ForsbergTheGreat Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Yes it’s early in the season but the panic has already begun in Calgary http://www.matchsticksandgasoline.com/2015/10/20/9580311/calgary-flames-vs-washington-capitals-recap-this-is-a-bad-team-and-its-not-a-surprise Fiends, it is not the second period. The Calgary Flames have been outscored in the second period so far in this young season; yes, this is true. But it is not the second period causing the Flames' woes. It's not even the mess that is the entire goaltending situation, or bad goaltending in general. It's not injuries. It isn't even just theWashington Capitals being a better team.The Calgary Flames are, inherently, down to their core, a bad team. This is a team that, just a few years ago, sold off their superstars well past their best before dates and got meagre returns in response. This is a team that, following that time, firmly earned their fourth overall selection in the draft.And this is still the team that made a surprise run to the playoffs just a few months ago, and even won a round. It's the exact same team.The 2014-15 Flames were bad, but lucky. The 2015-16 Flames are just plain bad.This isn't to say they'll be bad forever. There are some good pieces on this roster; there are legitimate hopes for the future present on the Flames. But they are not there yet. And as long as they continue to hold firm to the status quo and refuse to accept that certain key personnel are directly responsible for this being a bad team (yes, I am talking about someone who won a trophy very recently, although no doubt there are some bad players and bad contracts present as well), they will remain a bad team. Less than 12 months ago flames were pegged to be finishing the 2014/15 season with a top 5 draft pick. As the season went on flames surprised the hockey world and went on a comeback streak, making the post season. Flames has multiple players reach career highs (Boma, Hudler, Wideman) and their young gungs seemed to transition easily. The rotation of the two goalies seemed to work out perfectly, when one goalie struggled, the other seemed to pick up the slack. They even had surprise players show up out of nowhere (Jooris). At the end of the season, people had a different opinion of the flames. Fast forward to present day. New expectations had been set, and with the offseason pickups of Frolik and Hamilton flames were believed to be able to do some playoff damage. But the start has been anything but damage, Flames are 1-5 in their first 6 games and have been outscored 23-9. The only team starting the season off worse than the flames was the bluejackets and they just fired their head coach. This is essentially the same roster, so what can be the cause of this. Was last year really just an anomaly similar to the Avalanche in 13/14, did the analytics really even its self out. Last year flames did find themselves as the comeback team stealing points in the 3rd period, did their luck finally run out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crackers Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Over reaction methinks. They'll get hot eventually, maybe even will snag a playoff spot. ...but I hope not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Money Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Personally, I originally thought the Flames would fall back to earth a bit this year. But then the offseason acquisitions of Hamilton and Frolik made me consider otherwise. Looks like I wasn't the only one fooled.This may end up more of a transition year for Calgary. They have a lot of expiring contracts (Hudler, Russell, Hiller, Ramo, Jones), so they could really load up on picks/prospects, and shuffle things up.But most of all, I think this indicates how underrated T.J. Brodie is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire_Spiky Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 TBH this has been a huge surprise to me. Living in Calgary I took a lot of heat over the summer(and even at the Dome after game 6 last year) about how the Flames were so much better than the Canucks and that I should give up on the 'Nucks and get on the C of red bandwagon. I'll admit that the Flames made bolder more exciting moves then the 'Nucks over the summer, they might even have one of the top defense corps in the league (Gio/Brodie/Russel/Wideman/Hamiton) but when you look past the defense they really don't have anything going for them. Their goaltending is a mess, they have been doing the tandem goalie thing now for couple years(Ramo/Berra then Hiller/Ramo and now Ortio in there) and are clearly stuck in that situation because they don't have a real number 1 goalie that can be that player. Their offense isn't much better, the top line is competitive but Gaudreau and Monahan have a total of 3 NHL seasons between them in and lack the experience needed to pull a team out of slump like this. Past the top line is a mashup of players who are either young and unproven (Bennett) or past their prime (Stajan). Put it to you this way, Curtis Glencross was good enough to be a second liner on this team last year and just retired after not getting picked up by either team he had a PTO with. The bottom line is last year performance for Calgary was a fluke. Their strong defense made up for the lack of goaltending while the goal scoring from the blue line drove the offense. Unless they can right the ship here quickly, they could quickly find themselves in quite the whole really early in the season. Here's hoping that the fall from grace is long and hard for the Flames. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dekey Pete Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 OH you don't say... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Not sure why Cbj already fired their coach, let lone brought in Torts.It's too early to panic. But whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thejazz97 Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Not sure why Cbj already fired their coach, let lone brought in Torts.It's too early to panic. But whatever.Tell that to the team that fired Mike Keenan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aGENT Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Their forwards were bound to come back to earth a bit this year and that ridiculous D-core has looked less super-human than they 'should' on paper. Then there's the goaltending...I'd imagine they'll rebound a bit at some point this season to be at least decent but it seems likely they played a bit over their heads last season.That said, like us, they're a team still relatively early on in a rebuild/retool. There's bound to be ups and downs. And again, like us, there are some promising young pieces to build on moving forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falcon45ca Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Personally, I originally thought the Flames would fall back to earth a bit this year. But then the offseason acquisitions of Hamilton and Frolik made me consider otherwise. Looks like I wasn't the only one fooled.This may end up more of a transition year for Calgary. They have a lot of expiring contracts (Hudler, Russell, Hiller, Ramo, Jones), so they could really load up on picks/prospects, and shuffle things up.But most of all, I think this indicates how underrated T.J. Brodie is.No more Ramo, he's on waivers now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swflyers8 Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 It really shouldn't be a panic. They just played above their heads last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edlerberry Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 gio got his contract, now its easy coasting to 40 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senpai Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 They are literally the new Avalanche.They had absolute garbage possession numbers last year, but they still managed to win a bunch of games, nobody really knows why. Now they suck again, just like the Avs.Their possession numbers are still garbage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyCuddles Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Another flukey, out of left field team? Or just a rough start? Was hoping for a revival of western Canadian teams from mediocrity. Too much to ask I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForsbergTheGreat Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 Living in Calgary I have to be honest. I am getting some enjoyment out of this panic. Fans have already started calling for “might as well tank for Matthews” The fan 960, has started calling out players for their effort and Hartley for not giving Ortio a chance yet. Looks now like that opted to move Ramo, Makes you wonder why they signed him in the off season. My personal opinion is that you tend to work harder when you’re the underdog. When people write you off you often give more effort just to prove people wrong. Flames have went a summer with people talking about how good they are, bragging them up and that same hard work we saw a year ago hasn’t seemed to show up on the ice. There is a lot less weight on your shoulders when expectations are low, now that expectation are high, it may too much. Last year did have a lot of luck to it. Flames road the momentum and got caught up in the moment, it was a year filled with new adrenaline. Now they seem to kind of just expect that same luck to just still be there without having to put in the hard work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tortorella's Rant Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Yeah. The Avs of last season. I called it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master Mind Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 As good as it is to see the Flames struggle, I think they'll find a groove again and stay competitive.Their luck might have run out, but the team itself is still good enough to be in the playoff hunt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ilya Mikheyev Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Their defense has been absolutely awful. WSH beat them to every puck. On paper their D looks fine, but it's been awful, including Hamilton.I like certain parts of Hartley's coaching strategy, but it only works if you have big guns like Ilya Kovalchuk or Joe Sakic who can control an entire game. The Hudler line can do that to an extent, but not at the same level. Their holes are showing, but they could get better if they change their system a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyllenhaal Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 The problem with Calgary is that they're a one line team with average goaltending. The only way they win games is when their defense are creating chances and putting up points.They rely on Hudler-Monahan-Gaudreau and the defense too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 They are literally the new Avalanche.They had absolute garbage possession numbers last year, but they still managed to win a bunch of games, nobody really knows why. Now they suck again, just like the Avs.Their possession numbers are still garbage. Basically this. They might make the playoffs yet, but this is just Calgary coming back down to earth after a rather bizarre season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmahyoung Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Personally, I originally thought the Flames would fall back to earth a bit this year. But then the offseason acquisitions of Hamilton and Frolik made me consider otherwise. Looks like I wasn't the only one fooled.This may end up more of a transition year for Calgary. They have a lot of expiring contracts (Hudler, Russell, Hiller, Ramo, Jones), so they could really load up on picks/prospects, and shuffle things up.But most of all, I think this indicates how underrated T.J. Brodie is.They're gonna need big money freed up for Monahan and Gaudreau... Man their defense is expensive though... especially that Giordano contract. They may even buy it out in 2-3 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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