Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
The Flames have been a .500 team since their 6 game unbeaten start.
The 10th place team is one game under .500.
This is nowhere near as decided as some seem to think it is.
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This is where I have been, up until now. But the Flames keep refusing to slide and they are starting to define their lane:
Make the playoffs: almost no chance, IMO. There are 8 teams in the West that are at least +7 (and on pace for at least 96 points). I don't see any of them falling off - maybe VAN, but even if they struggle for a while here, I don't see us keeping pace.
The Flames would have to get better in the 2nd half to make the dance - I don't see that happening.
Bottom 10: there are 8 teams that are at least -3 (on pace for 75 pts or less). And the ones that are -3 are MTL and ANA, so I don't have a lot of faith that they are going to suddenly get good. With the Flames at +5, these teams are getting too far away from us.
That leaves 8 spots, from 9-16. And unfortunately(?) the Flames are 16th. Here are the 8 teams:
16: CGY +5
15: UTH +4
14: PIT +1
13: STL +0
12: CBJ -1
11: PHI -1
10: NYR -1
9: NYI -2
In order to finish bottom 10, they need to fall behind 6 of those 7 teams. NYR will likely right their ship at some point, and UTH is playing pretty well. But we can't expect any of the other teams (except maybe STL) to pass us, we need to fall behind them.
The Flames need to start losing SOON if they want to sneak into the top 10. But right now, the safe bet is that they finish 12-16