Things are going from bad to worse for the Calgary Flames.
They have dropped four of the last five contests and haven’t won a non-shootout game in nearly a month (January 11th vs Edmonton). You have to go back to 2019 for their last multi-goal victory, which also came against Edmonton.
While the Flames have suffered plenty of losses of late, none touch the injury to their captain Mark Giordano.
He appears unlikely to be out long-term, thankfully, but even a ~two-week absence would sideline him for 7-9 games. Three weeks and we're talking 11 or 12 games. That’s an awful lot for a team hanging onto a playoff spot by a thread.
Giordano is not having his best season in terms of raw production, however, he is still producing at a 40-point clip while logging big minutes against stiff competition every single night.
He leads Flames defenders in Corsi For%, Expected Goals For%, and is one of two – T.J. Brodie being the other – with a positive goal differential at 5v5. Nobody on the roster has a higher average Game Score than Giordano’s .72.
Suffice to say, he’s irreplaceable.
The team now has to decide whether Noah Hanifin (.09 average Game Score) will be the team’s top LHD – no thanks! – or to shift Brodie to the left-side and roll with a top-heavy top-4 such as this:
Brodie - Andersson Hanifin - Hamonic
I think stacking the top-4 is the best path to take, and I think it is the one Geoff Ward will go with. Should that be the case, P1 will be really interesting to follow.
Brodie is not playing his usual side and doesn’t have a Norris winner to rely on. If he wants a big ticket in the summer, stringing together some quality performances in less than ideal circumstances would surely help him get it.
Meanwhile, this is Andersson’s first big test to prove he is worth the investment GM Brad Treliving made. He could be a regular top-pairing guy as early as next season so this is an opportunity for him to show he’s ready for it.
Ideally, Giordano returns around the trade deadline.
If the Flames survive until that point, they can still justify adding a piece to try and bolster their chances of getting into the playoffs and making any kind of noise once they're there.
If the bottom falls out – I’m talking a 2-6 run – and/or Giordano’s recovery hits a snag, they might be better off selling their rentals and trying to reload in the off-season.
This is a *massive* string of games for the Flames to be without arguably their best player. We'll see how they handle it.
numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com and HockeyStatCards.com Recent posts: