[News] With the 4th overall pick the Flames select C Sam Bennett

[saillias]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

On paper, the Flames look like one of the five worst teams in the league.

Could they surprise? Yes.

Much more likely, IMO, that they finish as one of the five worst teams in the league.

Doesn't help that they play in the West either where they should get beaten up on a regular basis by the top teams in the west who mostly improved this offseason.

Teams that got better proportionately to the Flames in the West by trade and fa aquisitions:

Anaheim
Dallas
Colorado
St. Louis
Chicago
Minnesota
Vancouver

LA didn't do anything but they're the champs have to lump them in.

The key that many fans don't seem to calculate is how the Flames improved relatively to their competition. That's what matters. Evaluating the Flames roster in a vacuum compared to last year tells you basically nothing to how they'll fare against other teams this year.

Chicago, St. Louis, Colorado and Anaheim were elite regular season teams already, their shuffling of the decks doesn't really concern us. You can only be so good, unless you think we're going to be facing some sort of WC monstrosity where the top 5 teams have 115+ points each.

Van looks like crap, St. Louis screwed themselves for goalie, and Colorado still has no defense. For what it's worth.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by saillias

Chicago, St. Louis, Colorado and Anaheim were elite regular season teams already, their shuffling of the decks doesn't really concern us. You can only be so good, unless you think we're going to be facing some sort of WC monstrosity where the top 5 teams have 115+ points each.

Van looks like crap, St. Louis screwed themselves for goalie, and Colorado still has no defense. For what it's worth.

St. Louis is fine. Jake Allen was the best goalie at their 2013-14 training camp, but he didn't make the team because he didn't have to clear waivers and the other two did. He'll be their full time starter by November.

[saillias]

Sure. I guess my point is, teams like Chicago and St. Louis were already elite, they're not going to reach some lofty super-elite status because they signed Brad Richards and Paul Statsny.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by Hackey

The fact that they won a lot of close games and had no major losing streaks.

Losing 15 of 18 games from Dec 15th to Jan 20th doesn't count as a major losing streak?

The Flames lost 47 games last season, 36 of which were by 2 goals or less (77% of losses were "close"). They won 35 games last season, 28 were by 2 goals or less (80% of wins were "close"). So pretty much they lost as many close games as they won close games.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion but you might want to actually look at the numbers before making statements about fact.

[Azhouse]

Originally Posted by devo22

you forgot

10) slaughtering the Oilers in their own arena, a.k.a. "the night of the flying jersey"

And what a sweet sweet night it was.

The OT win on March 1, 2014 where Byron muscled (the foot taller) Marincin off the puck to set up the OT winner to Monahan was a close second.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Robbob

All but confirms he didn't want to go to Edmonton.

That's what is known as "high hockey IQ".

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by heep223

Losing 15 of 18 games from Dec 15th to Jan 20th doesn't count as a major losing streak?

The Flames lost 47 games last season, 36 of which were by 2 goals or less (77% of losses were "close"). They won 35 games last season, 28 were by 2 goals or less (80% of wins were "close"). So pretty much they lost as many close games as they won close games.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion but you might want to actually look at the numbers before making statements about fact.

I meant consecutive. They finished 27th in the league. Obviously they lost a lot of games. There were a couple rough patches. I think one 6 game losing streak and maybe a couple 4 game losing streaks but for the most part they got wins pretty frequently. And losing as many close games as they won I'd say shows that things did go relatively well. If we lose the majority of those games were in Buffalo territory. If we win most of those games were in the playoffs. Things need to be taken in context. I think the team impressed most of us last year and exceeded expectations.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

Pat Steinberg ‏@Fan960Steinberg

Sam Bennett says he's up to 11 pull-ups if you're interested. Certainly looks like he's put on some size over the summer. #Flames

[Demaeon]

Originally Posted by Robbob

All but confirms he didn't want to go to Edmonton.

I heard he did them wearing a shirt that said "Combine Tank to Avoid the Stank".

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by saillias

Chicago, St. Louis, Colorado and Anaheim were elite regular season teams already, their shuffling of the decks doesn't really concern us. You can only be so good, unless you think we're going to be facing some sort of WC monstrosity where the top 5 teams have 115+ points each.

Van looks like crap, St. Louis screwed themselves for goalie, and Colorado still has no defense. For what it's worth.

I will bet a large sum of money that Colorado has less points this year than last year

[Gaskal]

Figured I'd respond to Hackey's 2014-15 concerns one by one:

Originally Posted by Hackey

Exactly. Do the players buy in the way they did last year?

I would say so.

The reason is because we were in a big funk in that late Dec to mid Jan period where Gio was out and we couldn't buy a goal worth a damn; I'm pretty sure a lot of us were doubting Hartley.

But obviously the players had enough faith in him and the team managed to swing things around, so I'd say that trust would still be there - even with the new additions, and even if we hit a similar crap streak.

Originally Posted by Hackey

Are games that much tougher because teams know what kind of style we play now?

Probably not by much.

Teams knew that they had to put the effort in to beat us, they clued into that pretty fast when we took out some of the challengers in the West; the Sharks, Blackhawks, Wild.

Did it stop us from ####ting over Anaheim 7-2? Nah. And even in the rematch vs them a few weeks later we were giving them another big run for their money before a couple of bad luck bounces sunk us.

Originally Posted by Hackey

Do certain players regress? Does someone emerge as our true starter? The west is absolutely stacked and even the bad teams improved. I could see this team being 14th in the West. If they do play well maybe a few spots higher.

If Gio can stay healthy I feel like he should stay where he is. Glencross and Wideman had injury shortened seasons, so they're due to have a bounce-back season especially since Glencross is on his contract year. Now if they can stay healthy....that's another question.

The other core pieces; Monahan might have a sophomore slump, but I don't think it'll be a significant one. The kid's pretty driven and worked very hard in the offseason - many posters here in the 2014-15 prediction thread predicted him to lead the Flames in goals, myself included.

Backlund; just stick the A on his jersey. Magic.

Brodie; he shouldn't 'regress', I think the full season playing on the top pairing did wonders for his confidence and development. He just needs to work on his shot, really.

As for goalies; well we somehow offloaded Berra for a 2nd, so no more worrying about back-breaking goals. Either one of Hiller or Ramo can take over for the other if one gets shaky, so overall our goaltending took a pretty big step forward in comparison to last year.

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

Figured I'd respond to Hackey's 2014-15 concerns one by one:

I would say so.

The reason is because we were in a big funk in that late Dec to mid Jan period where Gio was out and we couldn't buy a goal worth a damn; I'm pretty sure a lot of us were doubting Hartley.

But obviously the players had enough faith in him and the team managed to swing things around, so I'd say that trust would still be there - even with the new additions, and even if we hit a similar crap streak.

Probably not by much.

Teams knew that they had to put the effort in to beat us, they clued into that pretty fast when we took out some of the challengers in the West; the Sharks, Blackhawks, Wild.

Did it stop us from ####ting over Anaheim 7-2? Nah. And even in the rematch vs them a few weeks later we were giving them another big run for their money before a couple of bad luck bounces sunk us.


If Gio can stay healthy I feel like he should stay where he is. Glencross and Wideman had injury shortened seasons, so they're due to have a bounce-back season especially since Glencross is on his contract year. Now if they can stay healthy....that's another question.

The other core pieces; Monahan might have a sophomore slump, but I don't think it'll be a significant one. The kid's pretty driven and worked very hard in the offseason - many posters here in the 2014-15 prediction thread predicted him to lead the Flames in goals, myself included.

Backlund; just stick the A on his jersey. Magic.

Brodie; he shouldn't 'regress', I think the full season playing on the top pairing did wonders for his confidence and development. He just needs to work on his shot, really.

As for goalies; well we somehow offloaded Berra for a 2nd, so no more worrying about back-breaking goals. Either one of Hiller or Ramo can take over for the other if one gets shaky, so overall our goaltending took a pretty big step forward in comparison to last year.

There's no real need to argue these points. I think your a bit more hopeful than realistic but that's just my opinion. You very well could be right. I just see things being a bit more even with regard to things going right and wrong. Will all know the answers a year from now though. Excited for the season to just start.

[Rick M.]

I think the player buy in will continue. The younger ones know, just like us, that the Flames are close to bottoming out. They like the fact that the coach/GM/President/fans appreciate their effort and they know that they have to give their all in order to stick around for the climb that will soon follow hitting bottom. Plus, we have a great captain.

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by Hackey

There's no real need to argue these points.

The boredom, though, man......

[Hackey]

Less than a month away.

[Baxter Renegade]

My bro who does some writing for The Hockey Writers gave some love to young Bennett (Even though he is a life long Coiler Fan):

http://thehockeywriters.com/flames-b...t-young-stars/

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

The kid is off the chart.

[Da_Chief]

That is a 0.105 pull ups per day progressions. In 10 years at 28years old, he should be able to 386 pull ups with ease.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

That is a 0.105 pull ups per day progressions. In 10 years at 28years old, he should be able to 386 pull ups with ease.

It's not 500, bust.

[Arsonist22]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

That is a 0.105 pull ups per day progressions. In 10 years at 28years old, he should be able to 386 pull ups with ease.

I honestly see 500 pull ups and 1600 press ups out of this guy