Almost Home
Robert Cleave
May 19 2011 10:21PM
As a Winnipegger, I've spent the last couple of years watching the NHL's endless machinations to keep a team in Phoenix with considerable amusement and maybe just a touch of anger. For all the talk of arenas and owners, or lack thereof, I'd be lying if I said that I ever felt as if my Arctic outpost got the same level of league attention when things were going to hell in '94 and '95.
So tonight, as the first bits of news have begun trickling in that my hometown really was on the verge of getting a second bite at the cherry, I'm struck by how unsettled I'm feeling about the whole enterprise.
May 13 News and Notes
Robert Cleave
May 13 2011 11:24AM
With the post-season at the midpoint, it's time again for a review of matters around the league. In this installment, the Sharks finish the Wings, the Eastern Conference goes on vacation, and the league puts out a fire in the desert. Maybe.
Matt Stajan - A Closer Look
Robert Cleave
May 08 2011 11:21AM
I'm not sure there was a Flames' player whose efforts attracted more negative attention in relative terms this past season than Matt Stajan. The ex-Leaf signed a 4 year, $14M extension shortly after he arrived via the Phaneuf trade, much to virtually everyone's chagrin, and followed that up with the worst season of his career by far. His 10/11 concluded with him pulling 4th line duty after Daymond Langkow returned, so all in all, it was an utter bust of a year. Brent Sutter's post-season comments suggested the club was unhappy with his fitness, with the clear implication that Stajan played soft due to his poor conditioning.
Flames in review: The Big Guns
Robert Cleave
April 24 2011 10:39AM
In our last installment, we perused the Flames' outshooting numbers as a team at even strength when the score was tied, as well as examining Miikka Kiprusoff's work during that game state. Today, it's time to look at the primary skaters on the club.
Flames in review: EV tied performance
Robert Cleave
April 20 2011 02:52PM
With another year complete, Flames Nation is in the midst of the post-mortems. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll look at some interesting EV data from timeonice that might shed a bit of light on why the season ended the way it did. First up, overall team performance and a look at Calgary's number one goalie.
I had a sense for most of the year that the Flames were a decent team, and likely a playoff team on balance, even if they were clearly outside the elite of the Western Conference. They ended the season in a slightly worse spot than that, so it seems reasonable to investigate potential reasons for things going sour.
