Flame for Thought
Fansided

Calgary Flames Tuesday Roundtable: Predicting Where They’ll Finish This Season

By Dan Raicevich

ANAHEIM, CA - APRIL 4: Johnny Gaudreau
ANAHEIM, CA - APRIL 4: Johnny Gaudreau /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 6
Next
CALGARY, AB – APRIL 19: The crowd gets behind Calgary Flames (Photo by Clint Trahan/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CALGARY, AB – APRIL 19: The crowd gets behind Calgary Flames (Photo by Clint Trahan/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Question #4 – How far do the Calgary Flames need to go in the playoffs for it to be considered a “successful” year?

Jonathan Boulanger -The second round at least. Another first round loss (especially to the Ducks) would really draw the ire of Flames fans. If they make it to round 2 and put up a real fight, it will be considered a successful season.

Tomas Oppolzer – They need to at least make it into round 2, preferably beyond that though. Every other team that has taken major leaps forward recently (Chicago, LA, Pittsburgh) all made deep playoff runs early in their windows. In order for Calgary to truly show they are a contender in the Western Conference, they’ll need to follow suit.

Benjamin Prokopy – The Western Conference Final. The Flames have proven that they can go a couple rounds into the playoffs with less powerful lineups. It will be difficult to justify the acquisition cost of guys like Hamilton and, more recently, Hamonic if the Flames don’t go deep.

Ian Gustafson – The Flames are under a lot of pressure this season by the fans and management. They have high expectations to meet after such a terrible end to last season going out in the first round. I think for the fans to be at ease they need to at least make it to the second round. Although, I think Flames fans would settle for a first round exit if it were to go 7 games.

Related Story: What Makes the Flames a Contending Team?

Ramina Shlah – Since they don’t have a draft pick until the fourth round next year, I think they need to make it to the Western Conference Finals. Going this far in the playoffs will help Flames fans to be satisfied with all the trades made. This also shows that Flames management is confident in them being Cup Contenders next season.

Dan Raicevich – I am agreeing with my peers here on this one, the team needs to go past the second round to consider this a successful year. Going to go a step above this, I think a trip to the Stanley Cup Final would consider it to be a successful year. I expect this team to beat Edmonton and Anaheim to make it to the Conference Finals. Also, a team like Nashville matches up well against the Flames. This team is ready to make that monster leap and go on a run long enough to where I can grow a beard better than Joe Thornton’s.

Home/Analysis