Coming off of a Jay Feaster guarantee to make a playoff spot and falling out of contention in the final 2 weeks. Calgary is the worst off of all the teams. Feaster should keep an eye on his job, Calgary has not made the playoffs since 08-09, haven't had success in the playoffs since the Martin Gelinas kicked in goal of the 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the 1989 cup win before that. Calgary is a much maligned team because of the poor management decisions of years past. They are a 2 person team, more or less.
How well they do, dictates how much they can change that before next season. Kiprusoff is an elite goaltending. Former holder of the least GAA ever put up in a season (2004) split between San Jose and Calgary.
Iginla is an enigma, he's a man who can hit the corners from anywhere on the ice. He's top 5 captains in the league. I often wonder how he puts up the points he does. He needs a big season by Cammalleri and Glencross on his wing, if he doesn't get that. He's not going to thrive like he can. Doesn't have much help after that though. If they do poorly, expect Iginla to be shipped out for prospects.
Last years draft proved to be the strangest for Calgary. With their 21st pick, Calgary picked Mark Jankowski.. Who? He's a high schooler with no junior level hockey under his belt, and a highly touted pick for many teams, but at 21, there was better picks out there. Goalies Vasilevski and Subban would've been a very nice pick-up for them, but I digress.
Calgary has a few prospects that will come up to training camp and should be a walk from there. Sven Baertschi is one of those people. I would be shocked if he doesn't make the team come January 19th. Expect Mikael Backlund to get 2nd line minutes in hopes of sparking his offensive flow.Expect Roman Horak to continue his role in the 3rd line centre to fine tune his game. In the minors this year, the flames have had 2 surprises with the Abbotsford Heat. Ben Street (25P in 34G) and Ben Walter (22P in 29G). If those 2 make it, expect a solid 3rd line put out.
The Defense should be able to perform, I would hope. Jay Bouwmeester, Giordano, and Cory Sarich are going to share a bulk of the minutes. Newly signed, and very expensively signed Dennis Wideman better put up All-star numbers or he is going to be scrutinized all year. I do believe he will underachieve this year. They better put him in a shootout.
Where Calgary ends up? I want to say they battle for a playoff spot, but I do not believe they have the depth to make it to the playoffs. I do not think it will be a good season, we will see the end of the Jarome Iginla era.
Regards,
Devon
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