Calgary Flames: Five Reasons They Made It To The Playoffs

BENCHING WIDEMAN AND ACQUIRING STONE

The benching of Dennis Wideman was basically what splurged the Calgary Flames into their ten-game win streak. Not only that, but the acquiring of Michael Stone from the Arizona Coyotes in a trade also splurged the Flames.

With Stone in the lineup, the Flames are 13-4-0.

But the benching of Wideman didn’t only help the team as a whole, it helped his defensive partner TJ Brodie.

Brodie has always been one of my favorite players. He’s an extremely good skater and he has good hockey IQ. However, having a player like Dennis Wideman as his defensive partner wasn’t exactly helping his case. Wideman continuously had turnovers after turnovers. Almost every game, he would have a turnover that leads to a goal. And there’s not much that Brodie can do in that case.

But with Wideman, Brodie’s +/- was -25, a team worst. It was also second worst in the entire league.

That was until February 21st, the day Stone made his Calgary Flames debut. Since then, Brodie’s +/- is 8, fifth best on the team. Of course, Wideman has played in a few games since then with Stone having an injury, but that’s when the Flames morale was much higher than it was to start the season.

Now on the year, Brodie’s +/- is -17, which of course still isn’t ideal, but when you think about how his season started, it’s a big improvement. Since the acquisition of Stone, the Flames record has gotten better, their goal differential has gotten better, and their blue line has gotten better. It’s not so much Stone himself who has fixed this team, I mean if you look at his CF%, it says otherwise.

But it definitely helped Brodie’s morale and helped the team’s morale. And now with a legitimate top 4 on the blue line, it’s easier to see why this team is going to the post-season.