Thoughts on this seasons Flames

[Volica]

My thoughts for the Season...Load up on your favorite whisky or bourbon cause you'll want to forget this season even happened. It's going to be far uglier than most people can stomach.

Bottom 5 is my guess...

What’s your poison?

 

[Mobiandi]

My bold opinion is that Huberdeau and Kadri will combine for less than 82 points this year

 

[Errol Swaghammer]

My bold opinion is that Huberdeau and Kadri will combine for less than 82 points this year

Barring a Kadri trade I would take a heavy bet that this does not happen.

 

[Yepthatsme]

Barring a Kadri trade I would take a heavy bet that this does not happen.

Playing a full season with Kuzmenko (or atleast until he’s traded), there’s a better shot Kadri alone gets 82 points than them combined don’t.

Kadri had a 2.04 p/60 playing on the Zary-Pospisil line, once he was paired with Kuzmenko that went up to 3.11 p/60.

People underestimate how much our offense approved season to season. We will get scored on more by a drastic amount most likely, but we are going to score a fair amount more this year swapping out last season’s Lindholm and Mangiapane with last years Kuz and Mantha, not to mention a year older Zary, Coronato, and Pelletier.

 

[Double Dion]

My bold opinion is that Huberdeau and Kadri will combine for less than 82 points this year

That would be pretty shocking. I could see a scenario where Huberdeau is around 40ish points. I can't see one barring injury where Kadri is.

Playing a full season with Kuzmenko (or atleast until he’s traded), there’s a better shot Kadri alone gets 82 points than them combined don’t.

Kadri had a 2.04 p/60 playing on the Zary-Pospisil line, once he was paired with Kuzmenko that went up to 3.11 p/60.

People underestimate how much our offense approved season to season. We will get scored on more by a drastic amount most likely, but we are going to score a fair amount more this year swapping out last season’s Lindholm and Mangiapane with last years Kuz and Mantha, not to mention a year older Zary, Coronato, and Pelletier.

Yes, scoring actually might go up from a year ago. We lost our full shutdown pair from last season though. We also lost our 2nd best defensive wing and our 3rd pairing best D

 

[Mobiandi]

Barring a Kadri trade I would take a heavy bet that this does not happen.

I see Kadri at 50 and Huberdeau around 30.

Goals will be very hard to come by for this team

 

[Ledge And Dairy]

I see Kadri at 50 and Huberdeau around 30.

Goals will be very hard to come by for this team

30 points? Do you expect him to get injured?

I don't think scoring will be nearly as hard as you are expecting, It's keeping it out of our own net that will be difficult. I expect will be loosing a lot of games 4-2 or 5-3, nothing like the Sharks with b2b 9-1 losses

 

[Anglesmith]

Yeah, all the main play drivers are still around and should be on an upwards trajectory. Unless the argument is that Hanifin drove play that much, I'm not sure why the team would have a harder time scoring than last year.

The PP also would be hard pressed to be worse.

 

[super6646]

The Flames were a league-average scoring team last year. From the looks of it, we should be running it back with a comparable fwd group.

I think we'll be around that point this year. The defence on the other hand is atrocious. I'm hoping for a ton of 4-3 or 5-4 losses while sustaining a 900+sv% from Wolf. That is the best case scenario

 

[HighLifeMan]

It's actually quite easy to see Huberdeau "bouncing" back to some degree. His on ice shooting percentage in all situations last year was just 9.22% which is absurdly low for a player with his usage, skill level, and historical averages. Fore example, a guy like Brock Boeser who everyone loves again, had an on ice shooting percentage of 14.93% last year. If Huberdeau had that kind of "luck" or finish from his teammates he would have been on the ice for 50 more goals scored.

It's not even as if Huberdeau hasn't been on the ice for a ton of scoring chances either.. He was on the ice for the third most scoring chances (866) of his career last season.

 

[The Gnome]

What’s your poison?

I'll take a bourbon on the rocks any day. Should keep the season interesting at least!

 

[Backlund]

It's actually quite easy to see Huberdeau "bouncing" back to some degree. His on ice shooting percentage in all situations last year was just 9.22% which is absurdly low for a player with his usage, skill level, and historical averages. Fore example, a guy like Brock Boeser who everyone loves again, had an on ice shooting percentage of 14.93% last year. If Huberdeau had that kind of "luck" or finish from his teammates he would have been on the ice for 50 more goals scored.

Not when you see the shots he takes or how often he actually tries to shoot.

 

[super6646]

Not when you see the shots he takes or how often he actually tries to shoot.

I don’t think this is true. His shot volume has plummeted since he’s come to Calgary. If anything, he needs to get more rubber to the net.

 

[Double Dion]

Yeah, all the main play drivers are still around and should be on an upwards trajectory. Unless the argument is that Hanifin drove play that much, I'm not sure why the team would have a harder time scoring than last year.

The PP also would be hard pressed to be worse.

Hanifin is a huge piece in terms of possession, but I still think this team will score fine somewhere around 20-24th in the league. We will likely be bottom 10 defensively though. That used to be our strength, but won't be now.

 

[hockeyguy0022]

Flames will be better then people think.

I think Vladar will get 60-65% of games. They want to pump his stock to a number 1 guy again before the trade deadline, get a good return and cooley will back up wolf after. I'm pretty confident that's the plan.

Love the russian/canadian team composition. Love the size on the back end.

I hope kuzmenko stays, JH NEEDS a pure goal scorer to put up big points again. Florida played a totally different system then the flames. Same thing would happen if Mitch Marner played anywhere aside from Toronto/Edmonton, he would also be a 60-70 point getter, not a 100 point guy on a regular team.

I think Coronato is an everyday guy, same with Zary. I think pelletier gets a shot, but this is about the end of the road for him, trade time if he's not performing. Been passed by and they had a good draft this.. so times ticking for him.

 

[Ledge And Dairy]

Hanifin is a huge piece in terms of possession, but I still think this team will score fine somewhere around 20-24th in the league. We will likely be bottom 10 defensively though. That used to be our strength, but won't be now.

Last year we were 19th in GF/GP with 3.09, assuming our powerplay improves but our 5v5 play drops that will probably only drop to around 3.00. For GA/GP we were 23rd, no Markstrom and a butchered d-core will almost certainly make that number drop. But San Jose was still at 3.98 last year and Columbus was at 3.63. So based on that we probably only drop to the 3.4-3.55 range (that's about 10-25 total more GA than last year)

 

[Fig]

I'll take a bourbon on the rocks any day. Should keep the season interesting at least!

What kind of bourbon?

 

[Lunatik]

What kind of bourbon?

the kind with alcohol

 

[Double Dion]

Flames will be better then people think.

I think Vladar will get 60-65% of games. They want to pump his stock to a number 1 guy again before the trade deadline, get a good return and cooley will back up wolf after. I'm pretty confident that's the plan.

Love the russian/canadian team composition. Love the size on the back end.

I hope kuzmenko stays, JH NEEDS a pure goal scorer to put up big points again. Florida played a totally different system then the flames. Same thing would happen if Mitch Marner played anywhere aside from Toronto/Edmonton, he would also be a 60-70 point getter, not a 100 point guy on a regular team.

I think Coronato is an everyday guy, same with Zary. I think pelletier gets a shot, but this is about the end of the road for him, trade time if he's not performing. Been passed by and they had a good draft this.. so times ticking for him.

I hope we don't keep Kuzmenko. That would be a disastrous and extremely detrimental decision. Kuzmenko can score, no question about that. His contribution to winning is extremely low. Especially for a guy who would be entering his 30 year old season. Move him for the 2nd and be happy with the Lindholm trade. Huberdeau is a sunk cost. Don't sink more cost into him and further debilitate the rebuild.

Comparing Marner to Huberdeau is a bit silly. Marner drives play, is light years better in his own end and makes way less bad plays that result in possession going the other way.

 

[super6646]

I hope we don't keep Kuzmenko. That would be a disastrous and extremely detrimental decision. Kuzmenko can score, no question about that. His contribution to winning is extremely low. Especially for a guy who would be entering his 30 year old season. Move him for the 2nd and be happy with the Lindholm trade. Huberdeau is a sunk cost. Don't sink more cost into him and further debilitate the rebuild.

Comparing Marner to Huberdeau is a bit silly. Marner drives play, is light years better in his own end and makes way less bad plays that result in possession going the other way.

Ya they aren’t remotely comparable. Marner is also a pretty good skater too while JH is mediocre at best. The former is also a asset defensively and on the PK. Huberdeau on the other hand…

 

[Volica]

I'll take a bourbon on the rocks any day. Should keep the season interesting at least!

Yeah for sure.
My collection of both bourbon and scotch is growing nicely. Lots of cool bottles and rarer stuff in the mix now.

 

[Fig]

the kind with alcohol

From the USA?

 

[Yepthatsme]

Last year we were 19th in GF/GP with 3.09, assuming our powerplay improves but our 5v5 play drops that will probably only drop to around 3.00. For GA/GP we were 23rd, no Markstrom and a butchered d-core will almost certainly make that number drop. But San Jose was still at 3.98 last year and Columbus was at 3.63. So based on that we probably only drop to the 3.4-3.55 range (that's about 10-25 total more GA than last year)

Honestly think a lot would have to go wrong for Calgary to score less this year. We lost 39 goals off the roster last year combined through Lindholm, Mangiapane, Tanev, Hanifin, Kylington, and Zadorov. Incoming is Kuzmenko, who scored 39 his rookie year and was on pace for 40 with us. Going into his contract year with this being his year to receive his career contract, I expect him to be his best yet. Mantha in Washington on a low scoring team with zero expectations was on pace for 29 goals, yet we should still be able to offer him more ice time and powerplay time than Washington did. Miromanov replaces Hanifin’s 11 I think easy, if he gets a top 4 offensive time his shot alone will get him there. Then we have the goals lost from the rest of the d-core, and I think any of our replacement level guys added should be able to score… 5 goals. A big boost will come from internal growth too, with Zary, Pospisil, Pelletier and Coronato all a year older.

The main driver behind the massive boost will be the powerplay, which after Kuzmenko got situated, operated at 24% from February 1st on. That is a massive performance boost from the 13.9% it was from October through to January 31st, and if continued would be a a main driver for the increased offense. Even with Coleman coming back down, that’s a lot of extra goals.

 

[DomBarr]

Honestly think a lot would have to go wrong for Calgary to score less this year. We lost 39 goals off the roster last year combined through Lindholm, Mangiapane, Tanev, Hanifin, Kylington, and Zadorov. Incoming is Kuzmenko, who scored 39 his rookie year and was on pace for 40 with us. Going into his contract year with this being his year to receive his career contract, I expect him to be his best yet. Mantha in Washington on a low scoring team with zero expectations was on pace for 29 goals, yet we should still be able to offer him more ice time and powerplay time than Washington did. Miromanov replaces Hanifin’s 11 I think easy, if he gets a top 4 offensive time his shot alone will get him there. Then we have the goals lost from the rest of the d-core, and I think any of our replacement level guys added should be able to score… 5 goals. A big boost will come from internal growth too, with Zary, Pospisil, Pelletier and Coronato all a year older.

The main driver behind the massive boost will be the powerplay, which after Kuzmenko got situated, operated at 24% from February 1st on. That is a massive performance boost from the 13.9% it was from October through to January 31st, and if continued would be a a main driver for the increased offense. Even with Coleman coming back down, that’s a lot of extra goals.

your main driver of maintained or increased scoring seems to be 2 pending UFA's (Kuzmenko and Mantha) who should be sold off as soon as the Flames receive an offer that meets their expectations, especially IF they are showing performance like you project.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

We aren't going to know which of our offensive D are potential stars this season, but we can half-way know if we have the goalie. I don't need to see Kevin Rooney trotted out as our 4C with Lomberg and Duehr. I want to see if Pospisil can be our 4C with Lomberg and Pelletier. I have zero use for a traditional veteran 4th line.

Any line with Pospisil and Lomberg on it is well on its way to becoming my favourite line in the history of everything.

Especially knowing how next season is bound to go.