Realistically, competitive 3rd round loss minimum or it's failure. 100%. Failure in the sense that we should all be disappointed, ownership should be upset with lack of fair value playoff revenue, and a large scale re-tool like letting Johnny walk and planning on being bad for a few years would be the best course of action. IMO of course. This is absolutely the last kick at the can for a lot of players in the org, we're going to get a last chance look at what the playoff ceiling is for this iteration.
Im 30 years old, the Flames have been out of the first round twice in my entire life. 18 years since the last time they had a competitive second round series. That ridiculous implosion against the Avalanche 3 years ago looms large, yeah they were a lot better than anyone gave them credit for at the time but still, the Flames were the top seed in the conference and they got the wheels smashed off. I'm skeptical this team can do it, because I've rarely seen it and my sky-high hopes in 2019 got thrown off a bridge, but absolutely this is third round or bust for this group. I hope they're feeling a little bit of pressure and embarrassment for past playoffs that they're keen to make up for this year.
|