The @Calgary Flames are on the road! They played a great game against Vancouver and now face the challenge of following it up on their three remaining games in California.
Let’s dive into the mailbag.
Is this team now playing with a “just get in” mindset, because unless something changes where they can at minimum make the 2nd round it seems the option to miss might be more beneficial for next year and beyond
— Brett 🐻 (@flamesfan419gm) February 9, 2020
All due respect to the folks in hockey ops, but yeah, this is probably the mindset.
The St. Louis Blues were a team that should’ve been good all of last season. They struggled for a few reasons in the first half of 2018-19, then managed to turn the corner once Craig Berube came in. From there, it was off to the races.
The big challenge is that the Blues going “worst to first” last season was the worst thing that could’ve happened to the decision-making for bubble teams. What it did was tell so many underachieving teams “Hey, all you need to do is get in!” The problem with that approach is that it’s mostly an illusion. Some of the teams that have gone on runs in the post-season were good teams that merely didn’t get it going until late due to injuries or puck luck.
The Flames? Even if they get it going right now, and keep it going until the end of the season, they’ll still only have a really small sample size of being good. It would be extremely challenging to justify doubling down on this group after the preceding 50+ games of consistency-challenged hockey.
Just getting in makes sense from a revenue standpoint – home playoff games generate millions – but from a hockey operations perspective it doesn’t make a lot of sense to burn the boats this season.
we know gio is coming back but dont know when and Hamonic might be injured. do you go get a depth dman and possibly sacrifice the top 6 winger at the deadline or can you get both and still not have to give up any major prospects?
— colin bennett (@colinbennett28) February 9, 2020
Depends on the price, really. They got Oscar Fantenberg from Los Angeles at last year’s deadline for a fourth round pick. If the idea is to use a fourth round pick for a stop-gap measure, that’s not an awful price to pay.
But as noted in the previous question’s answer, it seems problematic to make many major buys right now for the sake of this season’s playoff run alone. Making strategic hockey trades make a lot of sense, but buying for the short-term doesn’t make a ton of since considering the team’s inconsistency and the lack of certainty in landing in a playoff spot.
If they can fill a minor gap and not have to give up a ton, that makes sense, but anything more substantial would be challenging to justify.
Who is our #1 goalie down the stretch?
— William Dúqva̓ísḷa Housty (@WilliamHousty) February 10, 2020
Based on how they’ve split up the starts down the stretch, it’s @David Rittich. He’s been leaned on for the tough starts and the key games.
