Short Term: Neutral Zone is killing the Flames. Can’t breakout worth a damn, turning pucks over causing goals allowed instead of scoring chances. They can’t get it in deep with any sustained pressure so their forecheck is completely ineffective and then they overcommit a lot of times anyway which leads to self inflicted wounds as their vulnerability creates easy counter attacks. All that leads to a lot of goals against, not a lot of goals scored and surprise, surprise, blowouts.
Long Term: No Identity and Poor Vision. All this team ever does is build on franchise wingers, but that’s not how you win Stanley Cups. You win Stanley Cups with elite #1 centers or an elite 1-2 punch up the middle. Couple this with no identity and you have a team that doesn’t dictate anything, are constantly chasing, are easy to match up against in the playoffs and even at our peak, always just middling and mediocre. If I’m a fan of any other playoff team, I would rub my hands together for the chance to play the Flames in round 1 because statistically speaking, you’ll probably win the series 80%-90% of the time.
|