Calgary Flames

Flames Cap Crunch

June 15, 2010

With the draft only days away now and July 1st fast approaching I thought it was an ideal time to take a closer look at the Flames overall situation when it pertains to the talent on the ice and what Darryl Sutter needs to do in order to assure that he keeps his job past April of 2011. First off, Gary Bettman announced that the Salary Cap for the 2011-12 will increase slightly from the $56.8 million it was at this past season. So, for all intensive purposes let us assume that the cap will fall in or around $58 million. The Flames, as it stands now, have roughly $53, 379, 166 committed to 17 players for the upcoming season; a breakdown of 10 forwards ($28.9 mill), 6 defence ($18.6 mil...

Sutter Speaks

June 1, 2010

Derrick Newman

1 Comment

“Ken came out and said that, but it wasn’t important for me to have that publicly. It’s more important what happens internally.” Darryl Sutter made these comments in response to Ken King coming out last week and publicly endorsing the Flames GM. We all are aware of Sutter’s dealings with the media and how he, how do I say this, would rather eat hot garbage than listen to questions from television, radio or print journalists. He constantly makes fun of the media’s knowledge of the cap or irrational question lines in news conferences. Now, I understand that the ‘Cap’ has a lot of ‘ins and outs and what-have-yous’, but does Sutter possibly consider that some of thes...

Sutter staying put...for now

May 27, 2010

Derrick Newman

2 Comments

''What we want to do here is put an end to the death watch; to other people's speculation. We move forward.'' – Ken King, CEO and President of the Calgary Flames- The ‘Death Watch’ he was referring to was that of Darryl Sutter’s relationship with the Calgary Flames organization and whether or not he would be the General Manager of the team for the upcoming 2010-11 campaign. Amid much speculation that Sutter might be heading out of town following a disappointing season in which the Flames missed the playoffs for the first time in 7 years, it looks as if he will be sticking around, at least for the time being. As it turns out, my wish of seeing Darryl in the unemployment lin...

Former Flames Thriving

April 29, 2010

Derrick Newman

3 Comments

With the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs entering its second leg tomorrow night, I thought it would be interesting to look at some former Calgary Flames that are thriving in this years big dance. The obvious one, right off the bat, is Montreal forward Mike Cammalleri. He signed in Montreal for 5 years at $6 million per season, after leading the Flames in goals last season with 39. He has 10 points in seven games this post-season and he is the only player to register a point in the first six games of the Habs-Caps series. He scored 26 goals in only 65 games this regular season for the Habs; 11 goals more than Olli Jokinen did and Cammy did it in 17 less games. Keep reading Darryl… ...

The Flames Season in a Nutshell

April 14, 2010

Derrick Newman

4 Comments

Well, the season finally comes to an end and the Calgary Flames have missed the playoffs for the first time since 2003. What is wrong? What needs to be done? What has transpired that led to this? Well to diagnose the problem we must go back to the beginning. The season opened in early October with a much hyped match-up between the Flames and their arch rival Vancouver Canucks. The Flames jumped out to a 3-0 lead, only to white-knuckle the steering wheel and hold on for a 5-3 win; a sign of things to come maybe? The Flames open with four straight wins, scoring four or more goals in each game. October 12th against the Blackhawks; a game that defined the entire disappointing season....

Let's make it official

April 7, 2010

Derrick Newman

3 Comments

After weeks of uncertainty the Calgary Flames are officially eliminated from Stanley Cup playoff contention. This ends days, weeks and months of faint hope and un-needed stress for most Flames fans who still wanted to believe this team was destined for the big dance. It was the 3rd overall pick in the 2009 draft, Matt Duchene, who officially eliminated the Flames, when he scored the shootout winner in Vancouver tonight. That’s officially; unofficially it was over when the Flames decided to lose nine straight and Darryl Sutter mashed his hand on the big red panic button sitting next to his telephone. Flames fans can at least breathe now. It might not be the sigh of relief they wanted...

Flames fall to nemesis. Playoffs in doubt

April 5, 2010

Derrick Newman

Comments

According to Dictionary.com a ‘nemesis’ is defined as an opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome. Well, the Blackhawks are, by definition, the nemesis of the Calgary Flames. A team they have not beaten, in the regular season, since the 2007-08 campaign. A team that ousted the Flames in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last year, and a team that the Flames have only been able to score three paltry goals on in the last 11 periods of play. This dates back, of course, to the sixth game of this current season when the Flames jumped out to a 5-0 lead 11 short minutes into the contest, only to lose a heartbreaker 6-5 in overtime. The Blackhawks are so deep-...

Flames improve playoff chances

April 1, 2010

Derrick Newman

2 Comments

The Flames won 2-1. The Avs lost 5-2. “So you’re telling me there’s a chance!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX5jNnDMfxA With the events of tonight, the Flames now sit only two points behind Colorado with a colossal, gigantic, enormous match-up against those same Avs on Friday night in the Mile High City. Miikka Kiprusoff single-handedly won yet another game for the Flames, who have leaned on their goaltender far too often this season. He robbed numerous Coyotes on multiple opportunities throughout the game. That included a flurry of about two minutes in the first when the line of Stempniak-Lombardi-Wolski did everything but score. There was also about a five minute s...

Flickering Flames faint playoff hopes

March 29, 2010

Derrick Newman

4 Comments

According to Sportsclubstats.com the Calgary Flames have a 4.7% chance of making the postseason. A slim, faint, flicker of hope, but hope nonetheless. The schedule is not very easy but the Flames have no other options than to run the table for the rest of the season, and even then they need help to get into the tournament. If they win all six remaining games then they have 78% chance of dancing with the big boys. If they only lose one game in extra time, their odds drop to 50/50. What makes anybody think they have a chance of sweeping the rest of the teams? Sundays win in Washington is really the only reason for any sort of optimism. After coming off two of the most crushing def...