There’s still a number of questions surrounding this year’s Calgary Flames, most noticeably on the defensive line. Taking home 2 points of a possible eight on their four game road trip, the team suffered their most recent loss against the Chicago Blackhawks last night. The problems? Well if you want an idea of how far away this team is from contending just look at how they stack up against an elite team like the Hawks. To put it simply: they can’t compete.

Is my summary on what’s wrong with this team:


  •  a lot of people want to blame the defence and it would be right. A team builds from the back out, poor goaltending and you’re toast. Poor defensive zone coverage and you’re out. The Flames have struggled on D all season long and the problems don’t appear to be improving. THe addition of Dougie Hamilton was supposed to make the team better but they’re indeed worse. But it’s not his fault. TJ Brodie has returned to the lineup and has markedly improved the corps, but even he’s not enough to fix the problems. I believe the issues begin at the top. When the leader, the captain, is a -9 with two points over the past 12 games, there’s a significant problem with his game. From there Dennis Wideman continues to have issues with his defensive zone coverage but isn’t putting out the points on the other end like you did last year. many would like to point  a finger a Kris Russel but I really believe it starts with Giordano and then ends with Wideman. Ironically, popular whipping boy Deryk Engelland has been a steady sixth D man. Maybe play have more? HA!
  • Fourth line scoring is nonexistent.
  • Third line scoring is practically nonexistent apart from the likes of David Jones.
  • Second line center scoring is nonexistent.
  • Goaltending has been an issue up to this point. Kari Ramo is playing good minutes but it’s still sporadic.

 

Ultimately this team has maybe five to eight games left to turn this around before the playoffs are out of the picture for good. That’s a huge drop off for Tina people predicting might be this year’s Colorado Avalanche only with a difference–there’re worse.