The Calgary Flames have a very good core in place. Nobody will dispute that.
The biggest reason for their lack of success in recent years is a lack of quality depth. When their stars have been on the bench catching a breather the Flames have routinely been crushed in the shot, scoring chance and goal department.
A coaching change will surely help - Bob Hartley's system didn't help the team's cause in terms of possession woes - but adding quality depth that can drive play up ice is necessary.
To this point the Flames haven't done that.
In fact, the Flames' moves to date are probably moving the needle in the wrong direction as all of their notable additions up front have made negative impacts on their teams underlying numbers.
Alex Chiasson and Linden Vey came from non-playoff teams so it wasn't as if the bar was set overly high. That their teams were better without them on the ice isn't overly encouraging.
Troy Brouwer came from a very good St. Louis team so the bar was set higher for him. Still, like with Chiasson and Vey, his team controlled a higher percentage of the shot attempts without him on the ice. In Brouwer's case, however, he did have a positive influence in goal scoring numbers; albeit a small one.
Hopefully they can find a way to help boost their numbers because the Flames aren't going anywhere if they continue to be out shot and out chanced on a consistent basis.
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