Making the playoffs or keeping our top-10 first round pick 2025?

[Loyal and True]

10th overall draft position is currently only 4 pts out of a playoff spot in the West. 9th overall draft position is 5 pts out of a playoff spot in the East. Anything can happen with 37 games left.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Loyal and True

10th overall draft position is currently only 4 pts out of a playoff spot in the West. 9th overall draft position is 5 pts out of a playoff spot in the East. Anything can happen with 37 games left.

I'm having this nightmare vision:

The teams pile up in the standings so that six clubs all miss the playoffs by one point, and draft 11th through 16th. And the team drafting 10th misses the playoffs by two points.

Then certain posters on CP go to their graves proclaiming that Craig Conroy did this deliberately, engineering a six-way tie with his own team as one of the six, because he and Murray Edwards want the team to fail as much as possible without ever getting a high position in the draft.

[Fan69]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

I'm having this nightmare vision:

The teams pile up in the standings so that six clubs all miss the playoffs by one point, and draft 11th through 16th. And the team drafting 10th misses the playoffs by two points.

Then certain posters on CP go to their graves proclaiming that Craig Conroy did this deliberately, engineering a six-way tie with his own team as one of the six, because he and Murray Edwards want the team to fail as much as possible without ever getting a high position in the draft.

So it shall be written. So it shall be done.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

I'm having this nightmare vision:

The teams pile up in the standings so that six clubs all miss the playoffs by one point, and draft 11th through 16th. And the team drafting 10th misses the playoffs by two points.

Then certain posters on CP go to their graves proclaiming that Craig Conroy did this deliberately, engineering a six-way tie with his own team as one of the six, because he and Murray Edwards want the team to fail as much as possible without ever getting a high position in the draft.

Ya, it is getting pretty crazy in the standings. The East is SO tight that you really cannot say that they have a "bottom 5" like in the West. Right now, the Sabres are the only team that have really dropped away.

- Tampa (Atlantic #3) is only 1 point above the wild card spot.
- The Wild Card spots are currently a 3 way tie for the two spots
- Then 3 more teams are within 2 points of the WC spot
- The Pens are 4 points back, Red Wings are 5 points back, and even the Islanders are only 7 points back with a game in hand.

Currently the Flames are equal to 10th in the East, sitting right below the 3-way tie.

If this keeps up, 9th place in the West could be a top 10 draft pick (haha, not really... probably).

[sch19lks]

Make the playoffs, Wolf stone walls the Oilers

That’s my preference

[Kidder]

We know the Kings will lay down again if they’re the first round Oilers opponent.

So might as well face off against them, and see if Wolf is indeed the chosen one.

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by sch19lks

Make the playoffs, Wolf stone walls the Oilers

That’s my preference

That might be worth a first-rounder!

[TheIronMaiden]

I am switching to cheering against the Panthers.
Miss the playoffs panthers, give us your pick!

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

I am switching to cheering against the Panthers.
Miss the playoffs panthers, give us your pick!

I believe that Montreal would get the best of the Panthers/Flames pick. So, if Calgary finished higher than Florida, Montreal gets the Panthers pick.

[Loyal and True]

Moneypuck.com has flames 58.7% chance to make playoffs and projecting 92 points. Canucks would need to play .600 hockey for 35 games to get 92 points.

They also project 10th overall draft position to be Detroit with 86 points.

A 3 game win streak or 3 game slump could be the difference. Crazy how tight all the middle teams are

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Wolven

Ya, it is getting pretty crazy in the standings. The East is SO tight that you really cannot say that they have a "bottom 5" like in the West. Right now, the Sabres are the only team that have really dropped away.

- Tampa (Atlantic #3) is only 1 point above the wild card spot.
- The Wild Card spots are currently a 3 way tie for the two spots
- Then 3 more teams are within 2 points of the WC spot
- The Pens are 4 points back, Red Wings are 5 points back, and even the Islanders are only 7 points back with a game in hand.

Currently the Flames are equal to 10th in the East, sitting right below the 3-way tie.

If this keeps up, 9th place in the West could be a top 10 draft pick (haha, not really... probably).

Flames have multiple games in hand

[dino7c]

Imagine if playoffs come down to that LA game??

[Sec214]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Imagine if playoffs come down to that LA game??

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Flames have multiple games in hand

Yes and those games are on the road against playoff teams.

[Calgary4LIfe]

The longer that Vancouver drags out their issues, the less likely they pass the Flames. That's an organization that doesn't seem to be get through this. I do think that a trade may give them that bump and send them on good winning streak, especially if it aligns with a short road trip against easier competition, which may end up having a snowball effect.


I think what is more likely is that the Canucks just flounder this season.

[Robbob]

I think we are at the point this season, unless things really fall off the tracks that at least my mindset is push for a playoff spot and use the multiple 1sts to see if they can hit on something. With that said, including last night the Flames are sitting at 35 games left on the season.

Breaking it down into the ye ole Sutter 7 game stretches it perfectly makes 5 series. If the Flames can win 3 of those 7 game stretches, if would give them 24ish points for a total around 80 points. I assuming that there would be a OTL point in there somewhere. Meaning they would probably need 12 -14 points in those remaining 14 games.

The Flames also have 2 home games left against the Canucks, so that very well could be the difference of them closing the gap or Flames widening their 3 point lead.

Series 1 - (@WPG - L), WASH, ANA, DET, @SEA, TOR, COL)
Series 2 - (SEA, SJ, @WASH, @TB, @FLA, @CAR, @PHI)
Series 3 - (@DAL, MTL, VAN, COL, @TOR, @NYR, @NJ)
Series 4 - (@NYI, SEA, DAL, @EDM, @COL, @UT, ANA)
Series 5 - (LV, @SJ, @ANA, MIN, VAN, LV, @LA)

Typing it out it definitely isn't going to be easy, but where there is a Wolf, there is a chance.

[Robbob]

Just also wanted to add that to the many bullet plan, here are the top 10 points from forwards from their draft class and where they were drafted.

2010 - Seguin (2), Hall (1), Skinner (7), Tarasenko (16), Stone (178), Granlund (9), Johansen (4), Kuznetsov (26), Nelson (30), Toffoli (47)

2011 - Kucherov (58), Scheifele (7), Huberdeau (3), Gaudreau (104), Tenderness (1), Zibanejad (6), Miller (15), Landeskog (2), Trocheck (64), Couturier (8)

2012 - Forsberg (11), Hertl (17), Teravainen (18), Wilson (16), Galchenyuk (3), Stephenson (77), Pearson (30), Kerfoot (150), Laughton (20), Tierney (55)

2013 - Mackinnon (1), Barkov (2), Lindholm (5), Monahan (6), Horvat (9), Guentzel (77), Domi (13), Buchnevich (75), Bjorkstrand (89), Burakovsky (23)

2014 - Pissy (3), Pastrnak (25), Point (79), Reinhart (2), Nylander (8), Larkin (15), Ehjers (9), Fiala (11), Schmaltz (20), Arvidsson (112)

2015 - Mcavi (1), Marner (4), Rantanen (10, Aho (35), Eichel (1), Conner (17), Barzal (16), Konecny (24), Boser (23), Meier (9), Kaprizov (135)

2016 - Matthews (1), Tkachuk (6), DeBrincat (39), Keller (7), Bratt (162), Laine (2), Dubois (3), Kyrou (35), Thompson (26), Hagel (159)

2017 - Pettersson (5), Hischier (1), Robertson (39), Thomas (20), Suzuki (13), Necas (12), Batherson (121), Mittelstadt (8), Tippett (10) Chytil (21)

2018 - Tkachuk (4), Svechnikov (2), Farabee (14), Kotkaniemi (3), Sharangovich (141), Kurashev (120), Marchenko (49), Hayton (5), McLeod (40), Zadina (6)

2019 - Hughes (1), Boldy (12), Caufield (15), Cozens (7), Zegres (9), Kakko (2), Maccelli (98), Dach (3), Newhook (16), Hoglander (40)

2020 - Stutzle (3), Raymond (4), Jarvis (13), Lafreniere (1), Mercer (18) Lundell (12), Peterka (34), Byfield (2), Perfetti (10), Rossi (9)

Only had time to do 11 drafts, but that is probably a decent sample size to show that at least 4 in every draft there are players outside the top 10.

[Robbob]

Made me curious as to the amount of cup winners in the lot, so players with a cup are bolded. 23 cup winners on the list. 8 were drafted in the top 10. One of those was Seguin, so you could debate his impact as a rookie on the Bruins cup team. Either way, with him included less that half of the players on the list were drafted top 10. There is talent outside of the top ten that can help a team win a cup. It is not top 10 or bust.

8 players drafted in the top 10
9 players drafted in the first round outside the top 10
6 players drafted outside the 1st round

Originally Posted by Robbob

Just also wanted to add that to the many bullet plan, here are the top 10 points from forwards from their draft class and where they were drafted.

2010 - Seguin (2), Hall (1), Skinner (7), Tarasenko (16), Stone (178), Granlund (9), Johansen (4), Kuznetsov (26), Nelson (30), Toffoli (47)

2011 - Kucherov (58), Scheifele (7), Huberdeau (3), Gaudreau (104), Tenderness (1), Zibanejad (6), Miller (15), Landeskog (2), Trocheck (64), Couturier (8)

2012 - Forsberg (11), Hertl (17), Teravainen (18), Wilson (16), Galchenyuk (3), Stephenson (77), Pearson (30), Kerfoot (150), Laughton (20), Tierney (55)

2013 - Mackinnon (1), Barkov (2), Lindholm (5), Monahan (6), Horvat (9), Guentzel (77), Domi (13), Buchnevich (75), Bjorkstrand (89), Burakovsky (23)

2014 - Pissy (3), Pastrnak (25), Point (79), Reinhart (2), Nylander (8), Larkin (15), Ehjers (9), Fiala (11), Schmaltz (20), Arvidsson (112)

2015 - Mcavi (1), Marner (4), Rantanen (10), Aho (35), Eichel (1), Conner (17), Barzal (16), Konecny (24), Boser (23), Meier (9), Kaprizov (135)

2016 - Matthews (1), Tkachuk (6), DeBrincat (39), Keller (7), Bratt (162), Laine (2), Dubois (3), Kyrou (35), Thompson (26), Hagel (159)

2017 - Pettersson (5), Hischier (1), Robertson (39), Thomas (20), Suzuki (13), Necas (12), Batherson (121), Mittelstadt (8), Tippett (10) Chytil (21)

2018 - Tkachuk (4), Svechnikov (2), Farabee (14), Kotkaniemi (3), Sharangovich (141), Kurashev (120), Marchenko (49), Hayton (5), McLeod (40), Zadina (6)

2019 - Hughes (1), Boldy (12), Caufield (15), Cozens (7), Zegres (9), Kakko (2), Maccelli (98), Dach (3), Newhook (16), Hoglander (40)

2020 - Stutzle (3), Raymond (4), Jarvis (13), Lafreniere (1), Mercer (18) Lundell (12), Peterka (34), Byfield (2), Perfetti (10), Rossi (9)

Only had time to do 11 drafts, but that is probably a decent sample size to show that at least 4 in every draft there are players outside the top 10.

[Enoch Root]

Why is Pissy listed as a #1?

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by Wolven

Yes and those games are on the road against playoff teams.

Actually, those games in hand are as follows:

January 30 vs. Anaheim;
April 3 vs. Anaheim; and
(for the 3rd game in hand vis a vis Colorado): April 9 vs. Anaheim...