Toronto Sun shows some love to the 2018-19 Calgary Flames

[TheRealPepman]

https://torontosun.com/sports/hockey...at-stanley-cup

TRAIKOS: Incredibly, Flames are Canada's best chance at Stanley Cup
by Michael Traikos (mtraikos@postmedia.com; twitter.com/Michael_Traikos)

SAN JOSE — Even now, with the team sitting comfortably in first place in the Western Conference and one of its players in the conversation for the Hart Trophy and another for the Norris Trophy, the Calgary Flames might not be the biggest hockey story coming out of Canada.

Heck, with the daily drama coming out of Edmonton, they might not even be the biggest story in Alberta.

As Connor McDavid would tell you, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“Hopefully we’re overlooked,” Flames GM Brad Treliving said in a phone interview. “We’re just the little guys down here in Calgary. There’s lots more interesting things to talk about. We’ll just try to fly under the radar here.”

Well, maybe not overlooked. But under-appreciated, for sure. Few saw this coming after Calgary missed the playoffs last year thanks to a nasty stretch where the team lost 17 of its final 24 games.

Coming into this season, if you had polled the hockey fans on which Canadian team might finally end the country’s drought, half would have said the Jets and the other half the Maple Leafs.

The Flames, meanwhile, were lumped in with the Oilers and the Canadiens in that second tier of teams. After a summer where Calgary had fired its head coach, traded Dougie Hamilton and Micheal Ferland, and then overpaid for free agent James Neal, there were too many unknowns.

This much was clear: no one was predicting a Stanley Cup. Few were even sure this team would make the playoffs...

[Red Slinger]

You should remove the entire text of the article and just include a few sentences along with the link.

[Looch City]

That’s a credit to Peters, who’s even-keel personality falls is a welcome change from the stick-tossing rage of predecessor Glen Gulutzan.

Hahaha welcomed change indeed.

[Ryan Coke]

Ah yes, that rage machine Gully. So nice to have a coach who isn’t blowing up on players and media so unpredictably.

[Har-Calgary]

I'm very surprised that this took precedence over the huge raps game tonight. Looks to me like that is the Sports cover page.

[tkflames]

Originally Posted by Iggy City

Hahaha welcomed change indeed.

Interesting that they would personify GG like this. I would have said that his robotic and stoic nature with a complete lack of the emotional intelligence necessary to read and adapt to the in game emotion was his downfall.

[bax]

I would prefer to continue to fly under the radar I think.

[Toonage]

Same

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by bax

I would prefer to continue to fly under the radar I think.

Mediocre teams fly under the radar. Good teams get noticed.

[Racki]

Me too. The Leafs and McDavid can get all the hype. Let us continue to roll along in obscurity.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Screw being under the radar. We aren’t lovable losers who want to avoid being a target. We’re a goddamn juggernaut here to destroy the rest of the league. Bring it on.

[Toonage]

The Flames can still be awesome while being ignored by Toronto media.

[BeltlineFan]

If the Flames getting noticed means I have to hear less about Auston "Lemieux" Matthews, Mitch "Gretzky" Marner and how many cups they're going to win, I'm all for it.

[P-Rugby]

I need to get my hands on a hard copy of this paper

[the2bears]

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

You should remove the entire text of the article and just include a few sentences along with the link.

Exactly. As it is now, it's a copyright violation.

[Northendzone]

i might also add that for the most part the flames have played a fun brand of hockey to watch as they score lots and sometimes in bunches and very quickly.

at their core, the jets have a lot of experience from last year and they are still a good team. so personally, i think right now our chances are close.

i think the leafs will be in tough to beat both the bruins and the bolts 4 times out of 7.

[bubbsy]

Living in Toronto, it's amazing how little the hockey media even talks about the flames. Naturally it's primarily leaf talk, but i feel i hear more about mcdavid or the oiler's struggles, pettersson and the Canucks surprising season, and there's just a general understanding that the jets are Canada's best team, and the obvious western conference champ.

There is some minimal Giordano talk, but i think it's because they all expect Morgan Reilly to take the norris .

Anyways, i look forward to sending the url to the sun home page tomorrow to my leaf loving wife!

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Toonage

The Flames can still be awesome while being ignored by Toronto media.

Well I'm willing to bet few Leafs fans even bother to read the article. Props to Traikos for paying some attention to what the Flames have done but being the cynic I am I wonder if an article like this in the Toronto Sun is a bit of a thinly veiled shot at the Maple Leafs and Babcock.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

Living in Toronto, it's amazing how little the hockey media even talks about the flames. Naturally it's primarily leaf talk, but i feel i hear more about mcdavid or the oiler's struggles, pettersson and the Canucks surprising season, and there's just a general understanding that the jets are Canada's best team, and the obvious western conference champ.

There is some minimal Giordano talk, but i think it's because they all expect Morgan Reilly to take the norris .

Anyways, i look forward to sending the url to the sun home page tomorrow to my leaf loving wife!

How fast do we expect the conversation to change. I think we expected the flames to be a bubble playoff team hopefully with a shot of home ice in round one towards the end of the season

The games start at 10 eastern so until we started pulling away with the division lead you wouldn’t really notice us.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Igottago

Mediocre teams fly under the radar. Good teams get noticed.

Yeah, I'm sure Edmonton would agree with that sentiment.


Good teams get ignored until they win.