Thank You Cali Flames Fan
Cali Flames Fan is taking some well earned rest from the GDT threads, (enjoy your babymoon my friend) and he certainly casts a long shadow, his work has been tremendous this year. I'll try and substitute teach the OP and hopefully we can make up for it by committee.
Calgary(32-24-4, 68 PTS) Calgary Flames Playoff Chances 61%
New Jersey(25-26-9, 59 PTS) New Jersey Devils Playoff Chances 1.4%
For two teams without a lot of history and playing so infrequently there sure are lots and lots of storylines in this one.
What have you done for me lately?
Jersey has won 4 straight and seem to have found their groove. The latest win coming on the back of Cory Schneider's 38 save shutout performance, and Mike Cammalleri's 2 goals. The flames are facing some adversity whilst in their post season push. The kings and wild have squeezed the flames out of a playoff spot and though the team has lost back to backs, (somewhat of a rarity of late) the skating, system, and team discipline were in view in last night's loss to the rags. the rangers are an elite team and the flames hung tough for most of the night, exhibiting some savvy for heavy playoff style hockey.
The old boys club
The Devils are a team of veterans would be a nice way to put it, put these old goats out to pasture might be another. The league average age is 27.8yrs, the flames youth movement is in full effect with an average of 27.18yrs. Although there isn't a whole lot of deviation as the youngest team is the jackets at 26.1yrs, and the second oldest team in the league is the flyers 28.5yrs. There is however one outlier, you guessed it, the devils with a 30.36 average. This number greatly affected by the presence of some very senior NHLPA members, gomez, gianta, and of course the big butt of jagr.
Kind Bud(ding talent) in the pipeline
Granlund is better than Erixon, Poirier is better than Shinkaruk, Ferland has a Bouma shaped mold to pour into. What a time to be alive.
Glenny...and his worth...and his ice time...and his list...
The trade watch is underway for glenny and with rumors constantly swirling, it would certainly be nice for scoreface to find the scoresheet.
Johnny come lately, the new kid in town
Gaudreau's victory lap continues as the flames play game 2 of 7 on the east coast. The kid has always seemed cool under pressure, but the added static of friends and family watching and pulling at your sleeve may prove a nuisance. Personally i'd like to see the johnny hockey show as much as anybody lucky enough to know him and to have some comped tickets in their wallet, but he hasn't looked as outright dominant as he did a little earlier this year. But who knows, there may have been a highlight reel goal just last night if klein doesn't can-opener Johnny throughout an entire breakaway. Dangerous as always and it's only a matter of time before he's back on 1v1.
Squid leaves in 5yrx5M cloud of ink
Cammy plays his old team, looked damn good last night with 2 goals and 5 shots. However i wonder how confidant old Lou truly is, during year one of his investment in the 32 year old sniper.
I for one will be watching the top of the dot and dreading a one-kneed cammy one-timer, despite his contract status. Also worth mentioning is that the cammy deadline situation last year is being used, (rightly so) as a cautionary tale for the Glencross situation. One year's Cammy is another year's Glencross? At least we know Burke won't blink under pressure FWIW.
Flames
Lance Bouma – Mikael Backlund – David Jones
Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan – Jiri Hudler
Curtis Glencross – Joe Colborne – Josh Jooris
Michael Ferland – Markus Granlund – Emile Poirier
Mark Giordano – TJ Brodie
Kris Russell – Dennis Wideman
Deryk Engelland – Rapha Diaz
Kari Ramo
Devils
Adam Henrique - Patrik Elias - Steve Bernier
Tuomo Ruutu - Scott Gomez - Jaromir Jagr
Michael Cammalleri - Travis Zajac - Jordin Tootoo
Dainius Zubrus - Jacob Josefson - Stephen Gionta
Andy Greene - Adam Larsson
Jon Merrill - Marek Zidlicky
Eric Gelinas - Peter Harrold
Cory Schneider
Go Johnny Go!
Flames@Devils 5:30PM SNW
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