Outshooting and outworking the opposition is meaningless if you keep losing game in and game out.
The Calgary Flames, in true pathetic on-again off-again fashion, stank out the ‘Dome laying another egg. Despite having the most shots, most chances, and most powerplay time, they couldn’t even score one goal, let alone enough to win. This team plays near the cap maximum yet consistently plays below average. Their on-ice product is not only bewildering management, but it’s starting to look a lot like the crappy Flames of the 90s. Do we really need 10 years, some #1 draft picks like the Oilers, in order to turn this around? Right now it looks like it.
Right now changes are needed. RIGHT NOW.
Not only is the patience of management wearing thin, but fans paying hundreds of dollars for mediocre on-ice performance are getting tired too. We keep getting tireless emails from fans exhausted from the disappointing Flames.
What needs to change? Both coaching and players.
Why coaching? Today the Flames had almost a full period of powerplay time. A FULL 20 MINUTES! NOT A SINGLE GOAL. This is PURELY a coaching problem. There are creative players on the team (Backlund’s return will help), but the Flames powerplay is ABYSMAL. It’s an embarrassment to watch the hideous powerplay unfold. The on-ice players look like a bunch of lost kids in the woods on the PP. Clearly the coaching staff (Dave Lowry?) can’t conceptualize the speed and puck movement required on the PP. Minnesota scored on their rare PP thanks to quick movements. But this team is too slow and too old to match.
Secondly, if you can’t get the league’s second oldest team to buy into your system three years into the program then you’re out. Mind you, the second oldest team shouldn’t have to be handheld, players need to leave NOW.
A player change would be great at this point. So much deadweight and idiot managers who thought they had the right team and coaching to start. From top down there are issues to fix, issues that should’ve been dealt with during the off-season. Many pieces are there, let’s not throw out the baby with the proverbial bath water, but the missing pieces are killing this team.
Something needs to happen.
Home remedies certainly don’t seem to be working; but something definintely seems amiss -why can’t the Flames maintain consistency? Why can they not score on man advantages or kill penalties effectively? The style of hockey the Flames are playing is just not at par to meet the expected level.
Yes, something needs to be done but changing players has not accomplished anything to-date – significant changes have been made in the past to no avail. Hence, the focus has to be on something entirely different…..