Expectations for 2014-15 Season

[Young-Sneezy]

Originally Posted by StrykerSteve

What are my expectations? One word, say it with me.

P-L-A-Y-O-F-F-S

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by FlamingHomer

Flames drop another place in the standings from last year and so does Brian Burke's personal grooming.

At least one of those things is hard to believe....

[NewFan]

May be we will finish with a similar points but in 22-24th place. Because there lots of teams will fall down so hard after trade deadline.

[T-Dog]

Thought it was a good time to bump this thread after seeing the July 1 moves. I'm ok with our moves and think we are building to being competitive in a couple of years. As for 2014-15 though, I think it is going to be a tough year. On paper we are the same or worse and the other basement dwellers got better. I think we will add a very good player next year and will have a good core to build around and lots of flexibility though. Expecting to see lots of losses this year though, just don't have a strong enough roster and effort only takes you so far.

[mrdonkey]

There will not be very many goals to watch. Our forward lineup is laughably terrible.

But at least the kids won't get pushed around, which is what I really care about.

[Wolfman]

I expect a lot of faces to be punched! I will enjoy it. I hope we lead the league in fighting majors this year, make teams pay for coming to the Saddledome.

[Vinny01]

Yeah the roster has downgraded outside of goaltending.

Looks like the flames are going to give a spot to at least one of the young forwards. Reinhart, Granlund, Baertschi, Gaudreau, and Bennett will all push for spots up front.

Engellend is okay but I am not convinced he is an upgrade on Butler.

[getoverit]

Would like to see some of our young guys develop, be hard to play against with no one looking forward to coming to the dome to play us, entertaining hockey. last year plus + and still land bottom 2 to position for a great pick.

[theoforever]

I see a lot of violence in our future.
A lot of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence.

[Hackey]

Will be bottom 5 again. Where exactly I'm not sure.

[The Yen Man]

Looks like the team is probably going to goon it up quite a bit over the next season. That's fine by me. They may not win many games, but they'll be entertaining, and the other team will not like playing the Flames.

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by theoforever

I see a lot of violence in our future.
A lot of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence.

Do you see us as bigger tankers or Buffalo as bigger tankers?

[Shawnski]

As someone with a lot of vowels in his name once said.... "Hospital Hockey"

[c.t.ner]

I think it really depends if we have Gio for the entire season and how a full season of Ramo/Hiller are in comparison to the MacDonald/Ramo/Berra experiment.

My gut says we won't be close to the playoffs, but we won't be bottom five either. Ramo/Hiller will provide far more stability in net than Ramo/Berra/MacDonald which will win us a couple more games and Gio playing a full season will see us winning a few more games (The Flames worse spell came when Gio was out).

I expect Monahan to have a bit of a sophmore slump, but two of Baertschi/Gadureau/Poirier/Granlund/Reinhart will surprise this year to step up to the plate to offset his slump.

It's going to be a somewhat painful year, but again there will be far more hope than the Oilers with this team and their work ethic. The Canucks are going to be bad and we won't lose as many games to them as we did last year. Games against LA/Anaheim will be painful to watch, but we might be in a better spot against San Jose. Phoenix will be interesting, can't get a read on whether or not they'll fall.

[Fire]

Originally Posted by theoforever

I see a lot of violence in our future.
A lot of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence.

Yeah, the anti-fighting crowd is going to have a rough season.

It should be an entertaining season in a couple of ways. The physical game the new additions bring and the exciting young players (Gaudreau, Monahan, etc).

[CalgaryFan1988]

Honestly I don't expect much. Maybe a little bit of "slap shot" hockey to get the fans through the season. Should be something else!

Edit: haha just read theoforever's post. "I see a lot of violence in our future". That would make an excellent sig.

,

[theoforever]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Do you see us as bigger tankers or Buffalo as bigger tankers?

You have to admit that the monumental tank history of Buffalo I wrote in that other thread was true and convincing.

Buffalo, got rid of Ehrhoff further making them worse if that's even possible.
Georges and Meszaros are not as good but combined should even out. Brought back Moulson, he played 44 games with them before but that didn't help much. Gionta is an improvement, McCormick irrelevant. Buffalo, had to reach the floor so additions were not only expected but unavoidable.
They had to add someone didn't they? So, no credit due.
The additions give Sabres some of the missing character, so they could finish with few more points, perhaps they get to 60 points if lucky.

Flames improved in goal by a mile with Hiller. Much weaker with Raymond than Cammy. Engelland is weaker than Butler but a wash, Bollig a wash with TJ. Flames like I predicted before are standing still.

Conclusion:
Calgary is still stronger of the two clubs.
The 25 point difference from 2013/2014 has not been bridged.

Buffalo still wins the tank wars by a mile, mostly because they were already at the absolute bottom of the sewer and Flames didn't make moves to get down to their level.

HOPE THIS HELPS YOU.
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BTW Hackey:

You may find this interesting from sportsnet.ca:
"Buffalo Sabres
The team roster’s had been put through a hot bleach since the mid-season hiring of Tim Murray as GM. Buying out defenceman Christian Ehrhoff made it just about complete. Murray sold off everything but the building fixtures, and it looked like he was putting the franchise on course for the 2015 lottery and possibly two shots at Connor McDavid. (Previous GM Darcy Regier had hosed the Islanders for a first-rounder in the Thomas Vanek deal.) But Murray was able to convince some veterans to sign on with the rebuilding program. Matt Moulson, Brian Gionta and Josh Gorges don’t put the team on course for the top eight in the East, but they’ll stand as role models for the next-gen Sabres."

and from yahoo.sports:

"
TEAMS THAT MADE YOU GO, “Hmmm…”
Buffalo Sabres: Trading a second-rounder for Gorges, who has four years and $15.6 million left on his contract? Signing Gionta for three years and $12.75 million? Signing Moulson for five years and $25 million? Signing defenseman Andrej Meszaros for one year at $4.125 million? GM Tim Murray seems like a smart man with a clear plan to (tank in 2014-15 and then) rebuild, and he had to spend because of the $51 million salary floor. So we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt."

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

I think we are going to lose a lot of games, but that's ok.

[theoforever]

Originally Posted by Fire

Yeah, the anti-fighting crowd is going to have a rough season.

It should be an entertaining season in a couple of ways. The physical game the new additions bring and the exciting young players (Gaudreau, Monahan, etc).

If Flames add couple of kids to the lineup even on rotational bases through the year it will be fun to watch. I believe Flames will show similar heart to last year. I'm looking forward to the brutality as I don't like our kids to be pushed around, all in self-defence . We will most likely finish near the bottom but it will be entertaining, blood guts and all.

[Matty81]

I think they'll end up around 23rd or 24th if I'm guessing. I am hoping they will either surprise and make the playoffs or end up 25th or worse, hopefully don't get caught in no mans land.

If the team is out of contention by Christmas, Ramo, Hudler and hopefully Glencross should be auctioned off and get a little younger - there will still be lots of vets around so no worries about going full Oilers.

Going to really struggle to score consistently but Hiller/Ramo in net is good and a returning D corps that is solid with Giordano healthy... I do think they will be competitive all year and the luck/bounces of the first two months will decide the narrative, punching above their weight or a learning season.

Should be real fun to watch this year with some of the young forwards and if they can convince Glencross to waive, should have 2 1sts in a very good draft again next year.