Making the playoffs, will it hurt in the long run

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by Par

No worries, I really want to make the playoffs but if we loose in the first round it kind of sucks and part of me really torn at what the team up North is doing, if we kick them out of the playoffs, than it is worth it.

There are a few favourable matchups which I can see happening for the Flames if they make it.

These are all of their possible matchups:

San Jose: quite possible that they can win. The Flames have matched up well in the past against the Sharks, including this season.
Anaheim: please lord no.
Edmonton: yes I know we were swept by them this year, but the playoffs are a whole other matter. The Flames are a team which has won a playoff round two years ago. It's been 11 years since the Oilers last did it.
L.A.: Another team which can match up well against the Flames. But the Flames have beat them in the past. Not my favourite matchup, but it probably won't happen.
St. Louis: The Flames don't match up terrifically against the Blues. They always seem to lose to them at home, and beat them on the road. This is another one which probably won't happen.
Nashville: Meh. Won't happen. If, on an off chance, it does, well, it could go either way.

[the2bears]

Originally Posted by Par

No worries, I really want to make the playoffs but if we loose in the first round it kind of sucks and part of me really torn at what the team up North is doing, if we kick them out of the playoffs, than it is worth it.

Keep in mind the "team up North" has done nothing of consequence yet. Nothing. Worry about them if you must once they actually do sometihng.

[ThaBrink]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

There are a few favourable matchups which I can see happening for the Flames if they make it.

These are all of their possible matchups:

San Jose: quite possible that they can win. The Flames have matched up well in the past against the Sharks, including this season.
Anaheim: please lord no.
Edmonton: yes I know we were swept by them this year, but the playoffs are a whole other matter. The Flames are a team which has won a playoff round two years ago. It's been 11 years since the Oilers last did it.
L.A.: Another team which can match up well against the Flames. But the Flames have beat them in the past. Not my favourite matchup, but it probably won't happen.
St. Louis: The Flames don't match up terrifically against the Blues. They always seem to lose to them at home, and beat them on the road. This is another one which probably won't happen.
Nashville: Meh. Won't happen. If, on an off chance, it does, well, it could go either way.

Add Minnesota to that list. Which I'd say we've got a solid chance against them.

[CSharp]

I difference between this push for the playoffs vs the one a couple of years ago is that the team is further through the rebuild than back then. In addition, the draft back a couple of years ago was really good as compared to the upcoming one. Think about it, if you had a greater chance to build a team with McDavid or Eichel, you'd do it. Buffalo did. I'm sure Edmonton tried not to show it, but they sucked. That year was like a bar closing up and the NHL basically put out a last call for teams to tank and a bunch of teams like the Sharks and the Kings waited just in time to take a higher chance to pick up something in a deep draft. I really wished the Flames didn't take that run that year. But at the same time, it was pretty exciting for the first round only to get super disappointed going up against the Ducks. If the Flames are looking at another playoff run this year, they better damn load up with some size. If not, Treliving hasn't learned his lesson and I won't be sad if he goes at the end of the season.

[calgarywinning]

This is kind of like should we go for the number one overall pick and not play each game earnestly. Throw a few here and there. Might have finally worked for the Oils, but the truth is you have to play to win. It's an attitude and culture, which when you become playoff hardened makes you stronger than the whole or the statistics on paper.

If they make it; i'm delighted. Nothing is really going to be moved or changed substantially based on what we have going. If they don't make it, they continue to work on the pieces and to get stronger. Treliving has delivered.

It's interesting because the team will get a major 5 day rest after Tuesday. Hopefully they will really understand where they stand and it will ultimately come up to all the individuals effort to push through and succeed. They have such great potential when they commit.

We've had two not so great streaks of hockey, which is out of the system. So fingers crossed.

[CaptainCrunch]

The day this team decides to intentionally tank and not fight for the playoffs is the day I take my Red and Black jersey and throw it in a flaming hobo barrel.

A GM's job every year is to put the most successful team on the ice possible and to fight to get to the playoffs and to fight to win the cup period.

If a GM decides to put a terrible product on the ice in front of fans that are paying hundreds of dollars a night, he's ripping off the fans. When Chia in Edmonton came on last year and said he wanted to take a year to evaluate his team, it was pretty clear that he was hoping for the best possible shot at McDavid. That to me shows little to no integrity. Any GM that does that shows no integrity.

I'm convinced that every GM should be evaluated at the end of the year if they finish bottom 5, and if they are found to have tried intentionally to made their team weaker, the GM should be suspended from the NHL for 5 years. The team should also lose their first rounder.

This whole dive for McDaivid, or suck for Mathews or whatever is to me an embarrassing thing to hear from a fan as well.

[FireGilbert]

Yeah because making the playoffs in 2015 was so boring and set the franchise back decades. How about if the Flames never try to make the playoffs and just collect drafts pick every season? We won't have a Stanley Cup parade but the draft parties will be off the hook.

[Inferno]

Nope, it doesn't matter if their chances of going far are slim. Every team's goal is to make the playoffs and if they still have a decent shot come the deadline they should go for it. The more experience the younger players get from playing in the playoffs the better for the team in the future.

[Beninho]

Well if we make the playoffs our young core will have a lot to do with it which would be a great sign. Making the playoffs in 2 out of the essentially 4 years of a rebuild would be pretty great. The team obviously has holes and isn't a contender yet but constant progression from the players we already have is much better than regression and getting a top 5 pick. And it is quite possible to get great players if they aren't in the top 5. Especially in this draft where it will be very likely a gamble from picks 5-20.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Par

No worries, I really want to make the playoffs but if we loose in the first round it kind of sucks and part of me really torn at what the team up North is doing, if we kick them out of the playoffs, than it is worth it.

You sure do spend a lot of time and energy fretting about the Oilers. It feels like every second or third post of yours is in one way or another distressed about something or another that they are doing.

Relax. Edmonton is no good.

[Dion]

Hoping we miss the playoffs is like taking an Oilers fan on a date. She will infect you with that losing attitude and before long you'll be tossing your Red and Black for an Oilers jersey.

[debil]

making playoffs with new system (more possession hockey, no passive defensive box) without miracle comebacks would be actually very good for this team. i'm still waiting for real slim shady sam bennet to please stand up.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Par

We are right in there battling for a playoff spot but will it be worth to make the playoffs? What is the point of making the playoffs and getting bounced in the first round because with out current goaltending we probably won't get far.

This team has lot's of holes that need to be filled and it would be better by trading away expiring assets, rather than to hold on to them for the playoff push. Let's say that we are in the same place as now come trade dead line, would it be better to trade all our expiring UFA's for pick which can be used to fill in the holes that are needed to be filled. This will hurt now because we will miss the playoffs but in the long run, it would benefit this team a lot.

We trade all our UFA's for picks, than use those picks for a true # 1 goalie, a good #3-4 D man and a true top 6 Forward(RW). Would this not benfit the team more than making the playoffs for one year and getting bounced in the first round?

Un. Be. Liev. A. Ble.

I will never understand this sentiment as long as I live. Why bother playing the season at all? Just forfeit all the games, get a high draft pick, and then...profit?

Every year something unexpected happens in the regular season and the playoffs. That's why you try to do your best every single year and let the chips fall where they may. Make adjustments in the off-season to the roster, draft players for the long term plan, and try your hardest again next season.

With the salary cap and parity of the league, it is pointless to remain in the bottom forever. There are real opportunities to make a serious run in the playoffs every year, and really, a bounce one way or another can be all the difference in a series.

This is not the days of an aging core with Iginla at the helm, we are SUPPOSED to be competing for a playoff spot now as part of the natural progression in the rebuild. Even if you just sneak in, winning a round or two in the playoffs goes a long way to building confidence and experience, which will eventually payoff in a long playoff run or a championship.

Not to mention the financial boon for the team. Having the extra revenue for playoff games with a slumping Canadian dollar goes a long way to keeping a team in the black. It also will create more interest in the team next year, selling more tickets and again, keeping a team in the black. There are few franchises who miss the playoffs for a decade and still fill the building, and those fans are suckers.

Every year that you can make the playoffs is a good year. Be happy when your team does it.

[nemanja2306]

Why have the playoffs at all then? I mean, what's the point of making the SC finals? You win nothing and get a worse draft pick.

This board is getting dumber each day. Do people not realize owners make a crapload of money in playoffs?

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[DazzlinDino]

The Oilers method of rebuilding brought a lot of losing culture and is something we don't want to see on the Flames. Putting their fans through 10 years of false hopes and making excuses night after night, season after season just to support losing. To add to insult Oilers wasted a lot of talented players "whose careers were wasted, derailed" because they thought they could rebuild the high flying teams of the past; They didn't care about the players or the fans they just cared more about carrying out their so called "master plan". To top it off they are still a very poorly rebuilt team. As for the Flames we have a good core group we just need to add a couple of the right pieces to the mix and the results will be there, we don't need to go full Oiler. Chicago was a team with a good core of guys who were struggling but after they added coaching and guys like Marian Hossa they became a consistent powerhouse team. We can build some consistency, let these young guys mature while add the right support pieces we should see some good results.

[Alberta_Beef]

Last time we made the playoffs we got Dougie Hamilton with our first round pick. With the expansion draft and guys available that might not otherwise be available, I could see Treliving picking up another asset just as good this year. I don't see how that would hurt us in the long run.

[VladtheImpaler]

Meh. Not much difference between drafting 12th and 17th. Might as well get some playoff experience. The only negative is that GG would certainly be back in the Fall.

[Par]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

You sure do spend a lot of time and energy fretting about the Oilers. It feels like every second or third post of yours is in one way or another distressed about something or another that they are doing.

Relax. Edmonton is no good.

It really is not my fault, when ever I turn on th tv, it Connor McDavid this Connr McDavid that, if it is not Connor McDavid, than it is Auston Matthews and it is really pissing me off. But yeah, I say #### it and go for the playoffs.

[Resolute 14]

This might be the dumbest thread you have ever started, Par. And that is saying something.

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by debil

making playoffs with new system (more possession hockey, no passive defensive box) without miracle comebacks would be actually very good for this team. i'm still waiting for real slim shady sam bennet to please stand up.

I think there is another level to Sam Bennett we are not seeing just yet, could be that right now he is just working on consistency. I think the Flames know what he is capable of, but want him work on being a complete player. I think he is just being groomed to be a player with intangibles like Backlund.