[stemit14]

It really does look like the flames are dangling at the edge of a big drop in the standings. They have been in this win 1, lose 1, 2win 2, lose 2 for a while now it seems. This series against St. Louis was big and they didn’t get a point out of it. They played hard but they looked tired in both games and just struggled so much to generate quality chances. The loss of Zary is already being felt. They struggle so much to make plays. And he’s going to be out for a while.

A couple players that we don’t talk about a lot as far as the drop off in their games are Backlund and Coleman. Great vets and great leaders on the team but it’s more and more evident that the production drop off players get in their mid 30s seems to be happening to them now. Coronato on their line looks like a 1st line player playing with 4th line players. Plays are constantly dying on their sticks. Not saying there’s a better option right now for him. If Zary was healthy, I would say it’s time to try putting them together and see if they can grow as a pairing like Monahan and Gaudreau did.

I think Backlund will and should be kept this year as the captain of the team but I would be fine trading Coleman if someone stepped up with a decent offer. Either way, if the flames do end up acquiring a young center this year/next year, I would like to see Backlund/Coleman transition to being a strong 4th line instead of an over-works 2nd line. The fourth line of this team is getting dominated pretty consistently so slotting in a new 2nd/3rd line over the next year would be ideal.