ScottM Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 So, what's wrong with the Flames? I think the better question at this point is, what's not wrong with them? Yes, they're only five games into the season, so it seems early to hit the panic button, but this is a team that has looked flat out bad so far. The obvious place to look is goaltending, since that was a question before the season began. Both goalies have goals against averages well over 3.00, Kari Ramo's save percentage is barely over .900, and Jonas Hiller's is well below. I'm not sure how I feel about Joni Ortio yet, but if one of those guys doesn't establish himself soon, it may be time to give the #3 guy a shot. But that's not the only issue. There's also the matter of scoring. Some of the forwards are doing quite well, such as Johnny Gaudreau with five points and Jiri Hudler with four, but the blueliners aren't chipping in like they did last year. Wideman has done very well with five points, but Dougie Hamilton has only one, and no other defenseman has anything. That simply won't cut it for the Flames. Last year, Wideman had 56 points, Mark Giordano 48, T.J. Brodie 41, and Kris Russell 34. That kind of production needs to repeat. An improvement in the team's power play might help. The team is middle of the pack in that stat, and those defensemen piled up a significant percentage of their points on the power play. Then there's the one problem a team has zero control over: injuries. Ladislav Smid, Brodie, Joe Colborne, Lance Bouma, and Sam Bennett have all missed games to injuries already this season, with a combined 18 man games. It reminds of of the Blue Jackets last year. The Flames best hope it doesn't get to that point, or they're toast. There's one fix the Flames that can make that is fairly simple, but could be a huge advance. They really need to clean up their game. They've taken the sixth most penalty minutes in the league. Cutting down on opposing power plays would obviously be a big help, but there's another related problem. The Flames aren't very good on the penalty kill, ranking 20th in the league. Is it the goaltending or the defensive play? I suspect it's a combination of both. While they work on the power play, they might want to go out for an all-around special teams session. All the problems make me wonder what might happen with Bob Hartley. How much blame for these problems will the front office pin on him? How hot is his seat? I think we'll find out soon, and if the Flames don't right the ship, we may find that Hartley's hot seat is actually on fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxpin Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Nice write up (as always), Scott. I'm not sure Hartley is the right guy, to be honest, but they made a mistake thinking they had a good goalie tandem. Hiller is very hot and cold and has been. That's largely the reason he's no longer a Duck. And his "cold" spells seem to be increasing in length (and arguably deepening). Ramos seems like he's similar. But both might be sufficient if not for the other problems you mention. I haven't watched enough to have any kind of Xs and Os criticism, but it seems the problems are on the back end. Clean up the goaltending and the defense and that should make the forwards better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J0e Th0rnton Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Giordano had surgery to repair a torn bicep tendon, missed every game from March till this season started and is 32 years old. The bleak possibility is there he will not come back as strong. Hamilton is acclimating to his new team, so it is more forgivable. Missing TJ Brodie obviously sucks too. The flames truly did play much better than expected last year. Most expected them to continue near lottery status. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottM Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 Giordano had surgery to repair a torn bicep tendon, missed every game from March till this season started and is 32 years old. The bleak possibility is there he will not come back as strong. Hamilton is acclimating to his new team, so it is more forgivable. Missing TJ Brodie obviously sucks too. The flames truly did play much better than expected last year. Most expected them to continue near lottery status. All very true, but even though there is an adjustment period, I wouldn't have expected Hamilton to be off to this slow of a start. But it is early, and we may see it swing around. The Flames definitely have to hope your suggestion about Giordano is wrong, but there's a real chance you're right. It may be that they just greatly overperformed last year and we're seeing them come back down to earth, but they should still be better than this. This is truly sad so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Somebody needs so send out the St.Bernards in search of Sean Monahan....he is missing and may need a rescue! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Robyn Regehr set to officially retire with the Flames http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2016/01/07/robyn-regehr-set-to-officially-retire-with-the-flames/ Robyn Regehr is about to officially call it a career. He will retire as a member of the Calgary Flames at a press conference on Monday. Word of his possible retirement began last spring when the L.A. Kings failed to make the Stanley Cup playoffs. In fact, it had been reported that he had announced immediately following L.A.’s final regular season game that he was concluding his playing career. Regehr played 11 seasons in Calgary and was part of that team’s surprise run to the Stanley Cup Final — the Flames fell one win short of the ultimate prize — in 2004. He has also played the second most games in Flames franchise history, at 826. He then went on to play for the Buffalo Sabres, before spending the final three seasons of his playing career with the Kings. His career culminated with a Stanley Cup in 2014. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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