30 Days, 30 Surprises

[Baxter Renegade]

I thought this article was a good read. Anyone wanna take a guess at this year's biggest surprise through the first month?

http://thehockeywriters.com/30-surprises-after-30-days/

[Yrebmi]

You would think that at some point Edmonton failing would cease to be a surprise.
E=NG

[Gaskal]

[killer_carlson]

The biggest surprise about the Oilers this year is that the fans aren't buying the hype or that the team is smarter than everyone else.

That is new.

[tvp2003]

Almost everything is going right for this team, the stars are aligning at this point, but they could just as easily crash and burn over the course of the season. Time will tell.

The bolded part is debatable -- three of our top four centres at the start of the year(Backlund, Colborne and Stajan) are all injured, so it's not like everything has gone according to plan. Makes our success even more surprising I guess...

[Calgary4LIfe]

^^ Plus the flu that was going through this team.

Flame have had good excuses to falter thus far, but are still managing to get the wins.

[DoubleF]

How many times have we sat around going, "Well, the drop off is coming."

Is it coming? I mean, a few weeks ago, due to injury, we were excited to see kids play and probably not even expecting wins. I'm happy about that, but I also have no idea how the heck we are making this happen (Other than the obvious more goals than they do idea).

[Dagger]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

How many times have we sat around going, "Well, the drop off is coming."

Is it coming? I mean, a few weeks ago, due to injury, we were excited to see kids play and probably not even expecting wins. I'm happy about that, but I also have no idea how the heck we are making this happen (Other than the obvious more goals than they do idea).

This is still a small sample size relatively speaking, so regression still looks likely. But for none statistical guys I think the California trip will be your eye test.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Dagger

This is still a small sample size relatively speaking, so regression still looks likely. But for none statistical guys I think the California trip will be your eye test.

Damn, right. I forgot about that.

Fair enough. I shall await this trip and re-evaluate then. My bad.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Dagger

This is still a small sample size relatively speaking, so regression still looks likely. But for none statistical guys I think the California trip will be your eye test.

Sample size or not, not everything has gone right. Ramo not playing as well as he hoped (though I know he'll bounce back), but are people forgetting that we have 3 NHL regulars that are out? Raymond, Backlund and Colborne are easily a line in our lineup, and we've still been doing fine without them.

Even though we haven't played the Californian teams, I am confident that we'll do our best against them with our great our depth is. And not only that, if one goalie isn't doing well (Ramo for example), we can depend on Hiller.

[Enoch Root]

This whole 'west coast trip will tell us' argument is way overdone.

First, it's 3 teams - that's a total of 6-8 road games.

Second, they are all very good teams and - here's a tip for everyone - pretty much every team gets killed rolling through California.

The Flames held their own against those teams last year for the most part, and I expect they will do ok again this year. Of course going up against 3 teams that are all cup contenders is tough. Duh. Won't end their season though.

It really won't define anything.

What the Flames really need is to start beating the Nucks

[Street Pharmacist]

The stats are unsustainable. A save pct and shooting pct that are not likely to continue doesn't preclude future success. What it does do though, is tell us that something will have to change. Either we start outplaying other teams more often or we'll start losing more

[PeteMoss]

Flames haven't been great against the East anyways.

Oilers, Jets and Blackhawks are the three teams that have been much better against the East than West.

Calgary, LA and Nashville have been better against the West.

[Bandwagon In Flames]

It's great to see that a cap floor team is playing this well against cap teams. That doesn't happen often in the cap world and only really occurs when a lot of talented youth is on your team. That's certainly the case in Calgary and this team is showing it every night.

It's safe to say I haven't been this high on the Flames since 04. Even then, I'm getting more excited about a group of young players determined to make a splash instead of grizzled veterans being carried by a Vezina caliber goalie.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

The stats are unsustainable. A save pct and shooting pct that are not likely to continue doesn't preclude future success. What it does do though, is tell us that something will have to change. Either we start outplaying other teams more often or we'll start losing more

I will say this - it does happen where teams have wacky 'advanced' numbers last all year (Toronto two years ago, Colorado last year), so it is possible.

The Flames save percentage has come down to a normal rate. They are 11th in the league. The Kings are actually the team with the highest save percentage by a long shot. .917 for the season is better than average, but not something that is unsustainable (917 would have been 6th/7th last year)

They are 3rd in shooting percentage which is probably high. They are at 11.14% (behind Pittsburgh and Tampa). League average is usually around 9%, which gives the Flames about 10 goals above the average shooting percentage for the season.

[Vansmack]

That article = annoying to read all the = signs