Is this a playoff team?

[Bingo]

I liken the Flames to the golfer that has never broken 80 but just posted a 37 on the front. He's loose, he's enjoying the par after par after par, but he hasn't jumped ahead yet to the fact that he only needs a 42 back nine to do something he's never done.

Get the half way house, and his buddy adds it up and says "dude, 37!", then he gets to the tee on 10 and suddenly he has to avoid that tree on the right, and man that out of bounds one left is close, but it's 420 yards so I should use my driver, but can I steer it away from trouble.

Looseness is gone.

All tight.

[Poe969]

It's hard to tell if the Flames have the yips right now or if they were being underestimated by other teams, or if other teams figured out their game plan and the Flames need to adapt or if it's just "puckluck" Unless something drastic happens to change things, they're going to keep doing what they're doing right now.

[St. Pats]

I think we all knew a correction was coming. Way too many things going their way and not sustainable. Now it's settled down and looking like what everybody thought would be the case at the start of the year. Goals are going to be tough to come by and the defense and the goaltending needs to be exceptional for them to win. Can they tighten it up?

[Cobra Jet]

Answer to OP;

No.

[RyZ]

This is a team where a bunch of the young players have come back down to earth. Granlund and Jooris look like AHLers that aren't ready yet all of the sudden and the rest of the team isn't scoring the way they were over the first 25 or so games.

If we don't kick the funk soon it could start to stick and have the Flames turn in a pretty pedestrian 2nd half of the season, which of course, will leave them on the outside looking in without a high draft pick.

[bluck]

Curious as to he people feel now. With 6 straight losses and the Flames clinging to the wild card spot. Has your opinion changed? Is this a playoff team?

[nik-]

Originally Posted by bluck

Curious as to he people feel now. With 6 straight losses and the Flames clinging to the wild card spot. Has your opinion changed? Is this a playoff team?

They're not clinging to a wildcard spot, they're out of the 8. They're tied in points with LA who has a game in hand.

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by bluck

Curious as to he people feel now. With 6 straight losses and the Flames clinging to the wild card spot. Has your opinion changed? Is this a playoff team?

We are not a playoff team as long as:

-Gio being invisible
-Brodie being downright awful
-Flames bad luck with scoring

It's a sooner or later matter for me. But hopefully they pick it back up where they were at. It's as if our entire defence corps suddenly went brain dead for the duration of this road trip.

[Flame_on_34]

After last nights game (and checking the broadcast to make sure it was a Flames broadcast, considering there was more camera coverage and talk about the Rangers) I noticed they panicked and never came up with a plan when it came to shots on goal, there was also bad communication when it came to the passing game.

[troutman]

If I had to bet my own troutman $ today, I would say no. The Western Conference is too strong.

This has not been updated since last night:

http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NHL/Western.html

Flames are now 9th most likely team to make the playoffs. Will have to play 8-9 games over .500 the rest of the way to have a good shot. Tough assignment. Calgary really has to dominate the upcoming home stand.

I'm not disappointed too much - the Flames are headed in the right direction. Stay the course.

[Igster]

Originally Posted by nik-

They're not clinging to a wildcard spot, they're out of the 8. They're tied in points with LA who has a game in hand.

Tied with LA huh? If someone would have said that at the start of the year, I would have laughed. So, it's not all bad.

Things were bound to even out. They'll win a few here and will be back in the top 8. Will they stay there? Tough to say.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by troutman

I'm not disappointed too much - the Flames are headed in the right direction. Stay the course.

I'm not disappointed in the record at all but this early in the rebuild it may have been better to get one more top 5 pick in the fold. Not gonna lie in that I would have preferred a good shot at McDavid over finishing 11/12 in the conference. I just think that even with the prospect base looking good there isn't that Tavares type franchise player in the mix.

[heep223]

We are still very much in the picture after an absolutely abysmal stretch where we have been very unlucky IMO (in my opinion, IE. I'm allowed to have an opinion, I've watched every game).

I hate that I have to post a huge caveat about my opinion in fear that I'll get ripped to shreds for saying that we've been unlucky.

I still believe. We'll likely be in the mix for a wild card spot and I think we'll squeek in.

[Bingo]

I honestly didn't think this group would lose 6 in a row, so I thought they'd take it to the wire and either get in or come up just short.

This slump changes that, and likely cooks their goose.

However, the big thing is the Flames now know they have budding stars in Gaudreau, Monahan and Brodie, a warrior in Giordano. More NHL ready depth in Granlund, Jooris, and Ferland. Some intrigue in a guy like Baertschi, and some emerging solid pros in Wotherspoon, Arnold, Poirier and Hanowski. A potential goalie tandem of Ortio and Gillies who are both on torrid streaks.

The future is extremely bright, and the slump doesn't change that.

[bubbsy]

i remember last year when the avs were surprising everyone, my thoughts were the real test is when some of their big guns hit a wall/slump and if they are able to fight thru or let the slumps eat away at their playoff chances. They were able to keep their stretch going, without any major hiccups in their push for a playoff spot.

The flames have hit a slump. shooting % down (not generating enough opportunities and/or a cashing in on chances), save % down, likely a function of less consistent goaltending but also our d have started struggling and making more and more mistakes. Ironically speaking, they are actually as a whole playing as good, likely better, than they were while they were winning. So one may argue that some dumb luck may have had more to do with the winning than anything else. Naturallly, the team isn't going to continue the winless trend, but they're not going to go back to the winning % that was observed over the first 25 games either.

Their likely somewhere in the middle, now whether that's a 0.500 run, or slightly better/worse. I'd be surprised if they are a lot worse than a 0.500 team.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I honestly didn't think this group would lose 6 in a row, so I thought they'd take it to the wire and either get in or come up just short.

This slump changes that, and likely cooks their goose.

However, the big thing is the Flames now know they have budding stars in Gaudreau, Monahan and Brodie, a warrior in Giordano. More NHL ready depth in Granlund, Jooris, and Ferland. Some intrigue in a guy like Baertschi, and some emerging solid pros in Wotherspoon, Arnold, Poirier and Hanowski. A potential goalie tandem of Ortio and Gillies who are both on torrid streaks.

The future is extremely bright, and the slump doesn't change that.

Don't forget about Bennett

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

i remember last year when the avs were surprising everyone, my thoughts were the real test is when some of their big guns hit a wall/slump and if they are able to fight thru or let the slumps eat away at their playoff chances. They were able to keep their stretch going, without any major hiccups in their push for a playoff spot.

The flames have hit a slump. shooting % down (not generating enough opportunities and/or a cashing in on chances), save % down, likely a function of less consistent goaltending but also our d have started struggling and making more and more mistakes. Ironically speaking, they are actually as a whole playing as good, likely better, than they were while they were winning. So one may argue that some dumb luck may have had more to do with the winning than anything else. Naturallly, the team isn't going to continue the winless trend, but they're not going to go back to the winning % that was observed over the first 25 games either.

Their likely somewhere in the middle, now whether that's a 0.500 run, or slightly better/worse. I'd be surprised if they are a lot worse than a 0.500 team.

Hockey has it's components but they're all related. Pucks don't go in, so you press and cheat a bit, resulting in too many odd man rushes and chances that you're goaltender really shouldn't be expected to stop.

It's like an inner PDO fulfilling prophecy.

Low shooting percentage leads to a lower save percentage.

Twice last night they had pucks trickle to the line and not go in, another time they hit the cross bar. Those all go in and the Flames likely win. They didn't.

Earlier this year they were going in and because of that the Flames could relax into a system and not press things.

[Tron_fdc]

I still think they make it.

It's a fight, and they're right where I expected them to be at this point. They won't keep losing like this, so in 4 weeks I expect them to be in a wild card.

50/50 they either come in 8th or 10th, and I'm usually pretty optimistic about stuff in general. I still think they're in.

[Hemi-Cuda]

I thought they'd slow down for sure, but to have the wheels completely fall off and the team unable to do anything right for such a long stretch is something I would have expected out of previous Flames teams. I had hoped this group had a little more fortitude than that

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I'm not disappointed in the record at all but this early in the rebuild it may have been better to get one more top 5 pick in the fold. Not gonna lie in that I would have preferred a good shot at McDavid over finishing 11/12 in the conference. I just think that even with the prospect base looking good there isn't that Tavares type franchise player in the mix.

Though we would all love to have a McDavid or Eichel in the system, it isn't critical to becoming a cup winner. How many teams in the NHL have a Tavares-type franchise player in the system?

Anyways, we really don't know where the Flames will end up finishing. They could very well draft anywhere from the bottom 5 right through 20th (if things go very, very right). They may win the lottery, or someone like Strome or Kylington is available when it is their time to select. I thought the Flames would bottom out this year (which would be great timing in the grand scheme of things) and then take big steps next season. I really can't complain where they finish now though, wherever that may be.