The Flames of last season vastly underachieved. Winning 46 games and earning 98 points isn’t bad, but according to the team and the fan base the Flames should’ve won more and earned more. That was more evident when they bowed out in six to upstart Chicago in the first round. The Flames played their worst hockey when games were crucial, down the stretch. Heading into the playoffs the Flames stumbled and looked burnt out.
The most burned out player was starting goalie Miikka Kiprusoff who was in net for 45 of the Flames’ 46 victories and started 76 of 82 games. That isn’t bad, but the Flames defense was real bad last season, and if they were remotely close to the defense put up two seasons ago, Kiprusoff wouldn’t have had to face so many shots. The Flames are well off in the goaltending category as Kiprusoff has averaged over 40 wins a season, but the games he starts, that number has to shrink if the Flames want to go deep into the playoffs.
Once again it looks like Kiprusoff will start more than 75 games because GM Darryl Sutter did not address the back-up goaltending issue and Curtis McElhinney proved he couldn’t play at the NHL level just yet, and is back with the Flames for this season. Last season McElhinney only won one game out of 14 appearances.
With that, the Flames’ defense needs to step up big and play better than last season’s suspect defense. The two players that need to get it going again are Robyn Regehr and Dion Phaneuf.
Both offensively and defensively Phaneuf’s production dropped off. Since his rookie season, which was four years ago, Phaneuf has not hit twenty goals. Last season his point total dropped to 47 from 60 one year ago. Regehr’s physical style of play looked lost last season and wasn’t that dominant force like in years past. If Phaneuf and Regehr go back to playing physical smart hockey the Flames will reap the rewards.
The signing of Jay Bouwmeester was absolutely huge, and made a good Flames defense great. Bouwmeester may not have that offensive flair, but he can still score a few points, play real smart defense and he has a strong first pass out of the zone.
To round out the defense the Flames are looking pretty with Mark Giordano, Cory Sarich, Staffan Kronwall and Anton Stralman.
Okay so GM Sutter did a good job in adding depth, adding an excellent coach in Brent Sutter, but still screwed up in not adding a back-up goaltender. That may have been the biggest issue for the Flames heading into the off-season and will be heading into training camp.
Up front, the Flames are looking pretty good with Captain Jarome Iginla who is always a threat to score 90+ points and can hit that mark. If Iginla is scoring the offense will be alright. Overall, the sheer presence of Iginla and what he means to this team is something else. He leads by example and the other players follow suit. If he fore checks then the rest will do the same, and if he plays hard on defense the rest will follow. Iginla is the perfect leader and captain.
The loss of Mike Cammalleri in free agency was a huge loss because he posted forty goals in his one season with the Flames. GM Sutter did go out and try to recover on that loss with the signing of Nigel Dawes. This guy is a real good player who wasn’t given many opportunities in New York, but under the tutelage of Coach Sutter he will do just fine.
Craig Conroy is a solid two way player and can post 50+ points. He will be leaned on to be a voice for some of the youngsters on this team. Daymond Langkow quietly gets the job done and has averaged more than 23 goals a season. Last season’s trade deadline acquisition didn’t work out so well but there were moments when Olli Jokinen looked like the missing piece. This season will be huge for Jokinen because he will play one full year in Calgary, a city where hockey matters unlike Florida and the pressure will be on for him to perform. He has to show that he can be a top line or second line player, or he will most likely be moved before the trade deadline.
Back after an ankle injury that sideline him for the rest of the season after starting off strong with 19 goals and 40 points in 59 games is Rene Bourque. With him in the line up and healthy, the Flames will have two solid scoring lines.
As always the Flames bottom two forward lines will be filled with strong skaters who can hit, drop the gloves and score. A few youngsters will be given chances to crack the big club like Mikael Backlund and Brett Sutter.
OVERALL--> THE CALGARY FLAMES HAVE A GOOD GROUP OF GRITTY PLAYERS THAT CAN PLAY THE GAME AT A HIGH LEVEL AND STRONG DEPTH. THE DEFENSE FROM LAST SEASON NEEDS TO BE A BIT MORE WELL AND AGGRESSIVE.
POSITIVE--> STRONG SCORING ATTACK UP FRONT AND THE DEFENSE CAN CHIP IN HERE AND THERE. EXCELLENT COACHING STAFF HEADED BY BRENT SUTTER. STARTING GOALIE MIIKKA KIPRUSOFF IS VERY STRONG.
NEGATIVE--> THE FLAMES DON’T HAVE A RELIABLE BACK-UP GOALIE AND THAT WILL HURT THEIR CHANCES FOR A LONG PLAYOFF DRIVE AS KIPRUSOFF WILL HAVE TO START A BOAT LOAD OF GAMES ONCE AGAIN.
X-FACTOR--> YOU THINK IT WILL BE JAROME IGINLA BUT NO, BECAUSE WE ALL KNOW WHAT HE IS CAPABLE OF DOING. INSTEAD IT WILL BE HEAD COACH BRENT SUTTER, WHO HAS TO GET THIS TEAM TOGETHER AND ON THE SAME PAGE IF THEY WANT TO SUCCEED.
SLEEPER PICK--> MARK GIORDANO ALWAYS FLIES UNDER THE RADAR AND NEVER GETS THE CREDIT HE DESERVES. HE SHOULD HAVE A BIG YEAR FOR THE FLAMES.
PREDICTION THE CALGARY FLAMES WILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS AND WIN THE NORTHWEST DIVISION.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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