The Three Game Tracker

[DL44]

Both the stats I presented include that streak of poor play. My point is, that we're judging playoff worthyness based on the inclusion of horrible hockey from the start of the season. Since we turned it around EVEN INCLUDING the recent losing spat, we're one of the best teams by most measures.

Perfect? no. But not nearly as bad as a lot of people make out.

Not to completely disrupt your positive groove... If you look who the flames have lost to post dec 23, it suggests they may not be amongst the elite of the league next yr... As does their post classic performances where the seasons been on the line and pressure ramped back up...

[cross16]

Both the stats I presented include that streak of poor play. My point is, that we're judging playoff worthyness based on the inclusion of horrible hockey from the start of the season. Since we turned it around EVEN INCLUDING the recent losing spat, we're one of the best teams by most measures.

Perfect? no. But not nearly as bad as a lot of people make out.

Dl and Don pretty much answered this for me already.

If you take since the heritage classic, they would not be on the list you provided. IMo, the team you've seen since the Heritage Classic is more like the Flames than the team you are proclaiming them to be. That is my point.

[DarthHenning]

We Faltered down the stretch, no question. But we lost our top center, and one of our second line. Given that we still managed to play pretty good hockey, isn't someting I'd complain about.

I've seen a few people say "since the Heritage Classic." Why is that an important date for the team? We played outside. No change in staff/personelle. Yes we've had problems, but you could just as well say "since the Morrison Injury" which would be far more accurate. And would actually explain a lot of the problems with the constant need to line juggle.

Dec. 23 saw a shift in management, and coaching style. And we set the goal to play 0.667 for the rest of the season. Guess what? we did. We were 2 games above pace at one point, and slipped back to par.

If you want to look at that stretch, we were around 0.720-0.750 for our outburst. Given that "As does their post classic performances where the seasons been on the line and pressure ramped back up... " means that our record slid down to 0.667...i can't say that's a bad thing.

I don't think that is accurate. "on the whole" should include the "whole" season, no?[

The Flames have played as well as anyone for a significant stretch, but the difference between the Flames and actual top teams is how bad they can be. No top team has put together a stretch anywhere near as bad as the Flames did for the first 2+ months.

THIS is what I see as the problem. Not our recent bad stretch. If we'd even been 0.500 during those two months, we'd be around 4-6 now. And I think that a repeat of that is unlikely if things continue as they have been since the GM change.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Is there work to be done in the off-season? absolutely. A functioning third line would be quite useful (IMHO BMo-Lanks/Backlund-Borque could work) and if we'd had one, we'd probably have won a couple more games. We have bad contracts to ditch (Hagman, Kotalik, Stajan, and Staios walks). We have to make signings (Tangs, BMo, GlenX, Babchuck, Carson, Karlsson....or improvements on any of the last four).

Primarily: we have to make sure that the first two months don't happen again.

I'm not saying that doing exactly what we did this year is what would get us in. I'm saying that it points us solidly in the direction we want to go.

[The_Don]

We Faltered down the stretch, no question. But we lost our top center, and one of our second line. Given that we still managed to play pretty good hockey, isn't someting I'd complain about.

I've seen a few people say "since the Heritage Classic." Why is that an important date for the team? We played outside. No change in staff/personelle. Yes we've had problems, but you could just as well say "since the Morrison Injury" which would be far more accurate. And would actually explain a lot of the problems with the constant need to line juggle.

Dec. 23 saw a shift in management, and coaching style. And we set the goal to play 0.667 for the rest of the season. Guess what? we did. We were 2 games above pace at one point, and slipped back to par.

If you want to look at that stretch, we were around 0.720-0.750 for our outburst. Given that "As does their post classic performances where the seasons been on the line and pressure ramped back up... " means that our record slid down to 0.667...i can't say that's a bad thing.

I don't think that is accurate. "on the whole" should include the "whole" season, no?[

The Flames have played as well as anyone for a significant stretch, but the difference between the Flames and actual top teams is how bad they can be. No top team has put together a stretch anywhere near as bad as the Flames did for the first 2+ months.

THIS is what I see as the problem. Not our recent bad stretch. If we'd even been 0.500 during those two months, we'd be around 4-6 now. And I think that a repeat of that is unlikely if things continue as they have been since the GM change.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Is there work to be done in the off-season? absolutely. A functioning third line would be quite useful (IMHO BMo-Lanks/Backlund-Borque could work) and if we'd had one, we'd probably have won a couple more games. We have bad contracts to ditch (Hagman, Kotalik, Stajan, and Staios walks). We have to make signings (Tangs, BMo, GlenX, Babchuck, Carson, Karlsson....or improvements on any of the last four).

Primarily: we have to make sure that the first two months don't happen again.

I'm not saying that doing exactly what we did this year is what would get us in. I'm saying that it points us solidly in the direction we want to go.

This season really was a story of two teams. The 4 month Flames were definitely a team that could finish anywhere from #4-#8. Not without there holes like everyone else, but a playoff team nonetheless. The problem is that it took 2 months for that team to figure itself out. I can't help but think that if the Management move was made in June and not December that we would be talking about a playoff bound Calgary team. If only King had the foresight that many fans did, lol.

The stretch at the end of the season playing .500 hockey is something every team goes through, but playing well below .500 for over 2 months is something that the Flames proved is near impossible to recover from.

[Louis23]

I don't feel like waiting for another year to see post-season hockey again. Might as well freeze myself and comeback in a few months.

[DarthHenning]

This season really was a story of two teams. The 4 month Flames were definitely a team that could finish anywhere from #4-#8. Not without there holes like everyone else, but a playoff team nonetheless. The problem is that it took 2 months for that team to figure itself out. I can't help but think that if the Management move was made in June and not December that we would be talking about a playoff bound Calgary team. If only King had the foresight that many fans did, lol.

The stretch at the end of the season playing .500 hockey is something every team goes through, but playing well below .500 for over 2 months is something that the Flames proved is near impossible to recover from.

This. EXACTLY this.

Nothing since Dec. 23 is what screwed us in the end. (well, ok, two more wins would have been nice), but 0.666 hockey is playoff hockey no matter who you are. Even with a stretch of 0.500 as you say.

It was the first 2 months that did it. And amazingly, we almost came back from it. Which is pretty impressive given we were in 15th at one point in December and made it as high as tied for 4th.

Next year, assuming the management, and players continue as they have since Dec. 23, we're playoff bound. MASSIVE assumption, but hopefully true. President's trophy? Yeeee..no, but we will probably at least be in the running to challenge for top 3 seeds. I just hate having to suffer this disappointment to get there.

[The_Don]

I don't feel like waiting for another year to see post-season hockey again. Might as well freeze myself and comeback in a few months.

Or you could pick a bandwagon to jump on. Of course you got the ABC, but cheering for a team and not just against a team is always more rewarding.

[DarthHenning]

Honestly, I'd rather see any Canadian team win over Americans.

Yes, including the Nucks. But the habs have my vote until they're out.

[The_Don]

This. EXACTLY this.

Nothing since Dec. 23 is what screwed us in the end. (well, ok, two more wins would have been nice), but 0.666 hockey is playoff hockey no matter who you are. Even with a stretch of 0.500 as you say.

It was the first 2 months that did it. And amazingly, we almost came back from it. Which is pretty impressive given we were in 15th at one point in December and made it as high as tied for 4th.

Next year, assuming the management, and players continue as they have since Dec. 23, we're playoff bound. MASSIVE assumption, but hopefully true. President's trophy? Yeeee..no, but we will probably at least be in the running to challenge for top 3 seeds. I just hate having to suffer this disappointment to get there.

This is the danger. You overcame ALL odds to turn the season into a respectable one. Expecting this team, one year older, to repeat the successes of the Dec-Apr Flames might be expecting to much, and taking another step away from a much needed rebuilding year. The core (Iginla, Langkow, Tanguay, Regehr, Sarich, Kiprusoff, Jokinen) are mostly over 30. And the "core" that is under 30 aren't helping you like they should (Bouwmeester, Bourque, Stajan). Are you simply hoping the second group will pick up the slack and the first group will be just as good? While not all of the over 20 crowd will suddenly fall of the table, you can't help but think one or more of them will start to play like they are on the downside of their careers. And you can't expect any of them to improve at this point in their careers. So are you simply hoping the Bouwsmeesters of the team find their game again? I don't see a lot of room to bring in much help from FA or trading.

I just don't see a potential cup winner with the current group of players. Iginla, Kiprusoff, Regehr should probably retire Flames, but the rest of the older guys that didn't play up to snuff should be changing their address come September, no?

[Carty]

I just don't see a potential cup winner with the current group of players.

If you are talking about the nucks, for once I might agree with you...

[cross16]

This is the danger. You overcame ALL odds to turn the season into a respectable one. Expecting this team, one year older, to repeat the successes of the Dec-Apr Flames might be expecting to much, and taking another step away from a much needed rebuilding year. The core (Iginla, Langkow, Tanguay, Regehr, Sarich, Kiprusoff, Jokinen) are mostly over 30. And the "core" that is under 30 aren't helping you like they should (Bouwmeester, Bourque, Stajan). Are you simply hoping the second group will pick up the slack and the first group will be just as good? While not all of the over 20 crowd will suddenly fall of the table, you can't help but think one or more of them will start to play like they are on the downside of their careers. And you can't expect any of them to improve at this point in their careers. So are you simply hoping the Bouwsmeesters of the team find their game again? I don't see a lot of room to bring in much help from FA or trading.

I just don't see a potential cup winner with the current group of players. Iginla, Kiprusoff, Regehr should probably retire Flames, but the rest of the older guys that didn't play up to snuff should be changing their address come September, no?

I'd have to agree 100%. Yes the Flames played some very good hcokey for a couple months, but as any team that plays well you certainly get things going your way. Can they bank on that happening again? Can they bank on eveyrone coming back and replicating their seasons? Can they bank on the fact that Babchuck, Glencross, Morrison, Moss are all going to be back and all going to have career years again? Can they bank on the fact that Iginla/Tanguay will stay read hot?

I don't see a cup in the near future with this group I see another playoff bubble team and not a team that can contend for the division. Even when they were rolling they consistnatly had trouble with teams higher tham them in the standings. I dont' think they can bring everyone back and bank on that success they had from Jan-mid Feb. There needs to be some serious changes and upgrades to this roster.

[Ameter]

This. EXACTLY this.

Nothing since Dec. 23 is what screwed us in the end. (well, ok, two more wins would have been nice), but 0.666 hockey is playoff hockey no matter who you are. Even with a stretch of 0.500 as you say.

It was the first 2 months that did it. And amazingly, we almost came back from it. Which is pretty impressive given we were in 15th at one point in December and made it as high as tied for 4th.

Next year, assuming the management, and players continue as they have since Dec. 23, we're playoff bound. MASSIVE assumption, but hopefully true. President's trophy? Yeeee..no, but we will probably at least be in the running to challenge for top 3 seeds. I just hate having to suffer this disappointment to get there.

What's incredibly disappointing is that 2 out of 3 didn't get us back to the playoffs. Those losses to Anaheim killed our comeback. Either way, however, you cannot be anything but proud of the effort our guys put in to come back.

Or you could pick a bandwagon to jump on. Of course you got the ABC, but cheering for a team and not just against a team is always more rewarding.

It's the Canuck's year to win it. They have almost all the necessary pieces they need in play, and the chemistry between the Sedin sisters is amazing.

That said, knowing the Canucks, they'll probably find a way to choke.

[JA_Boomer]

I just don't see a potential cup winner with the current group of players. Iginla, Kiprusoff, Regehr should probably retire Flames, but the rest of the older guys that didn't play up to snuff should be changing their address come September, no?

That bolded statement is exactly where I stand (funny it comes from a Canuck fan haha).

Given the success the team had this year from Dec. 23 onwards, and the relative inflexibility we have with regards to our contracts next year, I would say stay the course next year and see what happens. No, I do not expect the team to compete with Vancouver for the division title, but anything from 4-8 wouldn’t be out of the question IMO. If we can shed Kotalik and Hagman, we are in fairly good shape; getting rid of Stajan would be a bonus, but it’s looking like it would be extremely difficult to do. We have to get rid of at least 2 in order to re-sign our key free agents, and have decent success next year.

I’m all for getting some youth into the lineup, but I really don’t believe we should rush anyone into the Flames lineup. Brodie, Bouma, and Nemisz are all 1’st year pros, and more time in the AHL isn’t going to do anything but help their development. I would have a roster to start the year with 12 forwards and 6 defenseman, and any injury call-ups would come from the Heat, that’s how I would get youth into the lineup, and get these guys more NHL experience.

That said, going forward if there is an opportunity to move forward and get rid of some of the older veterans on the team, I do it. My guiding principle is Iggy, Reggie, and Kipper will retire Flames. Would a rebuild/reboot occur faster if we traded them for picks/prospects? Yes. I don’t care, to me the Flames ARE the Big Three, and I for one aren’t trading them or letting them walk as UFA’s (barring any ridiculous contract demands, which I don’t foresee). If they want to go pursue a cup with another team should we not be in a position to do so, I would respect that. I would ride those three into the basement of the NHL; my brain says rebuild, but my heart would never allow for it to start with those three players.

[DirtyDeeds]

I was pondering how seemingly no one considered, that the 2 of 3 goal for the remainder of the season, would not be enough. Looking at it now, the team probably attained that goal, yet fell short of the making the playoffs and seeing how far they could go or well they could do.

At the time to goal was set Coaches, Feaster, all indicated that was the goal to attain. Will they now look favorably on the team? Should they be happy about attaining that goal and still missing the playoffs? If breaking the season down into small segments like this is the way to go why did they not set a 7/10 or 3/4 goal so they could have also made the playoffs?

[The_Don]

I was pondering how seemingly no one considered, that the 2 of 3 goal for the remainder of the season, would not be enough. Looking at it now, the team probably attained that goal, yet fell short of the making the playoffs and seeing how far they could go or well they could do.

At the time to goal was set Coaches, Feaster, all indicated that was the goal to attain. Will they now look favorably on the team? Should they be happy about attaining that goal and still missing the playoffs? If breaking the season down into small segments like this is the way to go why did they not set a 7/10 or 3/4 goal so they could have also made the playoffs?

I don't think the number that the coaches set mattered. What was important was that they had a reachable yet difficult goal to reach and the team bought in and reached it. I think if they said 3/4 wins 1 of 2 things would have happened: 1) the players would play there butts off and probably still play 2/3 hockey like they did, or 2) the players would have scoffed because as hard as 2/3 is, 3/4 is even harder. That would be asking a team that was well out of the playoffs at the team to play above the pace of any team since the 05/06 Wings.

[Canada15]

hes ur simple upgrades next year. Bye bye Stajan, Hagman, Kotalik... for whatever it takes. 7th round picks? sure... anything.

Let Bouwma, Nemisz and Backlund prosper... Let the kids play and mature together. They all have some decent potential so lets build a team from within.

Put Bouwmy and Bourque on the trading block... Any good offers then take em. but dont waist them as crappy trade bait.

SIGN TANGUAY... Hopefully glenx and Moss too. Bmo is cheap and good as well.

IF we have another tragic start, Kipper and Regehr go on the trading block.