Flames having career seasons

[Huntingwhale]

At the beginning of the season, one of the ''stipulations'' for the Flames making the playoffs was that many players would have to have career seasons for that to even be a possibility. 9 games left and we have a pretty good selection of players who are in fact having career seasons.

I've only included players who have played > 40 games, who are projected to exceed their career highs over the course of an 82 game schedule. I didn't include the goalies as their numbers could possibly fluctuate downwards. 3 rookies are on that list. I included them since they have all had pretty stellar rookie seasons and have been big contributors all season long.



Taking the rookies out of the equation, that is 10 players on the Flames who are on pace to having career seasons. Obviously injuries played a role in determining if they actually reach those projections, but there's no reason to think they wouldn't if they were still healthy.

Special shoutout to Wideman. Who saw this guy on pace for 54+ points at the start of the year? Many wanted him gone for a bag of pucks. He's really stepped up and become a solid player for this team.

This really is a season of a lot of things going right for the team. I think it's a lot to ask of the vets to duplicate their numbers next season. But no reason to think young guys like Johnny, Monahan and even Bouma can't increase their totals.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

At the beginning of the season, one of the ''stipulations'' for the Flames making the playoffs was that many players would have to have career seasons for that to even be a possibility. 9 games left and we have a pretty good selection of players who are in fact having career seasons.

I've only included players who have played > 40 games, who are projected to exceed their career highs over the course of an 82 game schedule. I didn't include the goalies as their numbers could possibly fluctuate downwards. 3 rookies are on that list. I included them since they have all had pretty stellar rookie seasons and have been big contributors all season long.



Taking the rookies out of the equation, that is 10 players on the Flames who are on pace to having career seasons. Obviously injuries played a role in determining if they actually reach those projections, but there's no reason to think they wouldn't if they were still healthy.

This really is a season of a lot of things going right for the team. I think it's a lot to ask of lot of the vets to duplicate their numbers next season. But no reason to think young guys like Johnny, Monahan and even Bouma can't increase their totals.

True things are going right, but losing Gio is and was a huge blow. So not EVERYTHING is going right.

Your point stands though.

[DoubleF]

I agree with you. I only want to say, Gio has broken his previous high points this season in less games and we don't need to project his points.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

At the beginning of the season, one of the ''stipulations'' for the Flames making the playoffs was that many players would have to have career seasons for that to even be a possibility. 9 games left and we have a pretty good selection of players who are in fact having career seasons.

I've only included players who have played > 40 games, who are projected to exceed their career highs over the course of an 82 game schedule. I didn't include the goalies as their numbers could possibly fluctuate downwards. 3 rookies are on that list. I included them since they have all had pretty stellar rookie seasons and have been big contributors all season long.



Taking the rookies out of the equation, that is 10 players on the Flames who are on pace to having career seasons. Obviously injuries played a role in determining if they actually reach those projections, but there's no reason to think they wouldn't if they were still healthy.

Special shoutout to Wideman. Who saw this guy on pace for 54+ points at the start of the year? Many wanted him gone for a bag of pucks. He's really stepped up and become a solid player for this team.

This really is a season of a lot of things going right for the team. I think it's a lot to ask of the vets to duplicate their numbers next season. But no reason to think young guys like Johnny, Monahan and even Bouma can't increase their totals.

That's the fun in having a young team, this should be expected. That said, IMO there are names on that list who you have to at least question whether they can equal or continue to improve on that pace next year. Those would be:

Wideman - Got to think he comes back down a bit
Russell - maybe, still improving as a D-man and pretty young so this could just be a normal step forward for him
Hudler - Great player, but doubt he's on the up swing. I think we have to hope that his improved point totals are due to Monahan and Gaudreau's progression and that hopefully if playing with this new caliber of line mate, this is what we can expect.
Jooris - I like what he brings, but to me he's a prime candidate to do what I call Sean Donovan it. He'll be useful moving forward, but kind of think he got hit with lighting in a bottle offensively this year, doubt he keeps up the pace.

So how nervous are we for a regression next year? Can these guys maintain, along with some new young blood stepping in and up (Bennett, Ferland, Poirier)? What about some of our guys who maybe haven't delivered as much as they could having a better year next year like Raymond?

[vicarious]

nm

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Honestly, none of the non-rookie guys are all that shocking, besides Brodie / Gio. If you'd told me before the season that Hudler would score ~70pts and Wideman and Backlund ~50 for example I'd have said you're being optimistic but I wouldn't have said it was unhear of. That probably bodes well going forward.

[Bingo]

Giordano makes his career best with missed games so keep him, but you have to strike Backlund because being hurt is part of the puzzle why teams don't succeed, and he won't go past 30 points this year because of missed games.

Plus as mentioned I think you strike rookies and 2nd year players.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I would also point out that I don't think Backlund is playing any better this year than previously when he is in the lineup. Not that that's bad exactly - he's been good previously too.

[heep223]

Things that have gone completely right this year:

*Goaltending was exceptional for first 20 games
*Emergence of Johnny
*Monahan's huge leap forward in all aspects of the game
*Hudler emerging as legit #1 winger
*Top 4 D all had career years
*Chemistry / coaching just amazing, third period comebacks
*Depth players and B prospects have had good years/steps forward (Bouma, Stajan, Backlund, Jooris, Ferland, Granlund)

Things that have not gone completely right this year:

*Goaltending has been average since the first 20 games of the year (this team has not been carried by their goalies)
*Injuries to depth guys part way through the year
*Season ending injury to captain, best player and Norris candidate at the most important time of the year
*OK/slightly disappointing seasons for some depth players
*Officiating (sorry I couldn't help myself)
*Strength of teams around us chasing final playoff spots

All-in-all, a lot more important things have gone right then wrong. The only real two exceptions for me are elite goaltending and Gio's injury, in terms of "stipulations" to start the year. I think most CPers before the season would have said that in the extremely unlikely scenario that the Flames were going to make the playoffs, out of the many key reasons that have been achieved, two that haven't are elite goaltending and the health of all our key players.

Lots of outside fans are saying that the Flames are in the hunt because everything has gone right for them, and that they've been really lucky. I would say based on the above that many thingshave gone right, but certainly not all.

TL;DR lots of things have gone right, some things have gone wrong, but this team has a lot of skill and heart and I love them

EDIT: sorry if I took that off topic a bit, I touched on more of the stipulations than the career years that OP is referencing.

[You Need a Thneed]

Hudler is only 9 points off of the league lead.

Monahan was 70 points off the league lead last season. This season? Only 19.

[Street Pharmacist]

Most of the sudden upticks fit veterans are due to increased roles. Russell had 29 points before, but when suddenly getting pp time and 27 minutes a night it's bound to increase. Same for Wideman.
Hudler is a #1 RW now with the most forward ice time on many nights and plays with the Flames best players most shifts. Is no surprise there's an increase in production.

[tvp2003]

Don't you need to compare "projected points" with "previous high points -- projected over 82 games"?

One example is Gio -- his previous high was 47 points (last year), but that was only over 64 games. Over 82 games, last year's production projects to 60 points, which isn't that far off from his projected total of 65 this year.

Not to say Gio didn't have a career year (and a monster one as well), but PPG should be considered as well.

[GreenLantern]

Monahan top 10 in scoring has been my favourite story of the year.

But Bouwma sure is the feel good one.

[burnitdown]

Already mentioned

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Hudler is only 9 points off of the league lead.

Hudler's career high, previously, was 57 points in 2009. That year Malkin had almost exactly double his points with 113, Ovechkin and Crosby each had 100+ seasons and you needed 88 points to be in the top 10. There were 75 players who out scored Hudler. On Hudler's team alone there were 6 higher scorers.

This year not a single player is likely to beat 85 points and Hudler currently sits 15th in scoring. Even if Hudler outscores his previous career year by 15-20 points, it's going to be very understated just how significantly better he was.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Hudler is only 9 points off of the league lead.

Monahan was 70 points off the league lead last season. This season? Only 19.

Seriously, what is wrong with all of the top players this year? The Art Ross winner is likely only going to have like 80ish points. Are they all slumping at the same time? Or is this going to be the new normal?

[pylon]

I agree with the Bouma assertion.

You can have all the snipers you want, but without glue guys like Bouma, you aren't going anywhere. See 300 km North for an example of that. He really reminds me of Ian Laperriere. The guy would, and actually did block shots with his face to keep his team in games. That is the only thing that scares me about Bouma. Will his style of play shorten his career?

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by codynw

Seriously, what is wrong with all of the top players this year? The Art Ross winner is likely only going to have like 80ish points. Are they all slumping at the same time? Or is this going to be the new normal?

If Crosby plays all 10 of Pittsburgh's remaining games, and maintains his points per game, he will get to 85 points, no one else is on pace for more.

The lowest ever total for an Art Ross winner is 94, in 2003-2004, as far as I can tell. Every full season after the 2004 lockout has had at least one 100 point player, and the 2013 shortened season had one player on pace for a 100 point season.

I think this should be taken into account when talking about career seasons, since overall scoring in the league is down.

[Tron_fdc]

I'm curious if scoring overall is down, or if it's just more spread out this year?

I tend to think that teams now run 4 lines that all contribute, vs the old days when you would see a top line that fills the net, and nothing coming up behind them. Which to me is an interesting development in a cap world; you would think that you would throw a bunch of money at your top 3-5 players and fill the rest of the team with plugs (or at least that's what some were opining when the cap was first introduced).

I don't think the game is any less interesting, that's for sure.

[SofaProfessor]

Originally Posted by codynw

Seriously, what is wrong with all of the top players this year? The Art Ross winner is likely only going to have like 80ish points. Are they all slumping at the same time? Or is this going to be the new normal?

I think this is the new normal. And this is just one uneducated man's opinion but here goes:

I think the speed of the game has caught up to the speed of the most elite players. When the league started cracking down on stick infractions and holding it opened up for more skilled players to score goals. Now, your average player has adapted to that same style of play and it's much harder for the elite guys to get their space.

It also seems like less stick infractions and penalties are getting called. Even the broadcasters were saying last night that if this was 05/06 there would have been 9 penalties in the first period. They were exaggerating a bit but you get the point.

Adaptation to the speed of the game + more hooking and holding = less points for the elite, skilled players.