Calgary Flames: Five New Years resolutions for 2018
It’s a new year, which means the Calgary Flames can leave all their baggage behind in 2017. Let’s check out five New Years resolutions for 2018.
The Calgary Flames had some great times in 2017. They made the playoffs after missing the year before, they signed an NHL legend, and they FINALLY won at the Honda Center! Sometimes, I still have dreams where all I hear are chants of, “We CAN win here.”
But then… there were also some not-so-great times. Like getting swept in the playoffs, some signings that weren’t great, and Kris Versteeg requiring surgery and being out for months. But all of that is in the past! I mean, I still cry about it all, but who doesn’t?
One of our writers here, Tomas Oppolzer, wrote about some resolutions for players and members of staff. Last year, we put out a New Years Resolutions for 2017. And to be honest, they actually kept up most of what I put for that. Except about Johnny Gaudreau learning his fruits and veggies. I’m still not sure if he knows that or not.
So, without further ado, here are five New Years Resolutions that the team as a whole should have their minds set on for 2018.
5. Stop taking a chance on mediocre and subpar players
Listen, I LOVE taking chances on players and having them prove everyone wrong. Everyone loves a good underdog story. Like the 2014-15 Calgary Flames! But sometimes, taking a chance on players doesn’t always work out in the end and that happened this year.
The Flames traded for Curtis Lazar on trade-deadline day trade. They gave up a second-rounder in the process. The Ottawa Senators drafted Alex Formenton with that second-round pick, who’s been an asset for Team Canada so far at the World Juniors.
It’s not so much that they gave away that draft pick, but Curtis Lazar wasn’t a good player with Ottawa, and he’s not a good player in Calgary. He has a great personality and he’s a hard worker, but at the end of the day, this is still a business.
The Matt Bartkowski signing? Bad. The Tanner Glass signing? Bad. When the Flames actually trade away players that don’t fit in with the team anymore, it benefits them tremendously.
Related Story: Dillon Dube and Juuso Valimaki named captains at WJC
Trading away Kris Russell gave them the pick to draft Tyler Parsons, one of the best goaltending prospects in the NHL. The trade that sent Jiri Hudler to Florida gave them the pick to draft Dillon Dube, captain of Team Canada at the World Juniors right now. Trading David Jones to the Minnesota Wild, something that gave them a sixth-round pick, which may seem like a throwaway, gave them Matthew Phillips. One of the most underrated prospects because of his size, but has been dominating the WHL.
The Calgary Flames need to stop taking chances on mediocre players and start waiving and trading away players that don’t contribute anything. They need to have some sort of shakeup with their roster – and soon. And hey, if Troy Brouwer wants to waive his NMC, that wouldn’t be the end of the world…
4. No more injuries
This one isn’t exactly one you can control, but we’ve all got to cross our fingers that 2018 is the year with no more big injuries. Around a month ago, the Calgary Flames lost a big asset in their secondary scoring when Kris Versteeg got injured and required hip surgery – with an estimate of not being back in the lineup for almost the rest of the season. They lost a smart player with lots of experience and a strong powerplay player (we’ll get to the powerplay later, don’t worry).
I mean, it’s a good thing that Sam Bennett started to find his game and the third line has been succeeding without Versteeg, but they lost a lot. Same when Travis Hamonic was out for a game, right after he and TJ Brodie were finally starting to find their chemistry and play like a solid unit. Albeit, he wasn’t out longterm – but something like that can bring some negative vibes to the team as a whole.
Related Story: Flames Daily - Sam Bennett finally starting to impress
Let’s also hope that Jaromir Jagr can remain healthy for the rest of the season. Not only does he have the chance to break the record for most games played – but he provides so much leadership to the team. Every morning in practice, you seem him talking with Johnny Gaudreau or Sam Bennett or any other of the younger players, giving them pointers and showing them what to do. On the bench after a shift, you see him talking to the players, again, giving them pointers on what to do differently.
It’s no secret that Gaudreau loves to deke. But if you’ve been watching this team for over a year, you know that that can be dangerous because he gets the puck taken away a lot when he does it. But when Jagr was in the lineup, I’m not sure if this was super noticeable, but Gaudreau rarely had the puck taken away from him. Jagr’s one of, if not the best, puck handler in the game right now. Every game, I’m amazed at how well he handles the puck and how no player can take it from him. He knows everything that’s happening on the ice and knows exactly where to go and where to put the puck at all times. His hockey IQ is out of this world. Even though he’s not putting in a lot of minutes anymore, just him being in the lineup helps the team.
Let’s hope that nagging lower-body injury won’t nag him anymore in the New Year.
3. Powerplay
I don’t want to talk about the powerplay. Can we skip this?
The Calgary Flames have no idea what to do on the powerplay lately. You wouldn’t think losing someone like Kris Versteeg – a third liner – was going to have a major impact. But when the team is on the man-advantage or they go to the shootout, you can’t help but miss him. The Flames powerplay has sucked. There is no other word to describe it.
So much so that every time they get a powerplay, everyone on Twitter wants them to immediately take a penalty so they won’t have that extra man. They can have an incredible game at 5 on 5 and the second they go on the powerplay, they fall apart and forget how to play hockey.
Related Story: Could Versteeg's absence be why Gaudreau's hit a slump?
Their zone entries are horrendous, their passes aren’t any better, and they can barely set the puck up. Since the start of December, their powerplay is a mere 14.5%. With just seven goals on 49 opportunities – but two of those came on the last day of December. Their powerplay looked good on Dec. 31st vs. the Chicago Blackhawks. But that’s the only time it looked good for the entire month. It even seems like Johnny Gaudreau’s point production has taken a bit of a hit since their powerplay has been struggling.
In the month of December, the Flames have lost six one-goal games. In those six games, they scored just two powerplay goals on 17 opportunities. For four of those games, they also had some late powerplays in the third period that would have either tied the game up for them or put them on top to signify a lead.
The Calgary Flames need to improve their powerplay if they want to be a playoff team.
2. Star players need to start being stars again
The Calgary Flames star players haven’t been acting like stars lately. In the month of December, Johnny Gaudreau had just nine points in 14 games. Sean Monahan had eight points in 14 games. But keep in mind that each player had two points on Dec. 31st. So Gaudreau had just seven points in 13 games and Monahan just six points.
It’s a good thing that Sam Bennett was starting to act like Sam Bennett and he along with his line were contributing to some extra scoring.
Related Story: Johnny Gaudreau could win Art Ross this season
At one point, Gaudreau was a legitimate Art Ross contender. With a projected point total of around 120 points, we knew he probably wouldn’t keep that up, but people didn’t quite expect him to fall off this much. At one point, he was just four points away from first place in points. Now, he has 43 points in 39 games. Which isn’t bad per se, but he was almost doubling his points in November.
At one point, Sean Monahan was projected at his first ever 40-goal season and was even at one point seemed like it was possible for him to hit 50 goals. Now, with 18 goals in 39 games, he isn’t even projected at that 40-goal mark.
Related Story: Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan - Dynamic duo
With Gaudreau, I looked into his powerplay numbers before and after Kris Versteeg was injured and found a few things that were interesting. Not only did the Flames powerplay struggling without Versteeg, but Gaudreau performed the best on the powerplay whenever he was with Versteeg. Over a third of his points came on the powerplay at that point, and after, with the Flames struggling with the man-advantage, so did Gaudreau.
But Versteeg isn’t coming back any time soon, so the star players need to find another way to get their star qualities back. Maybe after the All-Star weekend where Gaudreau can showcase his talents, he’ll be looking like Johnny Hockey again.
1. Not only make playoffs – succeed
Last year, we made a New Years resolution for the Calgary Flames to make the playoffs. Well, they made the playoffs and got swept… so maybe we need a little more than just playoffs.
This year, I’m writing to not only make playoffs, but succeed. Normally with how the season has been going, people wouldn’t be so adamant for the Flames to make the playoffs. And they’d start accepting that it may not happen this year. However, the Flames don’t have a draft pick until the third round this year, and that’s even a conditional pick… because they traded away their draft picks for players that would help this team be Stanley Cup contenders. So if they don’t make playoffs and don’t make some major trades, they’re in trouble.
Even if the Flames don’t make it far, as long as they have a good run, I think fans will be pleased. Last season, they didn’t have a good run and fans were somewhat disappointed, but they weren’t completely shocked or heartbroken. Which was a very different feeling from 2014-15. Where they not only weren’t expected to make playoffs, but they had an incredible run. They made it past the first round and while they didn’t win the second round, it was fun for the fans. And fans were more upset about that loss than last seasons loss.
If the Flames don’t succeed this season, they’ll be in trouble and we’re going to see some major shakeup in the lineup.
Next: The Calgary Flames need to consider a major shakeup
And those are the 2018 New Years resolutions for the Calgary Flames! What would you like to see the Flames do differently in 2018?