9 rating
This year: 29 points in 48 games = 0.60 ppg including a -7 rating (borderline point drop and much worse plus/minus)

Michael Frolik
Last year: 44 points in 82 games = 0.54 ppg including a +13 rating
This year: 15 points in 37 games = 0.41 ppg including a -3 rating

Mark Giordano
Last year: 39 points in 81 games = 0.48 ppg including a +22 rating (team high)
This year: 22 points in 48 games = 0.46 ppg including a +8 rating

Dougie Hamilton
Last year: 50 points in 81 games = 0.62 ppg including a +12 rating
This year: 22 points in 48 games = 0.46 ppg including a +13 rating (points are way down, but the overall defensive play is better)

TJ Brodie
Last Year: 36 points in 82 games = 0.44 ppg including a -16 rating
This year: 20 points in 48 games = 0.42 ppg includng a -10 rating

Travis Hamonic (comparing apples to oranges on a different team, but here we go)
Last year: 14 points in 49 games = 0.28 ppg including a -21 rating
This year: 6 points in 44 games = 0.13 ppg including a -5 rating (offense is down a lot but he's only broken 25 points once in his career, however defense is vastly improved over last year)

Sam Bennett
Last year: 26 points in 81 games = 0.32 ppg including -16
This year: 17 points in 48 games = 0.35 ppg including -5 (marginal improvements after a woeful start)

Kris Versteeg
Last year: 37 points in 69 games = 0.54 ppg including -3
This year: 8 points in 22 games = 0.36 ppg including -8

Troy Brouwer
Last year: 25 points in 74 games = 0.34 ppg including -11
This year: 13 points in 48 games = 0.27 ppg including -4 (offense is down because of 4th line assignment, but defensive play is better)

Matt Stajan
Last year: 23 points in 81 games = 0.28 ppg including +3 (not bad for a 4th line center)
This year: 2 points in 38 games = 0.05 ppg including -2 (defense is there, but there's nothing happening on offense)

Michael Stone
Last year: 6 points in 19 games played with the Flames = 0.31 ppg including +5
This year: 3 points in 48 games (3rd pair) = 0.06 ppg including even rating

Brett Kulak
Last year: 3 points in 21 games = 0.14 ppg including -3
This year: 4 points in 38 games = 0.11 ppg including +8 (vast improvement defensively with increased playing time)

Mike Smith
Last year: 2.92 GAA and .914 Sv% in 55 games
This year: 2.39 GAA and .926 Sv% in 41 games


Now this doesn't include the contributions from guys like Jankowski, and obviously both Smith and Hamonic didn't play for us last year, but they should be considered upgrades on guys like Elliott/Johnson and Wideman/Bartkowski, but those are just 3 roster spots. Although goaltending is pretty important, Elliott and Johnson traded off stretches of solid to good play throughout the year, and could be considered at least comparable to Smith's numbers from last year.

Overall, there's a few players having career years (the entire top line) and Smith is having his best season in nearly a decade, but largely, the team is status quo to last year, and maybe we shouldn't expect much better. The overall defense is better, which goes along with the improved goaltending, but most players are down offensively, which could solely be due to a PP that was in the top half last year, and is in the bottom 10 this year.

I don't know what else there is to say. Thoughts?