Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
Because their best players - Gaudreau, Monahan, Lindholm, Brodie and Tkachuk to an extent - are in their prime. And other key players - Giordano and Backlund - are going to decline going forward.
Just because they haven't had success yet, doesn't mean they can't next year (see St Louis last year)
When your core is in their prime, pretty much every organization will look to add to it, not tear it apart and start over again.
the difference between winning and losing is razor-thin.
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The prime of those players just wasn't good enough. There's no realistic path to true contention in the next 2 years.
STL made the playoffs for 6 straight years. Never lost in the first round in less than 6 games (ultimately eliminated by the Kings x2, Hawks, Wild, Sharks (SCF year), Preds (SCF year). Every game against the Preds was a 1 goal game (same with their series years earlier against the cup defending Kings). The only time they got laughed out of a series was 2012 when the team of destiny Kings swept them in the second round. 99 pts was their worst reg season in that stretch.
They won 3 series in years 5 and 6. Despite this, they seem to have recognized that they weren't good enough, so they retooled.
They took a step back and missed the playoffs (94 pts). They re-tooled again. It looked like a disaster. Until it didn't.
I'm not sure what lesson the hot/fizzle Flames can take from the perennially competitive Blues. But I'm pretty sure 'stay the course' or 'get in and anything can happen' aren't it. The lesson might be that the Flames need to get a lot better before a re-tool is even worthwhile?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ComixZone
I'm not sure why it is considered a win now mode. We aren't winning anything. 3 playoff game wins in 5 seasons - whatever "window" some people may think is open is an entirely false concept, likely established 6 seasons ago when we beat the Canucks.
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It should be noted that we beat the decomposing corpse of the Canucks who had won exactly 1 playoff game in the previous 3 years. A series win is a series win I suppose, but the conclusion there should not have been that the 'Flames had arrived', but rather that the 'Canucks were dead'.