My Prediction for the 2021-22 season

[howard_the_duck]

As of this moment, I've got:

Vegas
Edmonton
Vancouver
Calgary/LA
Anaheim
San Jose
Seattle

On the cusp of playoffs, which seems about right for Flames fans. What year is it?

[Strange Brew]

Sutter gets this team competitive and in a playoff spot.

I'll be surprised if there is not a major move before start of season. But I'm also surprised it didn't happen at the draft.

If we take this roster into the season and there's a slow start? Yikes.

[Yrebmi]

Originally Posted by howard_the_duck

As of this moment, I've got:

Vegas
Edmonton
Vancouver
Calgary/LA
Anaheim
San Jose
Seattle

On the cusp of playoffs, which seems about right for Flames fans. What year is it?

I do not see Vancouver ahead of us.
Painfully you might be right with Edmonton, but a lot went right for them last season. I am hoping it wont as much this season.
Calgary makes the playoffs in this quality of competition.

[Poe969]

The Flames land Eichel and give up a valuable roster player. Eichel has surgery and they announce he won't play this season. Doom and gloom...what are we going to do....all of a sudden a prospect makes the team. That prospect does well. Really well. That prospect leads all prospects in scoring. Flames make the playoffs. What's that?? Eichel can play in round 2???? Team is inspired. Flames make it to second round. Eichel joins am already hot team. Flames make it to the finals. Against Tampa. Tampa wins in game 6. Wait. Did that cross the line? No goal! Flames win in 7!!! Eat #### Tampa. Boom.

[CalgaryFan1988]

Originally Posted by reggie dunlop

there's a killer asteroid that could hit earth in may.

2321

[howard_the_duck]

Originally Posted by Yrebmi

I do not see Vancouver ahead of us.
Painfully you might be right with Edmonton, but a lot went right for them last season. I am hoping it wont as much this season.
Calgary makes the playoffs in this quality of competition.

I like their top end quite a bit more than ours. Better blueline. Better top 6 forwards. Goaltending maybe slightly worse but not my much.

Hate the Canucks and think their cap is crippled moving forward, but they’ve got more talent than the flames right now in my view.

[EVERLAST]

Well Jumbo Joe is in Florida now so there's no hope we win anything <<< Green text.

With Sutter and Muller behind the bench there's no way we are a mediocre team.

I like our additions and IF IF IF? We stay healthy ...fingers crossed.....we will be such a pain in the ass to play against.

It's gonna be fun is all I'll predict .....at least we will be competitive.

[Jiri Hrdina]

I keep forgetting about the Muller hire.

[dino7c]

Goalie bounce back and Sutter has them in the convo for the div. Add another scorer though.

[Bingo]

Yeah I think we saw in the Sutter section of last season that the team is going to be a top ten club in terms of shot and chance metric splits

(Flames were 2nd in CF% and 3rd in xGF% from when he took over).

That should work reasonably well with a solid goaltender in net. The Flames should be a tough team to play against.

Adding Coleman is a plus for sure, losing Giordano probably a bigger negative.

The big thing is the internal change. Do Gaudreau and Tkachuk bounce back? Does Valimaki find his path again? Andersson reverse a negative trend? Do we get old Monahan back or the guy from the last two years?

I have a feeling we could be pleasantly surprised.

[Goriders]

I think the Flames will be better than last season.

I think they will make the playoffs.

But I think there are big problems ahead with what to do with Gaudreau, Tkachuk and Monahan. I have no idea how that’s going to work itself out or when. But it’ll impact where the organization really goes over the next number of years.

[Enoch Root]

Giordano is a bigger negative than Coleman is a positive, I agree. However, we should also be comparing the 38 year old, 21/22 Giordano, and that probably isn't as big a loss as the name suggests.

More importantly though, what does the remaining D core look like? The biggest factor, and the biggest hope for optimism, is the fact that they are all young and the potential for someone to step up and fill the void is pretty large.

Hanifin 24
Andersson 24
Valimaki 22
Zadorov 26
Kylington 24
Mackey 24

On the one hand, the lack of experience is a bit frightening, but on the other hand, the potential is crazy.

I think that is the biggest question mark, concern/opportunity on the team.

Well coached
Hard to play against
Pretty good depth
Good splits

But how good will the D be?

[Patek23]

I don’t think we see any major changes with results until we change GMs. Brad is far to conservative in his approach. I’d imagine a full year of Sutter still has us sneaking into the playoffs or at least coming close. Probably another first round exit though if we do make it. I haven’t seen any moves this off-season that show we’re willing to address the issues of this team. Just the typical shuffling of the 3rd and 4th line chairs with hopes one of the guys plays above anything they’ve shown in the past.


Would absolutely love to have to eat some crow on this though. But I’ve been a fan of this team far too long to expect any different when they still have the same approach.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Flaming Homer

I don’t think we see any major changes with results until we change GMs. Brad is far to conservative in his approach. I’d imagine a full year of Sutter still has us sneaking into the playoffs or at least coming close. Probably another first round exit though if we do make it. I haven’t seen any moves this off-season that show we’re willing to address the issues of this team. Just the typical shuffling of the 3rd and 4th line chairs with hopes one of the guys plays above anything they’ve shown in the past.


Would absolutely love to have to eat some crow on this though. But I’ve been a fan of this team far too long to expect any different when they still have the same approach.

Too conservative?

He landed the biggest goaltender on the market last year, jumped in on an expensive dman, and is rumoured to be in the mix for Jach Eichel ... others have leveled criticism that he's too aggressive in moving picks to supplement the existing core.

I don't see the guy as conservative at all.

I've come around on Eichel. I didn't like the futures trade at all ... hate giving that much up, but his acquisition does solve my biggest issue instantly. That being, I don't like the core, but you can't really blow the whole thing up. Next best thing change it drastically and instantly move everyone down a peg in importance. Eichel would do that.

[Patek23]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Too conservative?

He landed the biggest goaltender on the market last year, jumped in on an expensive dman, and is rumoured to be in the mix for Jach Eichel ... others have leveled criticism that he's too aggressive in moving picks to supplement the existing core.

I don't see the guy as conservative at all.

I've come around on Eichel. I didn't like the futures trade at all ... hate giving that much up, but his acquisition does solve my biggest issue instantly. That being, I don't like the core, but you can't really blow the whole thing up. Next best thing change it drastically and instantly move everyone down a peg in importance. Eichel would do that.

Maybe I should of elaborated. Yes he has been okay with throwing away futures. I mean conservative in letting “core” members go. I’ve felt a major shake up to our forward group had been needed since 2015 and were still rolling out the same core pieces. A lot of other teams realize when it’s time to make major changes to the team identity and we’ve never seen that during Brads tenure.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

My opinion is this thread had no point except to help push the negativity so many seem to get off on. My prediction is the Flames make the playoffs and go on a run and it makes the miserable doomsayers on this board even more miserable.

Just don't bet the farm on it.....this, in my opinion, is one of the most underwhelming off season's I can remember as a Flames fan. This is incredibly troubling considering how dire making substantial changes should have been on the GM's to-do list.

Maybe all the promising off seasons that inevitably turn into a garbage product will come back around to flip the script on this bad summer by the GM. I'm not betting on it, but it's highly probably this team is in a dogfight of mediocrity again in March battling between 7th and 12th place. Instead of performing as the perennial contender our GM promised to deliver nearly a decade ago.

[Goriders]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Giordano is a bigger negative than Coleman is a positive, I agree. However, we should also be comparing the 38 year old, 21/22 Giordano, and that probably isn't as big a loss as the name suggests.

More importantly though, what does the remaining D core look like? The biggest factor, and the biggest hope for optimism, is the fact that they are all young and the potential for someone to step up and fill the void is pretty large.

Hanifin 24
Andersson 24
Valimaki 22
Zadorov 26
Kylington 24
Mackey 24

On the one hand, the lack of experience is a bit frightening, but on the other hand, the potential is crazy.

I think that is the biggest question mark, concern/opportunity on the team.

Well coached
Hard to play against
Pretty good depth
Good splits

But how good will the D be?

I agree with you. But the young D have all been in the league for a while (hanifin and zadorov). Anderson as well. Tanev same thing. Like you said Gio wasn’t getting any younger or better. I think what you lose with him mainly is leadership. But it’s probably time for some new blood and voices in the room.

I think we upgraded our bottom 6 forwards. My question marks are all in the top 6 forward ranks. A lot of them didn’t show up last year for many different reasons. If they don’t show up again what are the Flames going to do? I think that question is going to impact the organization for a number of years go forward.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Too conservative?

He landed the biggest goaltender on the market last year, jumped in on an expensive dman, and is rumoured to be in the mix for Jach Eichel ... others have leveled criticism that he's too aggressive in moving picks to supplement the existing core.

I don't see the guy as conservative at all.

I've come around on Eichel. I didn't like the futures trade at all ... hate giving that much up, but his acquisition does solve my biggest issue instantly. That being, I don't like the core, but you can't really blow the whole thing up. Next best thing change it drastically and instantly move everyone down a peg in importance. Eichel would do that.

He's extremely conservative in terms of making substantial roster changes that will actually effect change. He's the master of nibbling around the edges of a flawed roster, with no identity. His trade history the last 3 years as it relates to a forward group that has been so lacking is shocking considering how bad the group has been. He missed his chance to extract value from almost everyone by playing a silly patient game hoping players turned into more than what they clearly were.

Brad is like the guy at the gym who is there every day, exploring all the equipment but never really improving since he isn't truly willing to push the limits and put himself on the hot seat. If the Flames don't smarten up and punt him, this organization is going to be doomed to another 7 years of completely unnecessary mediocrity brought on by someone who has lost their touch completely or really never had it at all.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Flaming Homer

Maybe I should of elaborated. Yes he has been okay with throwing away futures. I mean conservative in letting “core” members go. I’ve felt a major shake up to our forward group had been needed since 2015 and were still rolling out the same core pieces. A lot of other teams realize when it’s time to make major changes to the team identity and we’ve never seen that during Brads tenure.

Like Hamilton, Brodie, Giordano, Hudler, Bennett (well, he was intended to be core), Rittich, Talbot (one of those was a #1 goalie). Heck you could call Glencross core at the time he was traded.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Flaming Homer

Maybe I should of elaborated. Yes he has been okay with throwing away futures. I mean conservative in letting “core” members go. I’ve felt a major shake up to our forward group had been needed since 2015 and were still rolling out the same core pieces. A lot of other teams realize when it’s time to make major changes to the team identity and we’ve never seen that during Brads tenure.

Hamilton was certainly part of the core and moved in a blockbuster. The core was altered when he acquired Hamilton as well.

Brodie was almost traded, and then let go.