[PGT] Flames lose 5-2 to the St Louis Boooos!

[ForeverFlameFan]

Maybe Sutter knows we need Bedard? That’s all I’ve got.

[Mass_nerder]

You need to be bad, but you also need a lot of luck to hit that 1st overall pick. If being a Flames fan for the last ~30 years has taught me anything, it's that we don't have that kind of luck.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Mass_nerder

You need to be bad, but you also need a lot of luck to hit that 1st overall pick. If being a Flames fan for the last ~30 years has taught me anything, it's that we don't have that kind of luck.

Still a deep draft nonetheless.

The best course of action for Calgary is keep playing to the best of their ability (even though it’s been dog crap lately). A lot of these struggles have to do with Sutter.

I think it might be time to let him and Treliving go if this season doesn’t work out. We have a lot of appealing pieces to trade at the deadline if we are going to do a huge retool or a massive rebuild. We pivoted with two all star wingers gone, but unfortunately we couldn’t improve.

This franchise needs a new direction, starting with the coaching and GM. We’ve tried and tried with coaching and just can’t seem to get a good fit. I love Sutter, but man… his decisions lately has me questioning if he truly is the guy that is going to get us to even sniff Lord Stanley again in this decade.

[Manhattanboy]

How low do we have to finish for a reasonable shot at Bedard?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

How low do we have to finish for a reasonable shot at Bedard?

A lot lower. No way the Flames finish bottom five as the Hawks are tanking and will get worse once they sell off players in the 2nd half of the season and teams like the Ducks are flat out terrible. Only chance the Flames have is winning the lottery with low odds as I would think the team will finish in the range of 9-15.

[MrMike]

Even first only has what like 19% chance of hitting the first overall?

[Erick Estrada]

Just have to hope they don't trade their 1st round pick out of desperation as they should still get a good player where they will be picking if they can't manage to pull a 180 in the 2nd half of the season.

[Locke]

Okay, I know this comes up a lot, tanking for a high pick, etc. and I'm okay with that line of talk....as a joke.

Because thats all it is. A joke.

We're nowhere near bad enough to even be in that conversation, especially not with this roster.

Further, tanking is a dangerous game. Once you start learning to lose you start to become comfortable with it, its like old shoes that are well broken in, you dont even think about them anymore, they're just the norm.

It becomes a hard habit to break.

[Manhattanboy]

So here's my Christmas wish:

We win the draft lottery AND Oilers finish out of the playoffs by a point (the offside call the other night).

Dare to dream.

[Ferarri]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

So here's my Christmas wish:

We win the draft lottery AND Oilers finish out of the playoffs by a point (the offside call the other night).

Dare to dream.

Can I change it to we win the Stanley Cup and the Oilers finish out of the playoffs by a point?

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

How low do we have to finish for a reasonable shot at Bedard?

In my view there are four players that could be franchise players at the top of this draft
So they just need to get in that top 4
Which is still unlikely. And the additional wrinkle is that one of those 4 could be in Russia for a very long time
But if they drop in the top 15ish I think that guy becomes their best prospect
It’s not a bad year to have a bad year

[bigrangy]

As of right now there’s easily a dozen guys who project as first liners. You need to get into the bottom 11 to even have a chance at 1 with the new lottery rules. Somewhere in 7th/8th is probably as low as they can go, there’s too many teams that have already given up on the season.

[Toonage]

The most frustrating part of this year is that we all know the Flames are going to be awesome next year. We just have to sit and wait. That is the way.

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by Locke

In my eyes, this is fundamentally mental.

The strange thing about this is that this is a veteran-laden team and shouldn't be having mental struggles to this extent. But here we are.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Toonage

The most frustrating part of this year is that we all know the Flames are going to be awesome next year. We just have to sit and wait. That is the way.

Yeah, I'm definitely getting 'North Division' vibes out of this team at the moment.

That being said though, as I stated during the off-season, Treliving has pushed all his chips in on this current group. There is a window for this team before we start feeling the long-term pain of last off-season.

They really cant afford to 'burn' seasons when there is a short period for this group to compete. They've got to get their poop in a group and get it together.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by D as in David

The strange thing about this is that this is a veteran-laden team and shouldn't be having mental struggles to this extent. But here we are.

I'm not saying its not almost inexplicably baffling and frustrating.

But yeah...here we are.

[FlamesAddiction]

I think the biggest issues are Markstrom and Huberdeau. Markstrom has been terrible and Huberdeau hasn't been good enough. If Huberdeau was producing like he did historically and Markstrom was better than average, this team would have a much better record.

Huberdeau either isn't as good as his numbers showed or isn't a fit for this team.

My only beef with Sutter at this point is insisting on playing Markstrom as much as he has. I would wager that Markstrom alone has cost the team no less than 5 wins or 10 points in the standings.

[howard_the_duck]

Originally Posted by Locke

Yeah, I'm definitely getting 'North Division' vibes out of this team at the moment.

That being said though, as I stated during the off-season, Treliving has pushed all his chips in on this current group. There is a window for this team before we start feeling the long-term pain of last off-season.

They really cant afford to 'burn' seasons when there is a short period for this group to compete. They've got to get their poop in a group and get it together.

Thing is, poop in a group with this team and I’m not sure it looks much better than wild card and early playoff exit, realistically. I wonder if the best outcome right now isn’t a ‘bad year’ and a culture reset with, hopefully, a top 12 pick.

[Burning Beard]

Originally Posted by howard_the_duck

Thing is, poop in a group with this team and I’m not sure it looks much better than wild card and early playoff exit, realistically. I wonder if the best outcome right now isn’t a ‘bad year’ and a culture reset with, hopefully, a top 12 pick.

The culture was literally just reset last year. They will sink or swim with what they have got I reckon. Lots of season left.

[Kipper_3434]

This was a frustrating game to watch. The team played pretty good but couldn't seem to finish any chances. This team doesn't play good defensive hockey when down, need to start games better.