Only 2 teams that will be in the Pacific next season made the playoffs this year, and one did it with a goalie who stood on his head this season and will turn 40 next season.
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The Flames aren't likely to lose anyone significant in the expansion draft.
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Turn up the good, turn down the suck!
- definitely a down year this year for many, there should be some normalizing to the mean (ie better)
- it was a tough year to get into a losing funk, like the Flanes did this year. Nothing to do to get your mind off of the game. Of any year, this year would be a year where it wouldn’t be fun to be losing. In a normal year like next year, losing streaks may end sooner.
- We have been playing well under Sutter, especially after getting some good practice time in. Easy to think that we could be better in a full season including camp under Sutter.
- we will be playing in a division where only two teams made the playoffs this current season, and we likely finish with the third best record out if all teams.
- I believe our numbers show that we have been a bit unlucky this year, given our scoring chances, that should correct itself.
- if this current season was standard 82 game length, we likely would have caught both Montreal and Winnipeg the way they were playing at the end of the season.
Quite frankly I expected much more from this group. On paper, I liked the team that was assembled, but they flat on their face. That’s why this season sucked so damn bad.
If there are big changes this off-season, I’ll be excited to watch a rebuild and a chance at Bedard.
If they don’t change anything this off-season and bet on the same core again, I’ll be supremely disappointed and not motivated to watch.
Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk look like a potential elite line in the making. The assistant coaches in post game interviews have been calling them an absolute force and etc. If they can become that elite line we’ve been after, then this team team just needs a quality second line to go along with the Backlund-Mangiapane pairing which has looked quite good most of the season. If this duo slots well on your third line, then the Flames should be all set to be very competitive.
I also think the Gio-Tanev pairing looks very formidable as a top pair. They tend to tilt the ice in their favor and can defend elite opposition. I like their transition game as well, very good vision and very good reads. Gio’s been playing 26-27 minutes a game and his play hasn’t skipped a beat.
With Darryl’s defensive system in place, I’d be very confident in this team winning a lot more games 2-1 and 3-1 if they can just build a quality a second line which I will say is no easy task though.
You don't need to look so far in trying to find hope IMO.
This whole team has under-performed for most of the season. Is it because we all thought this team was more skilled that it is? Sure, in some cases, expectations might have been overblown (depending on how high expectations were). However, they are not this inept as they are showing. In fact, there are legitimate signs that this team has a bit of a pulse.
The most talented player on the team bar none is Gaudreau. He is as pure of a talent as there is in the NHL. Remember how we ALL thought he was elite? Suddenly, after the ASG under Peters, that kind of disappeared? He was doing well at the start of the season, but I don't think he was playing well. He rode a sky-high SH%, and was living-off the PP (which was also red-hot at the time). When those things came back down to earth, he suddenly 'sucked'. To be more precise, the entire team sucked.
Under Sutter, he is playing faster. That's important. What is JUST as important is that a lot of other players are playing faster too. He has returned to his 'elite level play'. That's pretty damn exciting. His game game back during the stretch in trying to make the playoffs, not once the dust settled. He came up big. That's a huge reason for optimism right there.
Lindholm is looking better too. Even Tkachuk who I have been critical of has started looking better. Maybe Monahan's injury was legitimately keeping him back. He was producing at the start of the season, but I also don't think he was particularly effective - but the whole team was ineffective. That's key for me - if it is just one or two key players having bad seasons, and this team still being inept overall, then that's a different discussion.
We have all seen Bennett explode in a new situation. Why can't that new situation be here in Calgary under Sutter? He will have a different system implemented next season, and I bet that he can alter some of it to fit this team better too. My entire position is that some of the players are showing life under Sutter (let's not forget the captain either - he is looking young and fresh too!).
There are going to be moves. Maybe big ones. Maybe the GM. Maybe a couple of important pieces move, a couple of important pieces return, and hopefully this team can start being more successful and more fun to watch again. The last few games have been... painfully terrible in many ways, and performances (good and bad) can't be measured other than the very young guys giving their all to impress for next season, or the UFA vets giving their all to try and earn an extension (and even in these cases, should be taken with a grain of salt). The games when they mattered are the ones that should be really looked at, and some players were showing a lot of life.
In the end, even if you may be doggedly negative on everything with the Flames, and see the next season become an even worse disaster than we have seen this season, then just remember that disasters eventually get rebuilt. Disasters are horrible to go through, but they bring change, and life springs up out of nowhere to show us some hope.
So basically:
1) Some of this team's important players have been showing some life for a stretch now
2) The underlying metrics have vastly improved under Sutter
3) I expect Sutter to return with a better game-plan, and will better be able to deal with whatever players are here next season
4) There will be change - that's exciting anyway
5) If the retool fails, then the next step is a rebuild - there is a new building on the way, and the owners are actually shrewd businessmen. There are two rules to marketing a sports team - if you can't sell people on a winning team, then you better sell them on the hope of a winning team. Next season I am sure will be the last kick at the proverbial can, and if it fails, there will be more of a big change.
That's enough hope for me.
Things are often cyclical. It is tough to predict success in sports. Sometimes you think your team is going to have a great season, and you become bitterly disappointed. However, I remember '89 well. For me, it was the culmination of watching a great team finally getting rewarded after being a great team for many years. It was kind of expected, but a huge thrill. It more than made up for the bitterness of '86.
Then in 2004, it was this rather unexpected run, but also expected in a way with how well they were going. That team was a machine to me, and it was one of those rare teams that galvanized many hockey fans into cheering for it.
Heck, let's throw 2015 as a huge thrill all on its' own. If you can't stand up and applaud that gutsy team for playing hard in every game and never giving up, then I feel sorry for you. That was one of the highlights for this organization.
That's sports. If you can't handle the ups and downs, you really need to either stop following sports, or at least stop following a smaller market team that only rarely becomes elite as compared to the rest of the league. Go cheer for New York, or Boston, or Chicago. You might find yourself very bitter there too, as there are far from any guarantees, but maybe you will be less troubled there.
WHEN the Flames eventually win their next cup, I won't be jumping up and down screaming like an idiot with the rest of the bandwagon fans of the year (and that's fine to me - I hope they make a heck of a lot of noise and have as much fun as possible). I will be the guy all choked up because I will remember all the disappointing seasons it took to get there.
As a fan, that's what I will always hope for. To win when this team is elite, and accept the bitterness of disappointments. To appreciate whatever successes my team might have one day. And to cry like a blubbering idiot when my team finally raises the cup again. You learn to appreciate it so much more because of seasons like the one this team just had.
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Getting worse would be a not bad thing given the high end talent available at the top of the next 2 drafts.
If there's a time to hope, in the back of one's mind, for this team to bottom out - it is for the next 2 years.
If only Geoff Ward was still coach. You know in your heart we're destined to pick 14th OA for the next two to five seasons.
OP join the Kraken train! All the fun of watching hockey without the years of emotional baggage!
I just don't see any changes to the core besides Gio going to Seattle possibly. Monahan has his lowest value and is hurt. Gaudreau has started to flourish under Sutter and I believe he will stay for the long haul. Lindholm isn't going anywhere. Tkachuk is born to play Sutter hockey, he will rebound nicely. I would love to dump Backlund as I don't think he is worth his salary and is way too streaky but I don't see any takers. I think the core returns.
I agree with all this but think it’s more that Backlund won’t be worth his salary in the near future cause he probably is still worth it now. It would be wise to move him before his play drops off.
When I think of his potential drop off in play I think of a guy like Frans Nielsen who much like Backlund is a 2-way C who thrived at the defensive side of things but was effective as a 40-50pt 2C until his mid 30’s.
Now he is a $5.25mill albatross contract.
With how streaky Backlund already is I don’t think it’s crazy to imagine this happening to him, especially if his PP ice time dries up as players like Dube, Mangiapane, Zary, Pelletier, Ruzicka etc. earn those minutes.
The problem is we don’t have anyone to replace him though..
Lets see what Sutter has in the tank with a full offseason and training camp with the boys. Hopefully our core guys gets a full summer of training and refocused on the prize.
I don’t think this is a team that needs to hit the full blown reset button yet. I think they finally got a coach that can get the most out of the group. I am most excited for significant roster changes and I just can’t see how they come back with the same group after multiple failures.
An organizational shift is coming and I am excited for next season which really is not that far away
Either there are some overly optimistic fans in here or some people just haven’t been watching closely. This team isn’t even remotely good and needs a total overhaul. How many years do we have to watch the same movie? Even if the divisions were still those same and we somehow got in, we’d still be destroyed in the first round. All you have to do is watch some of these games to see how far away we are from even being competitive.
Either there are some overly optimistic fans in here or some people just haven’t been watching closely. This team isn’t even remotely good and needs a total overhaul. How many years do we have to watch the same movie? Even if the divisions were still those same and we somehow got in, we’d still be destroyed in the first round. All you have to do is watch some of these games to see how far away we are from even being competitive.
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This is a thread dedicated to being overly optimistic. I don’t think people are saying what they think will happen - just what they hope can happen, within reason.
Also expecting a couple major moves this offseason. Gotta hope Monahan is gone. He's been an anchor falling off a thousand foot cliff the last couple seasons
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Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinny01
I don’t think this is a team that needs to hit the full blown reset button yet. I think they finally got a coach that can get the most out of the group. I am most excited for significant roster changes and I just can’t see how they come back with the same group after multiple failures.
An organizational shift is coming and I am excited for next season which really is not that far away
I would like to see some roster changes but I wonder if we'll see that much if any. Trading players in a flat cap era is going to be tough.
Hall is likely to sign with Boston and we missed a golden opportunity to sign Toffoli last off season.Tre for whatever reason misses out on these opportunities and it troubles me. His focus seems to be on goaltending and defence at the cost of core forwards that has remained much the same.
Pittsburgh on the other hand always manages to retool and has made the playoffs these past 15 years. Yes they have Crosby and Malkin but they also find a way of getting forwards to supplant those 2.
