Follow Colin on Twitter! Follow @ColinDJD In speaking with many fans from this site, around twitter, and even in person, there is a clear divide with respect to how some view their team as opposed to others.
In comes to age old rhetoric of whether the glass is half full, or half empty. I don’t want to get into the psyche of the above mentioned, however I’d like to open the discussion toward how one may be optimistic rather than pessimistic about their team, or more specifically, the Calgary Flames.
We should start with getting all the negatives out of the way. The Flames have not made the playoffs in five consecutive years and the four years prior in which they did, the team was knocked out in the first round. Calgary went through years of mediocrity and somewhat confusion in terms of their true direction. Those in charge didn’t follow their own advice, made knee jerk reactions, or tried too hard to keep their own jobs by making band aid type moves.
Now there are certainly plenty of examples we can rehash together over the past decade or so, but this blog isn’t being written to magnify any specifics. Rather, the goal of this blog is to bring about the discussion of how fans, like ourselves, may be constantly influenced by our emotions and desire to win, now.
In today’s NHL, especially for a team in the Western Conference (sorry East, but it’s the cold hard truth), life is tough. The West has a very strong group of teams who year after year battle for those playoff positions. Those who typically fall to the outside, looking in, were usually pretty darn close themselves. What’s my point? Well for starters, understand the competitiveness of the game and what needs to transpire for teams like the LA Kings and Chicago Blackhawks to sit up top the standings for so many years.
That’s right – years of mediocrity and failure. Don’t believe me? Let’s start with the Kings. They have won two Stanley Cups in the past three seasons. The season in which they didn’t win, they managed to succeed to the 3rd round of the playoffs. That is pretty impressive in today’s cap restrictive NHL.
Prior to these past three seasons, the Kings missed the playoffs 11/17 times (65%) and of the six times which they made the playoffs, five were lost in the first round and one in the 2nd. Not so impressive, is it. The Kings were not a strong team for several years. It took patience, proper player development, strong drafting, and smart and calculated moves to be where they are now. But it didn’t happen overnight.
What about the Chicago Blackhawks?
Similarly to the Kings, the Hawks have won two Stanley Cups in the past five seasons played. That being said, between the two Cups, the Hawks would not make it beyond the first round. Outside of this window of success, Chicago would miss the postseason 9 of 11 seasons, with one first round exit, and one 3rd round exit. All things considered, they’ve done quite well, but it was arguably achieved at the cost of fans having to suffer for years.
How does this all relate to the Flames? Well, Calgary is already on their 5th season without playoffs, is making some very smart and calculated moves, developing and drafting some talented young players, and have instilled their organization with some great hockey minds.
Whether you’ve looked down at your Calgary Flames logo’ed glass and thought to yourself – “Boy that sure seems half empty!…, chug the rest of whatever you’re drinking, enjoy it for what it is, and fill that sucker back up as success should soon follow this team provided they remain on track.
Thanks for reading!