Black Box: Week 10
Robert Vollman
December 12 2011 09:10AM
The Calgary Flames are making the very most of the soft part of their schedule, and their .517 points percentage now includes them in a gigantic tie for 18th overall, just two points out of the final post-season position to which Nashville is hanging on like Chris Chelios to his NHL career.
Rebuilding the Flames
Robert Vollman
December 09 2011 08:59AM
There has been much discussion about whether the Calgary Flames need to "blow it up" and rebuild the team with high draft picks just like divisional rivals like the Edmonton Oilers and Colorado Avalanche or the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders in the East. Unfortunately, there are four fundamental flaws with this approach.
Black Box: Week 9
Robert Vollman
December 05 2011 09:48AM
Three very strong games got the Calgary Flames five points, boosting them to exactly where they were last year at this point. Weekly followers of the Black Box know that their goaltending and even-strength play has been reasonable, but they'll need much-improved special teams play and more even-strength offense to get the 73 points in the 57 remaining games (.640, like Chicago and 6 other current teams) to clinch their first play-off berth since Mike Keenan was behind the bench and Mike Cammalleri was their leading goal-scorer.
Black Box: Week 8
Robert Vollman
November 30 2011 09:03AM
A tough week capped a tough first quarter for the Calgary Flames, who find themselves dead last in the Northwest Division, 3rd last in the Western Conference, and 5th last over-all at the 22-game mark. That bad start is already in the books and there's nothing that can be done about that, but what happens from here – is the season truly over?
Flames Forwards: Who's Coming Up Short?
Robert Vollman
November 28 2011 01:21PM
If you've been following the weekly Black Box statistical summaries then you've also been following the OZQoC Charts, and you know how the Flames forwards are being used. Here's how it sits today at the season's one-quarter mark.
