Is this team really as bad as many say?

[T@T]

To me the biggest reason this team isn't in a playoff race, traded Iginla and will gut this team falls mostly on the shoulders of one player.

Miikka Kiprusoff

Of his 17 starts he has 6 wins, for every great save this year he's let in 3 softys. a .873 Sv% cannot be just team defense problems, face it he's been bad, brutal bad.

Suck some team in and trade him for that 2nd pick we are missing.

[HotHotHeat]

Seriously? Where have you been?

[JiriHrdina]

I agree goaltending has been the biggest problem this season, but it is still a bad team no matter how you slice it largely due to the lack of centres and physical players.

A below average team coupled with below average goaltending = a really bad team.

[kyuss275]

He has not played well, but don't under estimate the play of the forwards in their own zone. They have been brutal.

[TurnedTheCorner]

The whole team has been bad from top to bottom for the majority of the season, and it took a few years to get to this sorry state. This doesn't belong at the feet of any one player, including Kipper.

tl;dr - Yes, this team is really as bad as many say.

[calgaryred]

Horrible giveaways, seem to only score goals at home, poor goaltending, not deep in the middle, this team is horrible. Hope the young prospects in the cupboard do better than expected, or its young guns 2 coming up. I give Feaster maybe a year or two and he will be gone. Hope the next GM has more brains, knows how to trade, draft more then wingers and NCAA prospects. I thought before this season they were good for 12th spot in the WC, now more like 27th to 30th in the league.

[FlamesAllTheWay]

We have some good pieces. But in this case the sum is lesser than the parts I think.

No centers. Bad and lazy D zone play from many. Too many guys that go hot and cold too often, we lack someone that can be invisible all game but then get the big goal on the one and only shot they got all game.

Brings me hope for the deadline though. Like I said, at least we have some good pieces when taken on their own.

[pylon]

Yes.

/thread

[bubbsy]

Standings, team stats say.......
Yes

[Enoch Root]

The smallest, and possibly softest team in the NHL just traded one of their biggest, strongest forwards. Even if he is not the physical presense he once was, the Flames are in no position to lose his size and physicality.

The Flames will have a very hard time winning any more games on the road

[SportsJunky]

Part of me is curious to see if the young guys start to assume some leadership roles and we see this team actually move up in the standings. I kind of hope not but it has happened before.

[Clever_Iggy]

Defensive system is terrible which really makes Kipper struggle. Players playing out of position. Small and soft (the "toughness" is concentrated in a 3 minute-per-game goon, a 3 minute-per-game punching bag, a defenseman that's a healthy scratch most of the time and our former captain). Generally poorly constructed team.

Added to all of that, it seems like a lot of players have lost interest. It was extremely evident last night.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Kipper has made an average team look like a bubble team for the past 4 years, before hat he made a bubble team look like a contender. Sure seems like his head is out of the game, and without his best play, this team is exposed for what it is.

[Joborule]

It's just a bad team overall. No centres and too physically weak.

[mrdonkey]

Yes. The on-ice product is bad, the prospects are bad, management is the worst. There is very little this franchise has going for it besides the fact that it's not bleeding money (yet).

They are the Leafs of 5-6 years ago. You have to look really hard to find anything positive to say right now.

[JonDuke]

The only reason Kipper should be blamed is for keeping a mediocre team in the playoff "hunt" for the past few seasons. It could be argued that he's the reason Iggy wasn't traded, and that a rebuild hasn't happened sooner (because he played so great and kept us close to 8th).

But to blame this season, on him alone, is wrong.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Mental mistakes in their own zone. Stupid D and no C.

Higher potential based on their physical tools but inattentive and mentally soft, and these things are feeding each other

[Teroy]

Blaming Kipper is ridiculous. This team does not know how to play defence in front of him. We're so used to him standing on his head and making saves that we now expect it all the time. The biggest problem I see is coaching. Hartley has made us worse, not better. Two shifts into a game and he's already changing lines. "We're looking for a good combination". If we haven't found a good combination by now we never will. Stick to some regular lines and live with them.

[timbit]

Calgary is in huge trouble and it will take a few seasons, minimally, to correct the terribly flawed construction of the team.
Is there another team in the league that has not one single impact player under 27.

Old, soft and not committed to defense.

[dissentowner]

I disagree, goaltending has been fine. The defence is the biggest problem, next to Bouw they have been abysmal.