Are the Flames actually a playoff team?

[FBI]

Even if this year is a fluke, I’m going to enjoy the hell out of it.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

If wolf can play like he has for rest of year they will make the playoffs.

This, The team is middle of the road. But The Flames are getting world class goaltending.

[devo22]

I'm just enjoying the ride. I fully expected this team to be terribad this year, earning the franchise a much-needed top 3/5 draft pick ... but watching an underdog team busting their asses every night and having success against all odds is pretty fun. You add a former 7th round pick looking like the real deal at 23 and young guys like Coronato and Zary (and I might even thow in Bahl as well) looking like pillars for the future, and it's REALLY hard to find any negatives here. We're still going to double dip in the first round in the next two drafts, and hey - if this is a fluke and we suck next year, I hear that 2026 draft is pretty good

We'll see if they can keep this up. But I feel they have been doing it without several of the veterans playing their best hockey, so you could also argue they still have some untapped potential even. I wouldn't have been mad at all if they had sucked this year, because I believe they do lack a real game breaker or two and picking high certainly improves the chances of finding one. But this has been fun.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

The Flamesyest outcome is still just outside the wild card and losing our pick to Montreal.

Nah, it would be giving Montreal the 2nd overall or the 1st overall next year lol

[Johnny Makarov]

How are we not every year? we play in the worst division in the NHL.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by FBI

Even if this year is a fluke, I’m going to enjoy the hell out of it.

At least it's a better fluke then the last fluke season where I had to see people metaphorically fapping over the likes of Kris Russell and pretending that the stupid lucky percentages was actual skill.

I'm not sure what the Flames are doing now is sustainable for the long haul of the later half of the season but at least I feel like they're earning their wins and those wins aren't mostly just dumb luck. I just hope that Conroy doesn't do anything stupid at the trade deadline... keep your high picks Conroy.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by Bonded

Montreal will get the pick... If they barely miss the pick is the 15th or 16th. It would suck but it won't be franchise altering. If they slide hard then they can get still get into top ten pick territory. They go an a 3-4 game slide and they are there.

How will they slide hard though with this kind of support in net?

It lends itself to confidence up and down the line up, and that's what we saw last night.

There will be ruts along the way, but they have 3 competent goalies in the organization this year and they'll go with the hot hand as often as they can. There just won't be enough losing to end up in that crop.

It's playoffs or the dreaded no man's land at this point I believe.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

How will they slide hard though with this kind of support in net?

It lends to confidence up and down the line up, and that's what we saw last night.

Injuries, for one.

They lose Weegar or Andersson for any significant time, they’re probably toast.

They lose both, or Wolf, for any significant time, they’re definitely toast.

They lose Huberdeau for any significant time, they’re probably fine.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

How will they slide hard though with this kind of support in net?

Markstrom was having a Vezina worthy start last year and then they slid into the bottom ten. If Wolf drags the Flames into the playoffs then he should get the calder lol

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Injuries, for one.

They lose Weegar or Andersson for any significant time, they’re probably toast.

They lose both, or Wolf, for any significant time, they’re definitely toast.

They lose Huberdeau for any significant time, they’re probably fine.

Maybe.

An injury to Wolf (knock on wood) also means that the .953 guy comes up, and Vladar has been capable.

Losing Weegar would probably hurt the most because he's become our steady eddy defenseman that can handle it all.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I have been all aboard "let this team bottom-out". Never really on 'team tank' - I have never thought that burning it to the ground made sense unless a team was so poorly managed with a toxic culture that burning it to the ground was the only avenue left (i.e. you are forced into it).


The Flames are winning, so should I be frustrated, or angry, or disappointed, or something? No. Winning is fun, dammit! Who the heck doesn't love cheering for the plucky 'never say die' underdog? That's the team you are most proud of, and the easiest to cheer for! Enjoy the ride that this season is giving you. it has been a lot of fun so far, with some really great story-lines to follow as well - Huska, Wolf, Vladar, Bahl, Costco, Rasmus and his Stare of Death, The Captain's 1000!, and on and on. This has been a HUGE breath of fresh air after two terrible seasons. Just enjoy the ride!


There is always more than one way to skin a cat anyway. Sure, the easiest is to draft high. That might still happen anyway. If I had to pick, I would wait until the next two drafts after the '25 draft anyway. Mckenna and Dupont? Wouldn't that be outrageous?


This organization has done very well drafting for a while now. I think under Conroy, it is going to do even better. That's Conroy's focus. I don't fear winning, because the worst that will happen with Conroy's thinking is: "We will keep our own free agents". That's fine - I don't think that they will return too much value, and this prospect base is getting really deep as is.



As for the future team - I think the Flames have a good number of future NHL'ers in the org already. That's how much I believe in the Flames' ability to draft and develop. I do think they absolutely need a few 'franchise types' to go along with what I think is already a very deep base, but Calgary has shown the ability to draft and find those players outside of the first round. Yes, it is harder - much, much harder.


I also think that Calgary has a handicap - lots of players with no-moves that will block trades to Calgary, and Calgary's inability to attract high-talent UFAs. They MUST draft these players. I firmly believe this. I think they have at least 2 in the fold already - Parekh and Wolf - and I think that there could be 2 more that pop within the organization already. If so, Calgary is well on its' way there.


Either way, I do think that this organization will bottom-out eventually. I don't think that you can expect a team to out-compete every team every night. It just isn't sustainable. I hope they do it all-season long, however.



As for Montreal trade consequences - cheering for wins, or cheering for losses will accomplish absolutely nothing when it comes to what that pick (or where it comes from) looks like. I will cry with you if it is 11th overall. I will celebrate with you if it is Florida's 31st pick that goes to Montreal. Cheering for one outcome or the other won't do a thing to change it anyway. I just prefer cheering for the wins as they come. I soothe myself with "higher pick" when they do loose, but I much prefer to cheer for wins.


This is coming from someone who is 100% in on "team needs to draft high for a couple of years". In a perfect world, this comes next season and the following season after that. Heck, who knows? Maybe with McQueen's injury, he stumbles in the draft, and Jersey gives us the 11th overall pick and we end up drafting our future #1 C anyway this draft? Maybe Button doesn't gamble with value and picks a Kucherov over a Wotherspoon in the 2nd round this time around? They are valuing skill over anything else, so I bet that mistake isn't happening any longer (not a criticism of Button - I think he is the backbone to this organization being such a good drafting organization - kudos for him for spotting Kucherov and Gaudreau as special talents and having them on a separate list).


2015 was a hell of a fun year. I don't really 'regret it'. It really was terrible timing with the McDavid/Eichel draft, but this year isn't that. Hagens is good. There are a nice assortment of top-talent players in the first 10 picks, don't get me wrong. I am just saying that I do think that this team will eventually bottom-out (not tank, but bottom-out) and there will be a better chance at a McKenna and a Dupont later, which I think easily trumps anything in this upcoming draft.



So just enjoy this wonderful breath of fresh air that this season is giving you. Win or lose, just enjoy it. This is what sports should be anyway - fun!

[robertsfanatic]

appreciate the post C4L and just wanted to add that in the next couple of years we have other teams' 1st rounders, maybe we keep winning and they start losing and their pick is what gets us our #1C.

GFG!

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

Maybe.

An injury to Wolf (knock on wood) also means that the .953 guy comes up, and Vladar has been capable.

Losing Weegar would probably hurt the most because he's become our steady eddy defenseman that can handle it all.

Vladar has been fine, and Cooley is having a great start to the year.

Wolf has an aura, and there’s no replacing that.


Bahl-Andersson
Pahal-Miromanov
Bean-Barrie
AHLer

Even with Rasmus that sucks

[YyjFlames]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

That doesn't seem sustainable over a full season. Maybe Wolf can keep up his play but this team will need some players to step up offensively as it will be extremely difficult to make the playoffs when secondary scoring is the team's primary scoring.

Based on last night's game, Coronato, Zary and Sharangovich all have more than they've shown so far, and all three looked like they are hungry for it. Sharangovich is also coming off a 31 goals/59 point season. Interestingly enough, his 3 goals and 4 points in 13 games actually puts him ahead of the 2 goals and 5 points in 16 games start he had last year.

He might just be a slow starter, and may take a bit more time with the injury. But the guy was firing it yesterday and could settle in pretty quickly like he did last year (his slow starts might be why NJ benched and then traded him).

I'm a little less bullish on Kuzmenko, because he just might not function well in a fully defensive system, but he has potential to contribute more. If his confidence comes, he's highly skilled and could start scoring.

It's not like there are any obvious regression candidates either, so barring an injury to Weegar, Andersson or Wolf, or a complete breakdown of the structured system they've been playing, it's looking likely this team makes the playoffs.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Kuzy still catches my eye most nights. He shows skill on plays, the puck just doesn't end up on net. Simplifying his game and having a shoot-first mentality could help him.

[The Yen Man]

The jury's out still on whether or not they'll make the playoffs, but at this point, I don't see them falling into bottom 10. So we might as well cheer for them to get into the playoffs, because it does look like Flames will be giving up that pick to the Habs (or even better Florida's if we finish where the standings are today lol).

Plus, it's still way more fun watching competitive hockey. I can't imagine how awful games would be to watch if I were a Sharks, Sens, or Ducks fan right now.

[YyjFlames]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

Kuzy still catches my eye most nights. He shows skill on plays, the puck just doesn't end up on net. Simplifying his game and having a shoot-first mentality could help him.

He certainly does. I can't remember when it happened, but there was a series of plays last night where he was just toying with the defender. That's why I included him. He's got the skill to step up offensively... just needs something to break his way and the confidence will come.

[konradical]

Rebuilding takes a couple of years, just because the 2024-25 Flames are might make the playoffs doesnt mean we wont find a 1C in the draft. This year we might pick 22nd and 32nd instead of 3rd overall. But who is to say next year we are really bad.

I dont get why people are upset about middling when we are pushing for playoff spot lead by the young guys. We still have 2 years of being bad after this one. We might sneak in this year for example, and next year get McKenna.

I swear people complain for the sake of complaing. Just because we might be better this year doesnt mean we are done bottoming out. Kadri,Backlund,Coleman will all get older and less effective as time goes by

[blankall]

It's amazing how bad the Pacific is.

The Knights are solid, but their key guys are very injury prone. Plus their goaltending is very suspect.

The Oilers have found a way to make themselves even more top heavy. Nuge and Hyman, who provided a huge part of the offensive depth, are getting older. At 31 and 32, they just don't look the same. Besides their big 3 contracts (Draisaitl and Nurse are now barely less than 30) and Bouchard, their top scorer under 30 is Podkolzin at 15th on the team with 5 points in 21 games.

The Kraken and the Canucks both look like the teams have just given up, playing mediocre hockey. While the Sharks and Ducks look actively bad, like their players are trying to lose.

The Flames have assembled a solid combo of vets with lots of pride and hungry young guys with something to prove. They could easily slide into that 2nd or 3rd Pacific playoff spot.

[YyjFlames]

Originally Posted by konradical

Rebuilding takes a couple of years, just because the 2024-25 Flames are might make the playoffs doesnt mean we wont find a 1C in the draft. This year we might pick 22nd and 32nd instead of 3rd overall. But who is to say next year we are really bad.

I dont get why people are upset about middling when we are pushing for playoff spot lead by the young guys. We still have 2 years of being bad after this one. We might sneak in this year for example, and next year get McKenna.

I swear people complain for the sake of complaing. Just because we might be better this year doesnt mean we are done bottoming out. Kadri,Backlund,Coleman will all get older and less effective as time goes by

Somewhat agree.

This is more of a discussion/debate because of the conditions on that first round pick going to Montreal. It skews the way many of us, including me, feel about how they're playing this year. I absolutely want them to win, but I absolutely don't want them to just miss the playoffs.