The Hockey Gods can go #### themselves.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

The Flames have 14 OTLs meaning that they are good at hockey, but they are not good at shinny (3 on 3) or all-star gimmicks (shootout).

I really wish our sport was like other sports where you had W-T-L, win is three points, T is one point, L is zero. The regular season is not a knockout tournament, ties should be allowed. The current system just rewards teams who are good at the gimmicky stuff (like the Oilers). But I guess that's the point.

But Americans don't like ties!

Just go full American and make it wins and losses. The sport has to be comfortable with whatever tiebreaking system they have.

Baseball is comfortable with the ghost runner on 2nd
Football is comfortable with a team not even possessing the ball
Basketball is comfortable with 5 minute periods and players fouling out.

Hockey should be comfortable with 3 on 3 + shootout. Make it a 10 minute overtime and a 5 man shootout if you have to. Or come up with something else.

[Teroy]

Same old, same old. No top 10 draft pick, no playoffs. But, some over preformed, some under preformed. Defied the pundits predicting a bottom team. At times hated some of the players. At time loved some of the players. Missed Backs when he was injured. Missed Zary. Missed Kirkland. Congrats Kadri. Yes to Coronato, Klapka, Lomberg, Weeger, Hanley, Frost & Coleman. At first disappointed in Huber, then pleased mid season, then disappointing finish. A round of applause to the guys who gave it their all: Andersson, Bahl, Bean, Pachal, Rooney. Disappointed in the final result but watched and enjoyed much of the season. Looking forward to next year.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Question not the ways of the Gods. It was pretty cool to see MAF get that last win and grow his OT win record, too. Seek the beauty in all things. Pray for the Jackets. In Johnny's Name, blessed be your day.

It was weird in that game they had clips of a bunch of hockey players, coaches etc congratulating Fleury on his last game and to enjoy his retirement. Uh guys, he may still be playing playoff games.

[Roof-Daddy]

It's crazy how close this team came and they only got 13 games of Mantha and didn't really have the real effective version of Sharangovich until the last couple weeks of the season. They also had a surging young Zary with a derailed season due to multiple brutal injuries. For a team starved for offense that really hurt them.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

It's crazy how close this team came and they only got 13 games of Mantha and didn't really have the real effective version of Sharangovich until the last couple weeks of the season. They also had a surging young Zary with a derailed season due to multiple brutal injuries. For a team starved for offense that really hurt them.

The answer to every question is Wolf.

[Bandwagon Surfer]

I think the hockey gods were quite kind. We managed to get an exciting season out of a terrible roster. Hard to be upset when this season turned out so much better than most people expected in the summer.

[FlamesAddiction]

At the beginning of the season, worst case scenario was that the team would finish just outside of the bottom 10, and we would have to relinquish a high draft pick to Montreal while watching the team lose all season.

As disappointing as this is right now, I am glad that we at least got to watch some meaningful hockey down the stretch. We also got to see some younger players emerge like Wolf, Coronato, Klapka, and Bahl, plus a reasonable re-emergence of an effective Huberdeau.

I just hope this isn't the start of a bubble run for the next several years. I think this team has just enough talent to get us to the hump. Conroy has his work cut out for him to get over it and it will be interesting to see what moves he makes in the offseason.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Bandwagon Surfer

I think the hockey gods were quite kind. We managed to get an exciting season out of a terrible roster. Hard to be upset when this season turned out so much better than most people expected in the summer.

I agree. This is what sports should be about - competing. Unfortunately, we live in a world where there is no promotion and relegation, so competing hard and missing playoffs is punished, while intentionally not competing is rewarded.

If I was King of the world, I would make it so all teams who miss the playoffs have equal shot at the top pick. In fact, picks 1-16 are all randomly selected.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Teroy

Same old, same old. No top 10 draft pick, no playoffs. But, some over preformed, some under preformed. Defied the pundits predicting a bottom team. At times hated some of the players. At time loved some of the players. Missed Backs when he was injured. Missed Zary. Missed Kirkland. Congrats Kadri. Yes to Coronato, Klapka, Lomberg, Weeger, Hanley, Frost & Coleman. At first disappointed in Huber, then pleased mid season, then disappointing finish. A round of applause to the guys who gave it their all: Andersson, Bahl, Bean, Pachal, Rooney. Disappointed in the final result but watched and enjoyed much of the season. Looking forward to next year.

What absolutely astonishes me is that nobody has at any point mentioned the loss of Anthony Mantha. Not that he would have been a huge difference maker...but maybe he would have potted 15-20 goals more and helped the team score in some of those games that they lost or went to OT. Was his role adequately replaced? Hard to say with so many guys struggling to score all year.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

What absolutely astonishes me is that nobody has at any point mentioned the loss of Anthony Mantha. Not that he would have been a huge difference maker...but maybe he would have potted 15-20 goals more and helped the team score in some of those games that they lost or went to OT. Was his role adequately replaced? Hard to say with so many guys struggling to score all year.

I literally mentioned Mantha just 5~ posts up haha

Him and Sharky dealing with the high ankle sprain really gutted the offense this year. Another 25 goals combined from those two has the Flames middle of the pack in offense and probably in a playoff spot.

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by EDMONTONisNG

God works in mysterious ways

God is dead.
And no one cares.

[FBI]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

I literally mentioned Mantha just 5~ posts up haha

Him and Sharky dealing with the high ankle sprain really gutted the offense this year. Another 25 goals combined from those two has the Flames middle of the pack in offense and probably in a playoff spot.

I dunno, if we had Mantha there, we may not have had the 24 goals from Coronato or the late revelation in Klapka..

[CalgaryFan1988]

The Flames are obviously missing some key pieces, but Vladar tied for 52nd in save percentage didn't help the cause.

Overall though having the 80th game of the season being meaningful was fun. Hard to believe Flames were 30 seconds away from their 82nd game of the season being the difference.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by getbak

If you thought the hockey gods were on our side, you haven't been paying attention.

Maybe it's the punishment for winning the Cup in the Forum because they've been feeding us nothing but #### sandwiches since 1990.

I've had it at the bottom of my signature all year.

At the end of the day though? Some bad/blown calls, some lax performances against teams we should have beaten, the OTL record and to further rub our faces in the #### St. Louis goes on an unreal murdering streak.

Sure, its not a great team and they vastly out-performed expectations but still...this is a tough way to go down.

[kevman]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I get that. I'm just saying they didn't get screwed out of being there. They're just not a great team.

They're not a great team, but they're a good team.

With a win against the Kings it's possible the Flames finish tied for 13th overall and ahead of 3 Eastern playoff teams.

The Flames have only lost 27 times in regulation this season. Only 7 teams have less losses after 60 minutes.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Groot

People keep trotting this out without any attempt at looking into it. I've posted it a few times now, but feel free to go back and do your own calculations. The team had a positive goal differential for 75 out of 81 games this season. The other 6 games were losses by 5 goals (twice for -10) and 4 goals (4 times for -16) which create a -26 shortfall, leading to the negative goal differential. So yes, -21 on the season but -26 in 6 games and +5 in the other 75 games.

*Edit - I see -17 as the goal differential. So that would be +9 goal differential over 75 games this season

Lol this is hilarious. Stats are fun when you play with them to tell whatever story you want! No wonder your boss lets you keep posting here.

[jlh2640]

There is a long list of BS that went against the Flames this year, many goals that should have counted, not. Many goals that should not have counted, did. Not to mention the BS luck for the crappy Wild, and other teams. It is what it is, we deserved better, but we didn't do enough.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

The answer to every question is Wolf.

Interestingly enough it's not just Wolf. The Flames best play of the season actually coincided with Wolf's worst.

In the 26 game stretch since the 4 nations the Flames went 14-6-6 throughout what was the toughest part of their schedule, that's top 10 in the NHL, and they were 50.96% xGF in that time at 5v5 (16th).

In those 26 games though:

Wolf: 20 GP, .905 SV PCT, 5.25 GSAA (16th)
Vladar: 7 GP, .918, 3.82 GSAA (23rd)

So Wolf was great, and a huge part of their success all season, but in this run to the playoffs the entire team stepped up and is what gave the team a chance and likely gets them to 96 points potentially.

Originally Posted by rubecube

I get that. I'm just saying they didn't get screwed out of being there. They're just not a great team.

They didn't get screwed but they are highly unfortunate.

They are one of 4 teams ever to miss the playoffs while having 96 points.

They Blues go on a ridiculous 12 game winning streak, one fewer win in that stretch and the Flames are likely in.

The Wild have somehow salvaged points in games they were losing late over the last two weeks (although in their case it's only the Wild's overall bad luck with the Kaprizov and Erikson-Ek injures that they were even in the race to start with):

@Devils - Tie it with 2:08 left to go to OT
@Rangers - Tie it up 1 minute into the 3rd to go to OT
Stars - Tie it with 7 minutes left in the third, win on PP in OT
Sharks - Win in OT 8-7 with 3 PP goals in the 2nd
@Canucks - Tie it with 7 minutes left, win in OT
Ducks - Tie it with 30 seconds left, win in OT

The Flames ended up being a pretty good team this season, not great, but good. And likely finish 14th OV in the standings and miss the playoffS which I believe has only happened 3 times since the lockout in 2005. 96 points gets you in the playoffs 90% of the time, this just happens to be one of those years where it won't.

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Lol this is hilarious. Stats are fun when you play with them to tell whatever story you want! No wonder your boss lets you keep posting here.

Instead of insulting the poster, focus on the facts themselves. That last sentence was completely unnecessary.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by SemicolonD

I’m not saying I wasn’t cheering for them to make it. Nor am I saying I’m not proud of the effort they put in. But tell me where I was wrong and I’ll stand corrected. Where is the path to perpetual success for the Flames without the traditional means of acquiring the elite players we need to do so?

We need some miracle trades or late 1sts that turn into franchise players, and that can definitely happen. It’s just tough not to get sour knowing we don’t help our odds in years where we should, and we fumble in years where the pressure is on and we’ve spent to the cap.

If anything I said was wrong let me know, but after such a soul crushing way to end the season I don’t think I’m out of line to get a little doom and gloom for a bit lol.

They are two years into a rebuild.

The big disaster this year would have been finishing 11th-13th and having to send Montreal a near-top 10 selection while we pick in the late teens and early 20s.

As it stands, this adventure of a season will end up costing them 2-4 spots in the mushy middle of a 1st round they will still have two selections in.

This year, they had no noteworthy UFAs. Next year, Andersson, Backlund, Bean and Miromanov are all UFA, and account for $13Mish in cap space.

Plus Markstrom’s retained money will be gone after next year.

Plus the cap will be going up.

The Flames won a round with Gaudreau and Monahan, and still managed to draft 6th overall after trading for Dougie Hamilton, with Gio, Brodie, Monahan, Gaudreau, and Bennett on the roster.

This team isn’t that. Their key players are all well north of 30, and I don’t see them having a ton more to give than they did this year. No knock on them, either - all of Kadri, Huberdeau, Weegar, Rasmus, Backlund… they left it out there.

Their best forwards of the next decade haven’t even been drafted.

They stole a top-2 player at 9 last year.

As long as they don’t blow their brains out to sign Bennett and Marner this summer, they’ll still be one of the lowest cap teams in the game, and they’ll retain their flexibility.

They didn’t gift the Habs a premium pick, and we found out a bunch of guys in our system can play (Wolf, Coronato, Zary, Klapka).

They have six selections in the top 64 over the next two drafts, and that’s before trading anyone.

I’m not saying you’re wrong to be upset they didn’t make it, just that there’s no need to lament the big picture fate of this team.