the Athletic puts Calgary’s ‘panic meter’s ranking at a 1/5
December 1, 2022
the Athletic puts Calgary’s ‘panic meter’s ranking at a 1/5
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“”What’s gone wrong: The Flames own the second wild-card spot by raw points but slip out of it by points percentage to the Wild. Calgary’s lacking a dynamic top-end offensive punch right now. Jonathan Huberdeau’s only notched 12 points in 19 games and while Tyler Toffoli’s a great player off to a strong start, it doesn’t bode well when your leading point producer only has 16 points in 22 games.
The power play in particular is off to a troubling start, ranking 22nd in the league.
Jacob Markstrom’s been leaky as well, rocking just an .889 save percentage.
Outlook: Calgary’s a really high-quality team on paper and should stabilize. The Flames are adjusting to a ton of change with their core which can sometimes take time to fully click. They also had one of the toughest schedules in the league to open the season — it’s going to be easier sledding the rest of the way.
Ultimately, this is a team with excellent centre depth (Elias Lindholm, Nazem Kadri, Mikael Backlund), an elite winger in Huberdeau that will work out of his slump, one of the best top fours in the NHL with Noah Hanifin, Rasmus Andersson, Chris Tanev and MacKenzie Weegar, and Markstrom, who was a Vezina finalist last season.
The Flames are still driving even-strength play, with their 53.9 percent five-on-five shot attempt differential ranking fourth best in the NHL.
Goaltending-wise, you might not be able to guarantee that a .913 save percentage netminder like Shesterkin will immediately return to elite form, but you should feel pretty confident that a sub .890 Markstrom will at least become competent again, which would give the Flames a significant boost.
The Western Conference is also noticeably weaker than the East which gives Calgary a greater margin for error as they figure things out.””
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“”What’s gone wrong: The Flames own the second wild-card spot by raw points but slip out of it by points percentage to the Wild. Calgary’s lacking a dynamic top-end offensive punch right now. Jonathan Huberdeau’s only notched 12 points in 19 games and while Tyler Toffoli’s a great player off to a strong start, it doesn’t bode well when your leading point producer only has 16 points in 22 games.
The power play in particular is off to a troubling start, ranking 22nd in the league.
Jacob Markstrom’s been leaky as well, rocking just an .889 save percentage.
Outlook: Calgary’s a really high-quality team on paper and should stabilize. The Flames are adjusting to a ton of change with their core which can sometimes take time to fully click. They also had one of the toughest schedules in the league to open the season — it’s going to be easier sledding the rest of the way.
Ultimately, this is a team with excellent centre depth (Elias Lindholm, Nazem Kadri, Mikael Backlund), an elite winger in Huberdeau that will work out of his slump, one of the best top fours in the NHL with Noah Hanifin, Rasmus Andersson, Chris Tanev and MacKenzie Weegar, and Markstrom, who was a Vezina finalist last season.
The Flames are still driving even-strength play, with their 53.9 percent five-on-five shot attempt differential ranking fourth best in the NHL.
Goaltending-wise, you might not be able to guarantee that a .913 save percentage netminder like Shesterkin will immediately return to elite form, but you should feel pretty confident that a sub .890 Markstrom will at least become competent again, which would give the Flames a significant boost.
The Western Conference is also noticeably weaker than the East which gives Calgary a greater margin for error as they figure things out.””