Quote:
Originally Posted by Bleeding Red
I have a silly question - Does nobody believe that any of the Flames will be better next year? Or is the consensus is that these guys are what they are - Markstrom is a less than average goalie, Huberdeau is a 50 pt guy, Mangi is a 15 goal guy, etc...?
If someone had the best statistical year of their career in 2021-22 and then had the worst statistical year of their career in 2022-23 are we going with "they will always be closer to the worst than the best"?
I'm just saying, yes the trade value may be there now, and they may lose some trade value over time, but is a bounce back season not possible? Many posts note that if they had even average goaltending, or were close to average shooting percentage the Flames would have won a few more games and be in the show.
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Not silly at all. I'd be very surprised if they are not better next year if they stand pat. Goaltending will almost certainly be better. Kadri, Huberdeau, and Weegar will be past the first year jitters, life disruption, and for Kadri he would get a full off-season to get in peak condition. Some concern about age related regression but they aren't quite that old yet.
There is also cause for optimism in that there should be internal improvement based on Pelletier, Duehr, and even Gilbert (if he stays on) displacing ineffective veterans like Lucic (remember when he was playing in the top 6?), Ritchie (I know he had a good run at one point), and Stone.
Dube has progressed and Mangiapane has bizarrely regressed to such an extent that I would happily bet on a bounce-back from him. Kylington is an absolute wildcard, but he may return and improve the defense as well (he is a guy that I think was sorely missed for his contributions and also for the distinct style he plays that no one else on the team does).
And that is without even touching on the unsustainable bad luck that they have had. Plenty of reason to be postive.
I have two issues with standing pat right now though:
1) There is still clearly a problem with how the team struggles to generate high quality chances and the coaches do not seem to be figuring out a way to address it, so I don't think a late season run is at all realistic.
2) The team has a player in Tyler Toffoli that I think makes all the sense in the world to trade. His value is never going to be higher than it is right now. Proven scorer and proven winner having a career best season. And I don't think he fits well with the team.
He's most effective shooting from the flank on the powerplay, so the coaches have put him there at the expense of having Lindholm and Huberdeau on the flanks where they thrive.
He also seems to only have chemistry with Lindholm, so the coaches have made adjustments like having 3 second lines instead of a top line. In both cases where the Flames should be catering to an actual star player in Huberdeau, they are favoring Toffoli. And this is nothing against him, he is doing great and leading the team in scoring... it's just that a great Toffoli is on pace for 70 points.
The last time the Flames made the playoffs with a leading scorer playing at that scoring rate (with the exception of the bubble season that they got in through the play-in round) was in 2005-06. Totally different era and Kipper winning the Vezina.
Again, not Toffoli's fault. He's been really good and repaid the coaches with a solid performance in the favorable circumstances. However, I just do not think that he is an ingredient that contributes to a winning recipe with the other players on this team and I don't think he would be putting up these numbers if he were not being catered to either.