FN Offseason Plans

Brad Treliving and the Calgary Flames no doubt have some big summer plans: find a goalie, get rid of some deadweight and draft in the top three (fingers crossed) to say the least. FlamesNation plans to be there when all that happens, of course, but we have a collection of other series and projects up our sleeves as well. 

Here’s an overview of what we’re planning. Take a look and let us know what you think. 

How Good Is…? In the spirit of my fawning article about Johnny Gaudreau, we will profile some of the Flames’ outstanding performers with a bit of background and noteworthy trivia.

Player evaluations – A post by post look at the Flames current roster. Consider this each guy’s 2015-16 report card. We could include a poll for readers to rate each player, too. 

Draft targets – We will of course engage in our annual tradition of looking at probable Flames first round and dark horse draft targets. Of course, this will be heavily dependent on the pending draft lottery, so expect these to kick off some time in May.

Flames prospect ranking – After the draft we will collectively take a look at the organization’s top-15 prospects. Each FN member will vote on a prospect ranking and the ultimate order will be determined by aggregating all of those rankings. Where will Jankowski place??

Free agent previews – Prior to the free agent frenzy we’ll look at potential signees given the Flames’ cap situation and needs.

FN Podcasts – We will try to make these at least a semi-regular occurrence (twice per month) in the off-season. If things take off, we will likely invite media guests and maybe some readers to participate. Furthermore: is there a particular day of the week we should aim to post these? Let us know!

Scouting and systems posts – We plan to look back at key systems and strategy play to determine what went right (or wrong) on the ice this year. We plan to look at either individual players (like Sean Monahan or Kris Russell) or certain game states (PP, PK, faceoffs).

The worst draft picks of history battle – Alex Plante or Matt Pelech? Mitch Moroz or Hunter Smith? Join us as we compare some of the more, uh, questionable draft picks by Nation teams in the past.

Writer Introduction posts – FN contributors will share their hockey and writing background to give you an idea of how and why they ended up here, arguing with strangers over advanced stats in comment sections.

So that’s what we have in tap. Sound good? Bad? Amazing? Terrible? Have any other bright ideas? Let us know in the comments.