This is officially the start of the 2nd half of the season, and the Flames are in a playoff spot, and still playing well and looking like the same team from the start of the season - high work ethic is still easy to see, and they are not looking like a terrible team on ice, even if they are over-matched at times and the underlying metrics in some games are a bit ugly. They have only looked like garbage a handful of games at worst.
I am switching gears now and saying that you can't trade Andersson or any of the vets of substance this season. Sure, if someone offers you a premium, you take it and you don't look back. Nobody should really be off-limits when teams are willing to overpay. However, the way I see it, you can't sewer this season as the culture is really taking form here, and all the players are continuing to buy-in.
I mean, Barrie, Kuzmenko, etc., are free to go. l am iffy on moving Vladar at this point, simply because I do think he has been sheltering Wolf and taking some tough starts, and regardless of what his metrics say, he has looked outstanding in long stretches.
I do not want the Flames to buy - not even for low draft picks. This is not a cup winning (or cup contending) team by any stretch of the imagination. If the rug gets pulled out between now and the trade deadline, and the Flames fall out of the race, then yes, sell sell sell.
Otherwise, I hope that Conroy makes a few moves in this off-season, and the Flames end up picking high in the next two drafts. I can live with that. There are some damn fine looking Cs this draft, but I don't think you can pull the rug on a team that is still in it, as long as they are playing well. The 2nd half is going to be hard as teams really do whatever it takes to get in. My money is still on this team spiraling downwards by the deadline. I am just positing that Conroy simply can't pull that cord on the season until (or more appropriately, if or when) that happens.
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