I was just thinking how funny the NHL is; because of the nature of the game itself and also with the way the league calls the game so differently in the regular season vs the playoffs, you basically have 3 types of players.
1) Players who can get you TO the playoffs (i.e. Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Mark Giordano and etc.):
These guys, while still important, can get you there, but shouldn’t be the ones you count on to get you through which leads me to my second point.
2) Players who can get you THROUGH the playoffs ( i.e. Milan Lucic, Sam Bennett and etc.):
Sam Bennett has proven that he can be there when it counts in the playoffs, but has yet to display the same type of prowess in the regular season. Most likely because you can’t play playoff Sam Bennett style hockey 82 games a season where you’re landing 8 hits a game. You’d probably spend 50% of the season on the infirmary.
3) Players who can do BOTH (i.e. Mackinnon, O’Reilly, Hedman, Crosby, Malkin, Stone and etc.).
If I’m Treliving and co, I’m asking myself, does this team have enough guys who can do both? Guys who can produce when games open up in the regular season as well as when things tighten up in the regular season? I think right now, the current roster is made up of guys who can get the team to the playoffs, but I’m not sure most of them are good enough to get the team through. But then, I’m not sure you want to build a team with just playoff players anyway or you end up like the LA Kings where you can go on a deep run in the postseason, but may have a hard time just making it to the dance every year.
So I don’t know if it’s a philosophical change that has to be made by the front office or whether they know this already. But there are teams in this league that have seemingly figured out this formula aka the Bruins, the Golden Knights, the Lightning and etc. So it’s time for the Flames brass to make it happen soon or we clean house with guys who can definitely make it happen.
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