Your 2014/2015 Calgary Flames - Better or Worse?

[ForeverFlameFan]

Rookies: I want to see more games from Gaudreau and Arnold (prefer those two in the AHL for a bit), Reinhart, Granlund, Wotherspoon, and now even Breen (he's been getting better the past few games). We just need a few more guys step up, and we can be a legit team next year.

Goaltending: A Ramo and Ortio duo in my opinion can potentially get us 40 wins, Maybe even 45 (Ramo with 30-35, Ortio with 5-10 wins). Really exciting to see how Ortio played while Ramo was injured, and also loved how Ramo bounced back from his injury. Keep in mind, we could have had at least 5 more wins this year because of Berra. I hope Colorado knows what they are doing, because I am glad we got something out of Berra, and credit Burke for getting a second rounder for him.

Defense: Gio and Brodie are our 1/2 defenseman and have really good chemistry. Do not break these two up, because they can be a legit pairing in the NHL for next year. Same thing goes for our 5/6 pairing when it was Smid and Wotherspoon. Wouldn't be surprised if Wotherspoon was our 6/7 defenseman while we sign another free agent that can potentially be slotted in the 3/4 position. I really hope Wideman bounces back from injury, because i think he didn't have as great of a year as he should have had had he not been getting injured a lot.

Offense: This is probably the one we should all worry about the most. I really don't think Monahan will have a sophomore slump, I think he can manage to pull 40 points with 20+ goals next season. I think it would be best for Johnny and Arnold to probably play in the AHL for the start of the season, but in regards to Johnny after seeing him play his first game, I think we should give him a 9 game sample and choose what to do with him. With the additions of Granlund, Reinhart, and Johnny, I think this can make up for the loss of Cammy. I am even going to mention the Big Ern, he has really capitalized on the minutes that he has been given.

Our biggest issues is having a top 6 line and we are in need of another 3/4 defenseman, one with a shut-down role like Regehr.

I may be in the minority, but I truly think we have a shot at the playoffs next year. Can't say we will be better than any of the California teams, but I really think that we can take the fourth spot in the Pacific Division.

We will be better. Let's not forget that injuries really took a toll on us, especially with the loss of Gio and Russell defenseman wise, and Cammy/Glencross for scoring depth.

[timbit]

The culture of work ethic and compete level that was instilled this season cannot be underrated.

I suspect the Flames will be relatively the same in league standing next season, regardless of who they lose.

Obviously key injuries can change that dramatically.

[Fire]

They will have trouble scoring goals and goal scorers will be tough to fine in the UFA market.

So I think about the same.

[Enoch Root]

I think they overachieved this year and will have to be better next year just to be as good.

Lots of reason for optimism, but a second season as a rebuild team is likely to be a really long one

[FireGilbert]

I think with the improvement shown this season the Flames will be a little better next year. I can see them passing Vancouver in the standings and challenging Phoenix for 4th in the division. It is going to be very difficult for them to get into the top 3 in the division or top 8 in the conference for at least 2 or 3 years though.

[theoforever]

The only way we are better next year is if Burke trades some of our prospects for proven NHL players. I would expect 29th place.

[ForeverFlameFan]

I know we are in a rebuild... But there is a part of me that thinks we have a lot of players that are in fact NHL ready. The real problem that we have is what Burke is addressing, and that is getting size on our team. Yes, we have Westgarth and McGrattan, but what Burke wants is players with size in the top 6.

We're more of a rebuild/retooling at the same time.

[getbak]

Better than Edmonton, but that's a given.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Hard to predict without seeing the summer moves because things can really change. Will Burke/new GM sign any notable UFAs? Will Burke/new GM make any significant trades to add a young player (see Turris to OTT type deal) or an established player (see Ryan to OTT type deal)?

Hard to imagine there won't be some new faces.

I think the following could happen.
MINUS: Cammalleri, Galiardi, Wideman?
RE-SIGN UFA: Butler, Westgarth?, Breen
ADD: Several of Granlund, Wotherspoon, Reinhart, Knight, Gaudreau, Baertschi, Agostino, Hanowski, Van Brabant, Poirier. The most likely of the bunch IMO would be Gaudreau, Baertschi, Granlund, Wotherspoon, Reinhart and Knight

Glencross-Backlund-Hudler
Gaudreau-Monahan-Colborne
M.Reinhart-Granlund-D.Jones
Bouma-Stajan-McGrattan
Knight-Westgarth?

Giordano-Brodie
Butler/Wideman-Russell
Smid-Wotherspoon

Ramo
???

Is that team better? Maybe slightly?

I dunno it's almost too early to speculate on stuff like this. The roster should see some change at the draft and then in July as well.

[djsFlames]

Some people may laugh or say I'm getting ahead of myself, but I see Gaudreau making the team, and posting 60+ points next season. I see him having a season just like Kane's in his rookie season. I think Hartley really liked what he saw tonight, which was just a teaser of what this kid can bring.

Monahan and Gaudreau will become a formidable pair next season and only help each other. Sven, if he willing to learn and become part of the team coming into camp should make the jump as well. These kids should replace the offense lost with Cammalleri.

I expect a more dynamic offense from the team with the progression and additions of young talent. I do think there'll be another lull in the season though, just like we had in December, and it may kill their chances at a playoff berth next year, but it'll be another step in learning to get better as a team.

With Brodie maturing his game even more, and Giordano's whole new level of play, flanked by a defensively reliable 3-4 pairing in Smid and Russell, AND barring any major injuries, I fail to see how we regress. There will be improvement, and it may not be huge, but there will be improvement.

The most important thing will be for Hartley to maintain the hard work mentality and identity while new talents emerge and grow. Identity is so important, and we've finally found ours. I'm not worried about us losing it though as long as Gio is wearing the C, as he exemplifies everything that Hartley is preaching and it emanates through the lineup.

If I were to guess, I say we finish 20st-23rd next season.

[N-E-B]

I think individual players will be better, but the team will be worse... If that makes sense...

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

I think individual players will be better, but the team will be worse... If that makes sense...

My thoughts too.

Not worried about goaltending or defense. But will we have someone to replace Cammy's scoring? The top 6 is the biggest ??? for me.

I say the team is better, but still bottom 10.

[Itse]

I have a hard time seeing how we could do worse.

- Monahan, Colborne, Backlund are all clearly just better players now than at the start of the season.
- We'll have Smid for the whole season, Butler is much improved and Wotherspoon seems to have arrived. Add in a healthy Wideman and we actually have some defensive depth to start the season with.
- Glencross should play more than 38 games. (That said, his five season average is only about 60 games.)
- It's not very likely that Gio misses quarter of the season again.
- Rämö seems to have come to his own, giving us stability between the pipes.
- We'll likely add at least one highly skilled player into the lineup, possibly two. (Gaudreau, Baertchi, top 5 draft pick).
- Odds are we'll have somewhat less injuries to top guys over the season.

Reasons to think we'll do worse:
- Losing Cammalleri. I think this could be about more than just the points. He seems like a leader out there.
- Various slumps and injuries are always possible. We don't have a very deep lineup.
- This felt like a bit of a magical season, and it seemed to be like that in the dressing room too. Lose that, and you could lose a lot more games.
- Other teams should be somewhat better prepared for us.
- Complacency is always a risk, we had very little of that this season.


So basicly, I think it's obvious we'll be "better on paper" even without cammalleri. The real question is if we'll play as well as a team. But that's always a question. Since there's probably not a huge turnover and the coaching staff will probably remain the same, I think the only reasonable expectation is a slight improvement.

[Scoutski]

I'd like to compare us to how the blues were doing a while, we're going to do lots of lineup experimenting over the next few years until we get a group that clicks real well, it'll be 2-4 years from now.

For next year I'm going to say it could go either way but I expect we'll be between 29th-22nd overall, there will be lots of roster experiments, if they work, we could see improvement, I'm not holding my breath though.

2006–07 2006–07 W 34 L 35 OTL 13 PTS 81
2007–08 2007–08 W 33 L 36 OTL 13 PTS 79
2008–09 2008–09 W 41 L 31 OTL 10 PTS 92
2009–10 2009–10 W 40 L 32 OTL 10 PTS 90
2010–11 2010–11 W 38 L 33 OTL 11 PTS 87
2011–12 2011–12 W 49 L 22 OTL 11 PTS 109

[Rick M.]

I think it will be the tanking Olympics after the trade deadline next year due to the McDavid sweepstakes. This will make it very hard to predict where they will wind up in the standings. We'll also be experimenting a lot with the lineup so this will reduce the number of wins as we work new players in.

[moon]

I am not sure why same is a cop out answer but I guess if finishing 28th is worse and 26th is better than I will say worse but really I think they are roughly the same and in the 1-7th last place group that I expected them to be in this year.

I think they will be a similar team overall with a little more reliance on younger guys and a few sophmore slumps from guys as well.

I think overall it will be a better season in terms of development as I think young guys will get more time rather than a ton of guys getting 5 games here. While it was cool seeing 14/15 (or whatever it is was at the end) rookies play this year I think the team would be better served to cut that number down and get guys to play bigger roles.

[Table 5]

I think next year will be the sophomore slump for the rebuild.

We'll probably still be in the 24-28 range, but I'm not sure it will be quite as "feel good" as this one. You can only ride the effort-train for so long before you get emotionally/physically drained. Hopefully though some new infusions into the lineup (Granlund, Baertschi, Gaudreau, UFAs etc) will help mitigate that as they will bring their own new energy.

I think it will be very important that whoever replaces Cammy will be a strong leader in the room. Overpay if you must (with money, not prospects/picks).

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Rick M.

I think it will be the tanking Olympics after the trade deadline next year due to the McDavid sweepstakes. This will make it very hard to predict where they will wind up in the standings.

Good point. My guess is that the Flames will finish somewhere in the 70s for points again, but they could be quite a bit higher than 27th place. Last year, Edmonton finished 24th with a .469 points percentage; this year, the Flames were 27th with .470. It all depends on how many teams swallow a live grenade in a quixotic attempt to tank for McDavid.

(By the way, if a bunch of teams do tank for McDavid, I'd love to see the 17th-place team win the lottery and leapfrog them all. Trying to tank and failing would make a lot of GMs think twice about doing it again.)

[bluloc]

No way we can tell until we see the 14/15 roster. But since its a game I'll say better.

[mrdonkey]

Better. The Flames were sunk this year by that horrible stretch where they just couldn't score a goal on home ice. We'll be adding a bunch of solid young players to start next year, and I have a feeling Johnny Hockey is gonna light it up for us. That, as well as the fact that Brodie and Backlund have been lights out since the Olympic break, has me feeling that we'll be well out of the basement. Whether it gets us to the playoffs, who knows. But I'm not expecting another top 5 pick.

Plus, I think there will be some truly wretched hockey being played next year once other teams start seeing themselves as McDavid candidates. I can't see the Flames being a part of that.