January is over and I'd say the Flames played better than expected in the second half of the month.
Update to my schedule prediction heading into the trade deadline:
Expected Wins: Sharks (H)
Likely Wins: Red Wings (H), Kraken (H)
Likely Losses: Kraken (A), Flyers (A)
Expected Losses: Leafs (H), Avalanche (H), Capitals (A), Lightning (A), Panthers (A), Hurricane (A), Stars (A)
Confirmed Wins: Sabres (H), Wild (A)*, Ducks (H),
Confirmed Losses: Jets (A), Capitals (H),
*Defied expectation
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With January done the Flames now have the 17th hardest remaining schedule. Vancouver has 14th, Blues have 21st, Kings have 16th. This is good for the playoffs push as the Canucks now show a harder remaining schedule and we are on equal footing with the Kings while all three teams are within 2 points in the standings.
February has a tough challenge:
- Wolf needs to stand tall against a surging Red Wings team
- Vladar needs to survive a back-to-back game in Seattle with a tired team in front of him
- Back home to play the Leafs, Avs, and another Kraken game (do all of these games go to Wolf knowing the break is coming up???)
- ---2 week break
- Home game against the Sharks
- Start of the difficult 6 game road trip with 5 playoff contenders.
From a top10 pick perspective, the wave of East teams climbing over the Flames has slowed down a bit but there is still only a 5 point gap between the Flames and drafting in the top 10.
With the trade last night, I doubt we see much more action going into the trade deadline. Even if we get pummeled in the road trip, I doubt we switch into seller mode. In my mind, the only decision up in the air would be around going out to find another D or not.