I've got a problem.
You see, I watched Connor McDavid play yesterday and now I have absolutely no desire to see the Flames land even a 1% chance of drafting him. What I'm saying is, that giving them even a 1/100 chance of winning the Draft lottery is too much.
The Flames need to make the playoffs. It's the only way.
The consequences of me wanting the Flames to make the playoffs are not lost on me. I am sick to my stomach about this but they are a truly terrible team whose coach relies solely on goaltending which means they would be blown out of the water in a 7 game series, no doubt. So I'm not talking about jumping on the Flames bandwagon exactly. I just want them to beat enough teams, possibly by shootout so an extra point is given, so they make the playoffs and eliminate themselves from even the slightest chance of winning a generational talent.
They seem pretty happy with Gaudreau, and why ruin that for them?
The problem is the Flames are free falling right now. The course correction that the fancy stats guys predicted has been more ruthless than imaginable and it's all gone pear-shaped for them.
at 5v5 Calgary is: 25th Shots For % 25th Fenwick For % 29th Corsi For % 9th Shooting % 17th Save %
Early in the year that save percentage was much higher. Things change. Goalies fall back to Earth and the puck starts finding twine behind them. Their shooting percentage was also insanely high. It still is for Hudler and Jooris who are both almost hitting 20% of their shots.
In any event, the luck has run dry for most of the team in the past several games and they've been losing at an Oilers pace. With a win over the Kings in their last outing Calgary ended their losing streak which had risen to 7 games.
Edmonton, meanwhile, only has 1 win in their last 20 games and nothing since they fired Eakins. In fact, their 5v5 play may have even eroded under transition coach MacT who seems as ineffective behind the bench as he does in a management role.
Have you hit the point of the season where the prospect of drafting Eichel or McDavid is starting to outweigh your desire for the team to win? With only 7 Wins all year it might begin to seem to you, as it already does to me, that we wouldn't be missing much by losing more. It's not as if we've been treated to many wins as it is.
RANDOMS
- It did not seem as if he played a lot against the Slovakians but I really thought Darnell Nurse was the strongest Defenseman for Team Canada. I must admit my bias here, but while Morrissey was superior in the offensive zone, I thought Nurse showed better in his own zone. He played physical, denied entry into the zone several times, and bailed out his partner after he made weak turnovers on a couple occasions as well.
- The pass Eichel made on the lone regulation goal for the Americans was quietly fantastic. He is also among the tournament leaders in shots, along with McDavid.
- McDavid's first 2 shifts in the tournament must have lead to 5 good scoring chances. Even great draft aged players can look average on Team Canada. McDavid looked like a Star. The puck is always near him and he separates himself from the Defense with ease. Incredible.
LINEUP
Hall RNH Purcell Perron Gordon Eberle Yak Drai Pitlick Hendricks Arco Pinizzotto
Ference Petry Klefbom Fayne Hunt Schultz
Does it Matter?
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Stop A Puck. Not to make this overly simple, but the Goalie's only real job is to stop the puck. Maybe this time don't let the first 2 shots go in. Maybe, stop more than 90% of the shots directed on net. It's almost like the hockey team is paying them millions of dollars to do it.
2) Energy. I know that being an Oiler this year means that the best way to cope is to hollow out your soul so that it appears nothing can get to you, but can we just TRY to play hard? The games are NOT actually over before they start. Any team in the NHL can care. Any of them.
3) Go To The Blue Paint. Get to the front of the net. Go there with speed. Go there with authority. Piss somebody off doing it. Stop swooping by or skating past it to get behind the net. Just get there and be ready for rebounds. I can't count the number of rebounds Oiler players are never in position to capitalize on because the front of the net is vacant.
Puck drops tonight at 8:10 PM Mountain Time on CBC. Game On!
Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy