[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

And there are probably 15 other fanbases saying the same thing. There are about 8 Elite Teams, 7 Bad Teams, and 16 Average teams. That's just the NHL with a salary cap era.

If you look over the last 5 seasons there are:

-8 Teams with a points percentage over .600: Tampa Bay, Washington, Boston, Pittsburgh, Vegas, Toronto, Nashville, St.Louis

-16 Teams Between .531 and .596: Minnesota, Winnipeg, Carolina, Columbus, New York, Florida, Calgary, Philadelphia, Edmonton, San Jose, Dallas, Colorado, Montreal, New York, Chicago, Anaheim

-7 Bad Teams below a .495 points percentage: LA, Arizona, New Jersey, Vancouver, Ottawa, Buffalo, Detroit

5 years is a long time so there are teams that move in and out of these Buckets but this is how it generally works. Nashville/St.Louis probably more in the middle now, Colorado and Carolina moved up to top tier. Vancouver probably more in the middle tier with Chicago dropping down.

It is frustrating that the Flames re-build was rushed, and that we didn't really get that true elite center that would push us into the top tier, but that's the same story for the majority of the NHL. Takes a lot of luck and good timing to end up in that top tier.



And this is the key. People are projecting the failures of the past 2 seasons (and 18-19 playoffs) onto what we've seen in these 2 games so far.

This team has been a truly average team the last couple years but visually and statistically they've looked better in these two games than they have at any point since the all-star break of the 18-19 season. And that's promising to me.

Agreed.

They've actually looked not just okay but good to Great visually (outside of Zadorov) despite starting late and probably having rust cause of it. These are easily the best two opening games they've played in a decade. So many sloppy openers over the years or just downright dreadful efforts.

The top guys looked more deadly when they were playing those preseason games consistently. Then they sat around for over a week. It takes getting into a groove too. They look pretty cohesive and haven't even got in a rhythm of playing every other day yet. Thats very promising if this is what we consider a bad start.

As for the negativity surrounding markstrom, we could also very well be sitting on another goalie on the verge of breaking out at the NHL level. I firmly believe that between Markstrom and Vladar we will have a solution in net. Whether that be Markstron returning to form or Vladar emerging. I see a lot of starter qualities in Vladar. Lots of composure and bounce back in his game. Its not ideal when the other guy is making 6mil but if vladar seizes the net then so be it.

Just one more bounce their way yesterday and we're talking a suffocating Vegas-like performance. It's an incredibly thin margin.