[bubbsy]

I would have voted "sell" but the flames just signed their one major tradeable asset long term in backlund.

This year's Pacific division has 3 of the bottom teams (yotes, oilers, canucks), 3 aging teams that you wouldn't be wrong in stating that their "best before date" has past for their cores (sharks, kings, ducks), and 1 wild unknown in vegas.

Out of the 8 teams in the division, they are:
- 5th best in the standings and point%
- 5th best in goal differential

So, in a pretty mediocre to weak division, the flames are still basically on the outside looking in as far as being a divisional playoff team.

We're 60 games in now, i don't really care for the advanced stats story, or some arbitrary metric that can be shaped to tell me this team is playing well, is unlucky, etc. This team is flat out a playoff bubble team, that has just a high a chance of missing the playoffs altogether rather than squeaking in.

They don't really appear to have any NEXT level in them. Their current point % streak equates to about 94 points (with most considering 96 the most conservative estimate of what it will take to get in). If we ignore their one extended hot streak, where they won 7 in a row in Jan, they have played the rest of the year at a point % that equates to 85 points!

In a conference where MORE than half of the teams make the playoffs, the only way one could summarize them is below average.

Given how much they invested in this year, the picks handed out to build this roster, i sure hope management realizes their substantial miscalculation in assessing how good a team they have built. Stop the bleeding. Ride this thing out, and then use the offseason to really make some substantial changes. I don't see how spending any assets to bring in 1 player will change so much that is broken with this team.

- they don't score enough
- they don't defend well enough
- special teams are poor

that is in spite of having a stellar year from the goaltending aside from maybe, what 3 games?? That is in spite of Gaudreau having perhaps one of the greatest individual offensive years by a flame in almost 2.5 decades!

I really think we love this roster and this set of players way too much. Hey, we're fans, we're supposed to. Our GM and management, need to be so much more honest and cut throat about their decisions. This team isn't close. Yet they continue to make decisions that indicate they feel otherwise. The backlund extension is just another example. Backlund is a good player. He's not a great 2nd line center. If he was, then secondary scoring would not be such a good problem.

Sorry for the rant. I'm just frustrated by this team,

In summary: Team isn't one player away from drastically improving a below average team (in a relatively mediocre division). Ride this out, and either fail to qualify, or squeak in and hope to push the "underdog"... "anything can happen once your in" narrative, though, likely get knocked in a relatively short series. Changes to this roster should come in the offseason where teams are actually willing to move players off their every night roster (something you don't see this late in the season for teams that are in the race).