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The Calgary Flames lost again in L.A. last night against the defending Stanley Cup champs. Though the loss wasn’t as bad as Saturday night it’s in no way a positive, and coming home after a 0-3 road trip, it’s time to make some drastic changes in Calgary.
The bottom line is Calgary hasn’t played a full three periods of hockey in a long time and last night was no exception. They were invisible throughout the 1st period, OK in 2nd , and though it was refreshing to watch them play a 3rd period, their attempted comeback was without merit.
Fans were a little shocked to see MacDonald in net and despite a good showing from the backup tender, his team would ultimately let him down. Though one positive was Backlund’s individual effort and goal to cut the lead to one, but it wouldn’t matter because Brown would score on the empty net to put the game away.
When the Flames are down they must score on power plays, it changes the entire pace of the game and shifts momentum in their direction. They have failed to gain any momentum what so ever this season. In fact, just when we think they might get rolling, they fall further back. There is a major disconnect in Calgary, and it manifests in games making the Flames players look lazy and unmotivated.
On their three game road trip, Calgary only managed to score 3 goals and allowed 13 against. Based on this stat alone, I’d say it’s time to into plan B for this season. There are loyal fans who will object to trading the franchise players Iginla and Kipursoff, but it’s time to realize that it’s become a mutually futile relationship. Iginla’s career is starting to echo that of Mats Sundin. The longer he hangs on in Calgary, the less chance he has at a cup, and the less chance the Flames have at acquiring needed assets.
It doesn’t matter if players are putting the game behind them, or working on conditioning, they can’t win with their current roster and worse, they can barely compete. The Flames are in dead last in the West. TSN went so far as to grad the Flames a D+ so far this season. It’s time to change.
With that being said, there has been some discussion on Twitter over the last few days that there might be mutual interest between the Flames and the Blues with respect to trades. While this is mere speculation at this point, the names being mentioned are Bouwmeester & Stempniak from Calgary and Stewart & Cole from the Blues. Not sure if the two teams can agree to terms on a deal anytime soon, but this could be a solid framework at the very least.
Stewart is the center piece for the Flames in this deal, as he is still a young player who can play at both ends of the nice and offers a gritty game; something the Flames lack. What he doesn’t offer, however, is help up the middle given he plays on the wing. The Flames will certainly be looking to acquire players similar to Stewart; still young and have not necessarily broken out at the NHL level.
Calgary has several older assets to move if they do decide to retool, but the question remains how soon does Feaster pull the trigger? Feaster has admittedly come out and said that he is aware of the current situation with respect to his team and their current trend, but some convincing of owners may be required before anything big happens.
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