Assuming the Flames make the playoffs, who is your preferred 1st round match up?

[Stud_McCool]

I think I'd rather the Oilers in round 2 if possible. Talbot will be sooooo burned out by then.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by troutman

EDM is over-achieving, and ripe for being whipped in playoff hockey.

I think the Oilers will be worn down by the time that the playoffs start.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

My dream scenario is for Anaheim to annihilate the Oilers in four straight games...

In seven games not four. We want them to be tired when they play us.

[doublebass]

Battle of Alberta!

[locsofblu]

Oilers.

[Buff]

I'm scared to face the Oilers. Soooo much stress. Great games to watch, I'm sure, but I don't know if my heart can handle it. Definitely my wife couldn't handle me, and I don't want to be a bad influence on my kids... Although they would truly understand what it means to hate the Oilers....

[Heavy Jack]

Bring on Edmonton

#unfinished business

They didn't face us with Ferly rolling and the thought of having to contain players like Johnny, Backlund and Monahan while dealing with Ferland, Tkachuk and Bennett's havoc is delightful. We all saw the true Ferland when he played the Nucks, any team that gets us in the first round will be thinking about that Ferland.

[Calgary4LIfe]

There isn't a single opponent in the Western Conference that I think the Flames match up poorly against. Heck, bring on Anaheim.

Flames were getting bulldozed for a while by the bigger teams and it seemed to affect them. Now they have that swagger and are often the ones instigating the physicality - I really like to see that. Anaheim no longer scares me, and I would love to see them in the playoffs.

The Flames are here to burn down the Honda Center.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

The best bet is to avoid teams with good goaltenders.

So I don't want the Wild, Sharks, or Oilers...

Yes and no. An important caveat to your point is that the best bet is to avoid teams with good, and well rested goaltenders. Here is a breakdown of the last ten Stanley Cup finals, and the workload of goalies who played in each of these series:

2005–06
Cam Ward: Regular season – 25 GS, 28 GP; Playoffs – 21 GS, 23 GP
Dwayne Roloson: Reg – 42 GS, 43 GP; Playoffs – 18 GS, 18 GP

2006–07
Jean-Sebastian Giguere: Reg – 53 GS, 56 GP; Playoffs – 17 GS, 18 GP
Ray Emery: Reg – 56 GS, 58 GP; Playoffs – 20 GS, 20 GP

2007–08
Chris Osgood: Reg – 40 GS, 43 GP; Playoffs – 18 GS, 19 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury: Reg – 33 GS, 35 GP; Playoffs – 20 GS, 20 GP

2008–09
Marc-Andre Fleury: Reg – 61 GS, 62 GP; Playoffs – 24 GS, 24 GP
Chris Osgood: Reg – 44 GS, 46 GP; Playoffs – 24 GS, 24 GP

2009–10
Antti Niemi: Reg – 35 GS, 39 GP; Playoffs – 22 GS, 22 GP
Brian Boucher: Reg – 26 GS, 33 GP; Playoffs – 10 GS, 12 GP

2010–11
Tim Thomas: Reg – 55 GS, 57 GP; Playoffs – 25 GS, 25 GP
Roberto Luongo: Reg – 60 GS, 60 GP; Playoffs – 24 GS, 25 GP

2011–12
Jonathan Quick: Reg – 69 GS, 69 GP; Playoffs – 20 GS, 20 GP
Martin Brodeur: Reg – 59 GS, 59 GP; Playoffs – 24 GS, 24 GP

2012–13 *lockout shortened season

2013–14
Jonathan Quick: Reg – 49 GS, 49 GP; Playoffs – 26 GS, 26 GP
Henrik Lundqvist: Reg – 64 GS, 65 GP; Playoffs – 25 GS, 25 GP

2014–15
Corey Crawford: Reg – 57 GS, 57 GP; Playoffs – 19 GS, 20 GP
Ben Bishop: Reg – 60 GS, 62 GP; Playoffs – 25 GS, 25 GP

2015–16
Matt Murray: Reg – 13 GS, 13 GP (+ AHL – 31 GP); Playoffs – 21 GS, 21 GP
Martin Jones: Reg – 65 GS, 65 GP; Playoffs – 24 GS, 24 GP

The reason the Flames were never able to get over the hump in the mid part of the first decade was that by the time Kiprusoff was playing in the first round, he was already cresting on 80 games. You will notice from this list that overwhelmingly the thing that all of these players have in common is that they have all played under 90 games in a year.

Devan Dubnyk is on pace to play 65 reg. season games, and Martin Jones will play around 68 games, although I expect the number for both of them to be a couple games under these numbers given that the Sharks and Wild will likely have a two or three game buffer of meaningless games in April. Cam Talbot is on pace to play 73 reg. season games. He could play more games given that there is no relief in Edmonton where they will likely be fighting tooth-and-nail to hold a division spot, and their backup goalie is a raw rookie. By the time the first round begins Talbot is likely approaching the brink of his season, and the Oilers should be an easy out.

[expatflame]

Anyone but the Hawks

[Igottago]

We are long overdue for a BOA. Would be epic.

[TheIronMaiden]

While we are contemplating the possibility of an Oilers Flames play off series, here is some food for thought.

The Flames have 10 players with more than 10 goals so far this season,
The Oilers have 8 players with more than 10 goals so far.

The Flames have 13 players with more than 20 pints so far this season,
The Oilers have 9 players with more than 20 points so far.

Therefore in terms of offensive production depth, the Flames have a slight edge.

In terms of team offence:
The Flames have 176 total goals at a 2.67 goals a game average,
The Oilers have 183 total goals at a 2.82 goals a game average.

Therefore the Oilers have a slight edge in total offensive production.

[The Fonz]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Talbot is on pace to play 73 reg. season games. He could play more games given that there is no relief in Edmonton where they will likely be fighting tooth-and-nail to hold a division spot, and their backup goalie is a raw rookie. By the time the first round begins Talbot is likely approaching the brink of his season, and the Oilers should be an easy out.

It really is glorious that they never acquired a veteran back-up. What is the most games played in a season by a goaltender? I'm pretty confident that Talbot does play 15 of their 17 games remaining (they have 2 x B2Bs where Brossoit will get in), putting him at 73 GP on the season.

[lifetime_flamesfan]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

It really is glorious that they never acquired a veteran back-up. What is the most games played in a season by a goaltender? I'm pretty confident that Talbot does play 15 of their 17 games remaining (they have 2 x B2Bs where Brossoit will get in), putting him at 73 GP on the season.

TO add to this, what is Talbot's career high in games played for a season? He's been a backup until he went to Edmonton.

[DionTheDman]

Either Anaheim or Edmonton.

Ducks -- If we can beat Anaheim , we necessarily have to break the curse there which is one of the few black marks against the franchise that remains ongoing. If we break through that dam, it'd be a huge weight off their shoulders and they would hopefully make a huge run after that.

Oilers -- It's the freaking Oilers. I'd want nothing more than to stomp them and shut them up about going 4-0 in the regular season. And that's on top of how it's just the BOA dialed up to 11. It'd be a ton of fun.

[skudr248]

Please be the Oilers, knocking them out would bring me so much happiness.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

It really is glorious that they never acquired a veteran back-up. What is the most games played in a season by a goaltender? I'm pretty confident that Talbot does play 15 of their 17 games remaining (they have 2 x B2Bs where Brossoit will get in), putting him at 73 GP on the season.

In the past 20 years, nine goalies have played in +75 games in an NHL regular season. Grant Fuhr once played in 79 games in 1995–96; Martin Brodeur played in 78 games once, and 77 games three times in his NHL career.

In the same past two decades 18 goalies have played in +73 games, but it has happened only seven times since 2009. The era of the +65-game goalie is rapidly disappearing if it has not already happened. The ideal makeup for today's NHL team is to have a top goalie who can play 55–60 games in a season, and then go the distance in the playoffs, and a backup goalie who can carry the remaining 20–30 games.

Originally Posted by lifetime_flamesfan

TO add to this, what is Talbot's career high in games played for a season? He's been a backup until he went to Edmonton.

Cam Talbot played in 56 games last year.

[GirlySports]

Edmonton for sure. Playoff newbies

[polak]

I guess I'm the only one who doesn't want to face the team that swept us.

I think people like to invent excuses as to why they'll struggle in the playoffs but they had our number all year and I'd rather not face them in the 1st round. Would be a lot of fun though and man the bragging rights up for grabs in that series would be nuts. I've never seen a BOA play off series before.

I think the Flames match up well with all of the other playoff teams. Ducks worry me too as they've historically owned us.

[Enoch Root]

I no longer fear any team in the west.

I wouldn't want to play Anaheim, simply because the team would be bloodied and bruized from those dirty hackers.

I would prefer to save Chicago for the 3rd round, simply due to their experience.

Until 2 months ago, I would have said I would want to avoid ANA, STL and LAK, because we didn't match up well against the biggest, most physical teams. However, none of those teams are as good as they were, and the Flames have gotten better at handling them.

Despite MIN being the class of the west this year, I don't fear them at all.

I actually fear SJS more than MIN, but I wouldn't be afraid of facing them. I think the Flames could take them in teh first round (and it would be better to face them then than later)

The dream is the Oilers of course. I wouldn't be at all worried about the reffing - I think once the Grease are in the playoffs, the league's favour will have been paid and the Oil won't get any more favourable treatment.

I also agree with the assessment that Talbot will be ripe for the picking because he will be worn out. This new race between EDM, ANA and CAL will actually ensure that they keep riding him right up until playoff time.

I think the Flames' forechecking can exploit the Oilers' D. I also think that, with it being his first playoffs, McDavid will be relatively easy to knock off his game and get into his head. The playoffs are a very different beast, where the checking is substantially tighter, and young offensive players often have an adjustment period.

Sorry for long post.

tl;dr I don't fear any team this year.

I don't have this cocky view that the Flames are going to roll or anything. But I do have a belief that they are legitimately capable of winning rounds.