The season is over and I thought we should evaluate it, highlighting both the positives and the negatives.
I would like to hear criticism on a micro scale too, pehaps evaluating each player, call-up, and staff member. Let's evaluate their stats, consistencies, and controversies. Basically, how did the Calgary Flames do this season?
I think that speaks volumes for this topic, on a broad scale.
yeah it says the team finished exactly where most flames fans said they would, right on the playoff bubble almost a coin flip as to whether they get in or not. and this was done after trading away a couple core players and getting younger.
Matt Stajan - Had a poor start to the season, but when given some ice time and offensively capable wingers, he proved to be effective and confident. Brent Sutter is eating crow about Stajan right now. IIRC, Stajan had 4 assists and 1 goal on the forth line, and since then, he now has 8 goals and 10 assists. Pretty compelling story right there.
Anton Babchuck - Didn't really spend any time on the ice prior to the last two months of the season, but he looked like he picked up where he left off. His stats are 2 goals and 8 assists in 32 games, but 32 games seems like a really high number(maybe it's just me) for someone who only played the last two months. Regardless, he shown he's eager to shoot the puck when its given to him. His defense isn't something special, but he usually looks good with puck in his stick. Another reason Brent Sutter is eating crow?
Michael Backlund - A real disappointment this year. He was playing in Brent Sutter's wet dream defensively, but had absolutely no confidence with the puck. He got into the dirty areas, but had rock hard hands and could only bang at the puck or shoot it at the goalie's logo. Those top six minutes were probably too soon, and it probably put way too much pressure on Backlund. He definately needs to be given some breathing room next year to be creative with the puck.
Tom Kostopolous - Was given the opportunity of his career this year, did not progress. It's not TKO's fault, as he's always trying regardless of his ice time, but it's hard to believe any goals will come from the fourth line when guys like TKO play there. Unfortunately he was given top six minutes over guys like Stajan, Byron, Bouma, Horak, etc., so perhaps he's another crow to munch on and nothing more than energy.
We finished exactly where we thought we would just out of the playoffs but competed for a playoff spot the entire season. I know we shouldn't use injuries as an excuse but they certainly hurt the team. Feaster made several good trades in the last year (Butler and Cammy) Hopefully we can move out some more older parts for younger assets and move forward. I would prefer not to move Iggy but if it is seen as the best move then we should do it.
14th (tied for 13th) in Goals Against at 217 24th (tied for 25th) in Goals For with 199 goals.
Shoot-out
3 shoot-out wins and 9 shoot-out losses. 27th in shooting percentage during the shoot-out with 21.4% (only 9 goals)
22nd in saving percentage during the shoot-out with 61.4% (17 goals allowed)
Penalties
13th in penalties(in minutes) per game with 10.8
13th in total penalties with 355
Special Teams
13th in PP% with 17.7% (46 pp goals on 260 opportunities)
20th in PP opportunities
9th in PK% with 84.3% (42 pp goals against)
14th in times short-handed
Real-time 26th in Hits
16th in Blocked shots 3rd fewest in missed shots
3rd most give-aways
8th in take-aways 30th in face-off percent
By Period
4 wins when trailing after the 1st period (22nd in the league)
4 wins when trailing after the 2nd period (20th in the league)
18 wins when leading after the 1st period (20th in the league)
27 wins when leading after the 2nd period (13th in the league) with no regulation loses
Score first/trail first
25 wins when scoring first (17th in the league)
12 wins when trailing first (2oth in the league)
Shots
24th in the league with Shots against
26th in the league with Shots for
25th in the league in wins when out-shooting the opposition (11 wins)
8th in the league in wins when being out-shot (23 wins)
Looking at the numbers, we did OK defensively, but it's probably attributed to Kippers' sensational 2.35 GAA and .921% considering we allowed so many shots against.
We were terrible offensively. We had only 4 players with 20 or more goals (Iggy, Glencross, Cammy, and Jokinen), while Tangs and Stempniak were our secondary scorers. Stajan, Comeau, Backlund, Kostopolous, Jones, Jackman, Moss, Horak, and Byron had less than 10 goals.
Most of our goal scorers clearly got them from the power play, because in every category we were terrible offensively except the power play.
Flames **** the bed in the last 15 games like last season. I still remember how heart broken I was after that 6-1 loss to San Jose, especially when things were looking good. Things were looking great this year too, but like an abused wife, I've learned to live with it and continue on being an empty, emotionless shell of a person.
Flames **** the bed in the last 15 games like last season. I still remember how heart broken I was after that 6-1 loss to San Jose, especially when things were looking good. Things were looking great this year too, but like an abused wife, I've learned to live with it and continue on being an empty, emotionless shell of a person.
What? The results of the SJ games were 2-1, 1-0, 4-3, and 3-2. Maybe you mean Edmonton? If so, I agree. That was just a disgrace of a game.
I mean they couldn't even continue to crap the bed so the team could pick 11-13th. Instead here we are dying for more youth like Bartschi and we're picking in the middle of the pack.
We finished 9th. Mathematically, "best" out of the non-playoff teams. Realistically we finished in the worst position in the league, and can blame King and ownership for their win now mandate, blame Feaster for doing nothing at the trade deadline (and being fooled twice).
Flames **** the bed in the last 15 games like last season. I still remember how heart broken I was after that 6-1 loss to San Jose, especially when things were looking good. Things were looking great this year too, but like an abused wife, I've learned to live with it and continue on being an empty, emotionless shell of a person.
You are exactly right. They finish like 4 and 10 every year rather than 10 and 4. Just once I'd like to see them finish strong rather than one gutless performance after another. Then when they are out...boom two nice wins. Its pathetic. I blame the leadership(Iggy/Blowmeester) If anyone dared even kick a garbage can in the Flames dressing room, Iggy and Jblo would scurry to pick up the tape balls
They had 5 wins in a row late this year and go lose to the Coilers and CBJ that one weekend. Done.
My evaluation on a few more players, with all stats relative to Flames players:
Comeau - 5 goals and 10 assists is terrible for someone who had 15:27 minutes of ice time per game. But Combs loves to put the puck on net (4th in shots) and loves to hit (third in hits). His ratio of give aways to take aways is pretty good relative to Flames players (33 GvA & 37 TkA), and his defensive game is relatively good too (4th in relative corsi). Although his actual points don't say much, he's a good energy guy.
Hannan - Won't shoot the puck (18th in shots), he's got a -10 on the season, and he doesn't have a great take away to give away ratio (39 GvA & 13 TkA). His corsi numbers are bad (last in relative), but he's good for blocking (2nd in block shots). Not good stuff for a defensive defensemen on a defensive team.
Moss - He seems to be hitting (1.34 hits/game), blocking shots, and shooting the puck at a fair rate, relative to the rest of the team. Poor production, but good corsi numbers and saw a fair amount of ice-time when healthy. He was given a golden opportunity when he shortly centered the top line for a few games, but he didn't do much of anything. His biggesd problem is that he's never healthy. Other than that he's not a bad guy to have on a 4th line, but that's probably it seeing as how his shooting percent is horrendous.
Stempniak - He too likes to shoot and hit. Really good corsi numbers and has a fair ratio of give aways to take aways (27GvA & 35 TkA). His production numbers aren't great, but he was on pace for nearly 19 goals. Not too bad secondary scoring to have, as he has fair shooting percentage relative to other Flames players.
I am working on my evaluations of players, I am going to do every player that touched the ice for us so it might take a while since we used like a million players
He played great all season, but when we needed someone to stand up offensively at the end of the season, Jokinen, Iginla, Glencross were all absent. Cammy was arguably the only forward who did show up in the last 8-10 games.
He played great all season, but when we needed someone to stand up offensively at the end of the season, Jokinen, Iginla, Glencross were all absent. Cammy was arguably the only forward who did show up in the last 8-10 games.
This is very true even Iginla spoke to this. But Glencross still had a career year and play his heart out.
No complaints from me on Glencross, for what he is and what we pay him I think he did fine. The scoring slump was not ideal but then again where we're the key players during that?
