Fans Share Disappointment and Excitement For Next Season
The Calgary Flames playoff hopes ended mid-way through game 81. Their final ranking in the standings, smack dab in the middle. That’s so very, very Flames.
Playoff aspirations at the start of the season were non-existent. Then the team strung together a strong opening, followed by a collapse in December, as is tradition, and re-tooling after the 4 Nations to make a run for the playoffs. They didn’t make it, which is both disappointing given how close they came, but also reminiscent of virtually every year. The Flames are perennial 16th place finishers, right around the cusp of playoff hopes, but miles away from legitimate contention. That’s the story fans keep watching year after year. But, you would be hard pressed to find folks angry with the overall direction of the club.
Yes, this was supposed to be a throw away year. A ‘rebuilding’ year (or two). The Flames were at the bottom of the league in salary cap, only a year removed from spending right against the cap. They are so far away from the cap ceiling, one that will be going up considerably in the near future, which opens the door for significant roster improvements. In other words, the Flames fell only one win from a playoff berth, and a handful of wins from a comfortable playoff position, all in year one of a rebuild. That’s a success, and fans are largely on-board with the plan and rolling with the results.
How did they do it?
Management bit the bullet and changed course from the usual mediocrity. Although, you can’t fault Brad Treliving entirely. Looking back, he was slowly building a contender until unforeseen wheels came flying off with the departure of Gaudreau and then Tkachuk. The Flames had all the key pieces three years ago. To turn around the course of the franchise in such a short amount of time? Tip of the cap to Craig Conroy. Add in solid draft capital, and you have a renewed foundation to build a winner.
Winning playoff teams need elite goaltending (not necessary but a huge boost when you have it). The Flames likely have it. In fact, the only reason why they were contending all season for the playoffs is because of their goaltending, led by a rookie: Dustin Wolf. A very late draft pick that has had to beat the odds of naysayers who labelled him too small, Dustin Wolf is quickly establishing himself as a #1 goaltender, and we haven’t even seen his ceiling yet.
The net looks VERY good for the Flames.
But the weakest link is on D. After the gut job last year the Flames jettisoned Hanafin, Zadorov, and Tanev. Their replacements? Apart from Bahl, mostly spare parts from waiver wire pickups. This is the place where the Flames will have to dip into free agency. I suspect at least one solid stay at home D man will be coming over in the off-season. We can expect one or both of Hanley, Bean, and Miromanov to move to the minors are be waived next season. I expect Parekh to begin his journey with the team next season. That will mean some growing pains. The Flames have two established D men for the long term (Weegar and Bahl), and maybe Andersson if the price is right (his contract runs out next season). Right now, the price ain’t right.
Moving to forwards, once again, scoring was a legitimate issue. The Flames logging among the lowest goals for stats in the league. Although Huberdeau has found his game, and we can expect some upside on his lengthy contract, everyone anticipates an eventual decline from team leader in goals, Nazem Kadri. Kadri continues to exceed expectations, but apart from those two, the point totals drop like a stone. Underperformance and room for up-and-comers. Matt Cornato, and a healthy Connor Zary, might be mainstays (the former for sure) up front. But the Flames continue to have significant problems developing center talent. We’ll see what the season brings. Perhaps a free agency pick up to help down the middle. But there is a log jam of forwards including the possibility of Adam Klapka.
In an ideal world Backlund moves to the 4th line to play defensive minutes in the twilight of his career. That means 2-3 of Lomberg, Rooney, Pospisil, Farabee, sit in the pressbox.
The Flames know what they have, with more exciting prospects developing. The future looks bright when you look at the rookies. In the final game of the season, when FOUR rookies took to the ice, it was interesting to see who would stack up against NHL competition. They all came from different leagues. 2 from the AHL (Morton and Busz); Suniev from the NCAA; Parekh from the OHL. Parekh had the biggest leap in competition, but honestly looked pretty good even on the defensive side. His timing was off with the NHL speed at times but you saw the calibre of his edge game and…ya…something special folks. Morton also looked serviable at 4C albeit nothing special. Suniev looked the most out of place, a step behind the game. He’ll certainly benefit from a full year at the pro level (unsure if he returns to the NCAA).
WIll the Flames contend next year? No. Will they make the playoffs? Maybe, but who do they bump out from this year? Can they find a way to make it to 100 points? With the style of coaching they got this year, and a locker room that’s bought into the system wholeheartedly, 100 points is well within reason. Add in another season for the developing and emerging stars, and a couple big free agency pickups, and this team is suddenly in the top ten (they finished in the top 14 so it’s not out of the question.)
