Are you optimistic? Are you skeptical? Is this all a mirage/facade ?
For me personally, after skipping tons of games last year and fast forwarding through all the crap play, I've actually been quite entertained and have watched every second of the flames play this year. That in itself is a big surprise..
I am cautiously optimistic but starting to move my expectations up to at least playoff team this year now.
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Feeling great. It’s not that they’re winning games it’s how they are winning games. Most entertaining team since Peters and more sustainable in my opinion.
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You literally can’t ask for better hockey out of that group of players
Mangiapane keeps scoring with Dube as his center and Brett Ritchie as his winger FFS...
The two most important bounce backs candidates were Markstrom and Rasmus and both look really good. Gudbranson since the regular season started has shocked pretty much everyone and even Valimaki looked really good last game who was sort of the last defenseman to get in line
I think we need a good center to knock Ritchie out of the lineup and Dube to wing
The team is good, and it's nice they're not getting goaltend'd every night so far (do they score all these goals on Smith or Gibson? Probably not).
I think the forward group is good, but still missing some pieces (Ritchie in the top nine sticks out like a sore thumb and highlights how weak our right wing is, and the fourth line while talented (Monahan and Lucic can still play even if they're not in their prime anymore) is a bit slow especially on D zone breakouts.)
Even if we acquire Eichel, we still need some minor moves to shore up the depth. But we're close. Kylington finally getting a chance in the four has made a world of difference - this would easily be the most mobile top four we've had since Gio-Brodie / Hanifin-Hamonic - and I prefer Tanev over Hamonic.
My hope is that some of the AHL guys (Kinnvall/Pellettier/Phillips/Zavgorodniy/Zary/Ruzicka/Duehr/Pettersson/Mackey/Gawdin) can take a step forward at some point in the season. I think we have some legit NHL-calibre depth that deserves to be tested. All these guys are skilled and play an NHL style IMO (Pettersson might be the biggest question mark in my eyes)
Adding even two of the AHL guys is a skill boost IMO but it's on them to take the step forward and dethrone some of the veteran guys. A lineup of
The Flames have me cautiously optimistic...which is something I didn't think I would be saying. They have played a brand of hockey that is actually watchable and have finally found some consistent scoring depth.
That being said, this is a small sample size against a fairly soft schedule (even if those teams were playing well, some of them were missing key pieces or had played a fairly soft schedule themselves)
I am hoping for more than a make it in and lose in the first round scenario but I don't believe the Flames have the horses to run with the other playoff teams in the West.
Banking points early is never a bad thing. You know there will be a 3 or 4 game losing skid at some point in the season, so this current streak will offset that skid.
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I would say optimistic, not in the sense that they are going to finish in the top of the league, but preseason I did think they were better than many of the analysts were saying.
The way they are playing certainly aligns with their record. It's definitely not a mirage like what the Oilers are currently doing. I think the question at this point is whether this is a level of work that the players can keep up for a full season.
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Dealing with Everything from Dead Sea Scrolls to Red C Trolls
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Originally Posted by woob
"...harem warfare? like all your wives dressup and go paintballing?"
Not skeptical at all. Pumped. Pumped that we finally have a head coach. We’ve been deprived of this for almost the entirety of this rebuild and it’s been brutal.
In Sutter I trust. Those who play hard are going to play more. Already seen Tkachuk eat some minutes on the pine.
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I legit feel if they can land Eichel with out giving up someone like Eatbread in the deal this could be a true contender level team like the Isles the last few yrs. Eatbread and Lindholm aren't going to lead the Rocket Richard race all year but if the Flames can solidify the middle with Eichel I see great things. If not this season then next if we can get Johnny and Chucky signed. Without Eichel it has to be an easy play off team with how the Pacific is regardless. Maybe get Gio back next yr and move out some salary / move Zadorov + Monahan at the deadline.