Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinny01
Tkachuk has been every bit the elite player they acquired. Neither player the Flames got looks that great. He is 5 years younger than Huberdeau and plays a physical style.
Florida is not doing poorly because they are missing Huberdeau
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I'd argue the Flames aren't doing poorly because they are missing Gaudreau and Tkachuk either.
Flames are struggling because our save percentage is 24 points lower YoY.
Last Year:
27-13- 6
GF: 156
GA: 110
Shots For: 1657
Shots Against: 1343
xGF%: 55.3%
Shooting %: 9.4%
Save %: .918
This Year:
21-16-9
GF: 140
GA: 136
Shots For: 1608
Shots Against: 1285
Shooting %: 8.7%
Save %: .894
Goaltending has been the biggest issue this year. We don't even need the .918 save percentage we got last year.
Even if we just had a .910 save percentage that would mean that we allowed 115 goals against instead of 136 goals against.
Considering we've played the most 1 goal games in the league I feel like having 21 fewer goals against would make a pretty substantial difference this year. Feel like that easily turns 3 OT losses and 3 regulation losses into wins and we'd have the same record as last year then.
Also in terms of Tkachuk and Huberdeau comparisons here is one that is interesting to me:
Tkachuk first season with Sutter:
GP: 30
Points: 22 (0.73 PPG)
Huberdeau first season with Sutter
GP: 43
Points: 31 (0.72 PPG)
It's long forgotten now but Tkachuk was demoted in those first 30 games with Sutter, complained about ice time, and generally didn't look very good. Not easy to adjust to playing under Sutter as an offensive winger sometimes.