The Calgary Flames coaching staff has taken some heat recently over their reluctance to play freshly called up Jakub Nakladal in the wake of the Dennis Wideman suspension. People see a last place team who have struggled with inconsistency all year, and feel that it's time for the team to start playing young guys, and I don't necessarily think they're wrong with that notion either.
However, the Flames locker room has to believe they can make the play-off's until the day they are mathematically eliminated.
First I'll address the Nakladal situation. For most of the season there have been people clamouring for Dennis Wideman to be benched, as he has had an awful year, and for the team to play both Deryk Engelland and Ladislav Smid, who have both had very solid seasons alternating as the 6th defensemen. Now that Wideman is in the pressbox due to suspension, and Engelland and Smid are both drawing into the lineup, there's animosity towards the coaching staff for their lack of desire to just throw Nakladal into the fire.
So this proves a couple things.
One is that you seriously cannot please all of the people all of the time, and in some cases you can't please someone no matter what you do.
The other is that the coaching staff still believes this team can make it, and they should. They are playing the 6 best defensemen they have, and 6 guys that most would agree have been good for most of the season. (First month of the season excluded where almost everyone was awful)
Belief is an invisible force. You can't touch it or see it, but you can feel it. It has the power to get the best out of people and that's what Bob Hartley is trying to do with this team. That's what he is paid to do. They've dug themselves a rather large hole and they'll only get out of it if they believe that they can because, quite frankly, no one else will.
The team and the coaching staff need to focus on the here and now. Believe in themselves, go out and get some wins. Who knows, maybe they'll catching lightning in a bottle and make a run out of it. Regardless of the outcome this team needs to finish the season off with some pride.
Management, however, doesn't get that luxury as they have to keep the bigger picture in mind.
Here's the bigger picture.
The Flames goaltenders have, on most nights, been the second best goalie on the ice. The Flames special teams have been god awful. The Flames have been owned in the faceoff dot on most nights and their offense has been completely inconsistent all season.
The Flames brass have to be intellectually honest with themselves.
Now, I know what you're thinking. "Fuck you Rye, I thought we've moved on past these bullshit cliches."
Don't worry, I don't plan on bringing up "post apex" or "truculent"...yet...
But it's completely true. This is a young and flawed team. With the exception of Mark Giordano, this team's best players are also some of its youngest players, and I doubt any of this is a surprise to management. Some of the answers will come from within, as some of the young players grow and get better. Some of the answers will have to come from outside the organization.
If the Flames catch lightning in a bottle and find a way to make the playoffs, does that mean that management should change the plan? Hell no.
If the Flames find a way to make the play-off's should they hand an extension to the goalie who gets them there? Hell god damn no!
Hiller and Ramo have been battling in the crease for close to 2 years now, and since joining the Flames neither of them has proven to be: a) Better than the other and b) Capable of being a true number one over the course of a season.
Time to move on and find someone who will give Calgary more consistent goaltending.
The other night the Flames played against the Columbus Blue Jackets and completely outplayed them, only to lose 2-1.
"But Rye" you might say, "the offense only scored 1 goal. The goals that Ramo let in were the result of defensive zone breakdowns and not his fault at all! You're not going to win games scoring only 1 goal and giving the other team quality chances."
Hey, I agree with you. But here's the thing. Hockey is a game of mistakes, and had Ramo not been the second best goalie on the ice that night the Flames probably walk away with at least one point. It's as simple as that.
The Flames need to find the goalie that will give them the best chance to win every night, and that probably isn't going to be Hiller or Ramo, and so it's time to move on. If management can somehow find a way get a goalie before the deadline and get him some playing time heading into next season then this team will put themselves in a much better situation for next season than they did heading into this season.
Calgary's special teams have been awful this year and if this team had the ability to score some more PP goals while keeping a couple out of their own net they'd probably be in a very different position right now.
Management needs to get the best assets it can for expiring contracts. Hudler and Jones are almost guarantees to be gone. There's talk that the Flames would like to re-sign Russell, but it's hard to tell if that's just lip service to extract the most value or if the team truly thinks it can add another long term money deal to a team that have 6 defenders already making 3 million dollars or more for at least another season.
And just because the Flames move on from their pending UFA's at the deadline doesn't mean the door is closed forever. Teams have traded UFA's only to re-sign them in the off-season.
Get some value for these guys, see if you can find a long term fit on RW or in net, find a couple bodies who might help on the PP, move some defensive dollars around, and see if there are any answers within the organization. I suspect this will be managements philosophy between now and the beginning of next season.
But until the Flames are officially eliminated from the play-offs, the locker room and everyone in it still has to believe.
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