Recent injuries not withstanding the flames have been incredibly fortunate this year with injuries. All the other Pacific teams with the exception of Los Angeles have had to weather more significant injury issues than the flames.
Healthy lineup vs healthy lineup, the flames would struggle to make the playoffs.
Luck is definitely a part of the game, but the flames have been extremely fortunate (knock on wood) to have avoided significant injuries to their top 6 players this year.
The Blues have been without their top scorer from last season for basically the whole year and are going to win the west.
If you look at WAR adjusted impact to the injury situation, the only team in the Pacific with a less impactful injury situation is Los Angeles.
There are only 4 other teams in the whole league this year less impacted by injuries than the flames have been this year : the kings, senators, canes and rangers.
It's important to look at the rest of the league when assessing where the flames fit into things. Where would the flames be if they were missing 17 games from Monahan and Backlund or Lindholm? Vegas had marchessault and karlsson out of the lineup at the same time I'm pretty sure.
20 games from Derek Ryan?
Injuries to a goalie?
I don't think it's out of line to call them a bubble team.
Gaudreau playing poorly is a heck of a lot different than not having him in the lineup at all.
Last edited by Flash Walken; 02-27-2020 at 01:57 PM.
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