Based on Tankathon -
https://www.tankathon.com/nhl/remain...edule_strength
Flames have the 3rd toughest strength of schedule left.
Vancouver has the 18th toughest.
St. Louis has the 21st toughest.
Rangers have the 26th toughest.
Chicago who are ahead of the Flames have the 19th hardest.
Nobody has a schedule even close to the difficulty that the Flames do from the bottom of the heap. With a couple more bodies gone - or even just enough distraction - Flames may completely implode down the stretch, and those other teams may pick up a few more wins than they want, not to mention that some of them still play each other, and may end up as 3 point games too.
I feel they will firmly end up in the McKenna/Stenberg territory (bottom 2) before the lottery. Hopefully some lotto magic happens. Would be great for the Calgary Flames to finally get a 1st overall pick.