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Originally Posted by Sylvanfan
It's easy to be disappointed when a team doesn't do a lot on Trade Deadline day, but my first hunch is that these big time acquisitions usually don't have that huge impact. Last year Paul Statsny did help the Jets, but they didn't even make the cup finals. Washington didn't make any real major deals...they finally broke through. So do these impact Deadline deals really help teams achieve that extra success? I tend to think that Draft trading although more risky can yield more value as you can find those longer term pieces for Deadline rental prices.
I think back to the 05-06 Flames who were the last 100 point team that the Flames had. They really didn't do anything at the deadline. They added David Hale, Cale Hulse (which was worth it just for the poster I Hate Hulse's reaction), Jaimie Lundmark, Mike Leclerc, and Brian Boucher in deals leading up to deadline but didn't really part with any notable assets in that tinkering. In fact they dealt Steve Reinprecht in that series of moves who was probably the best NHL player that season. Ultimately that team died off in the first round of the playoffs, and likely did need to be bolstered. That group was never that good ever again as the game changed.
Than you have the 08-09 Flames who after getting embarassed in San Jose made a committment to play differently for awhile and were like this current team where they went on a real run and were a top team in the league. That team did push in the trade chips at the deadline to acquire Jokinen, and Leopold. But injuries had caused Giordano to go down, than eventually took out Regehr, and Phaneuf was at the beginning of his fall from grace. Result the team finished terrible, were out assets and that group never saw the playoffs again.
This current group is a bit different. It's essentially playoff appearance 3 in 5 years and should be the first home playoff team since 06, and only the 2nd time since the end of the 1995 season that this has been the case. It would appear to be an up and coming type of team that has finally establishing themselves as being more than a fringe playoff team. But it does have some cap dancing to do next year, but survive that they should be in good shape in the next two years. Did they miss an opportunity to add for today when they may never have this chance again? I hope not. I think this Group will still be in the hunt in coming seasons.
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That 2005 season could be very analogous.
Lost a 1st round heartbreaker when they couldn't score enough goals. They were the class of the league defensively, but didn't have enough finish up front.
The Flames and Ducks both scored 17 goals in the series. Iggy scored 8 points in 7 games, 5 goals!, but it wasn't enough. Yelle, McCarty, Amonte and Kobasew couldn't get it done.
That year the ducks added Friesen and Sean O'Donnell at the deadline. They combined for 3 goals in the series.
The Flames can definitely score goals this year, they are probably as close to the opposite team formulation as that 06 group. The question for me is, can they score ENOUGH goals. Kipper lost that series with a .923 sv%. Would an .896 sv% be enough to sink this roster in the first round? Scary thought.