#3 - Ladislav Smid [D]
Rating: 4/5
When we acquired Smid I knew he was a team first guy and a bit of a warrior, but I really underrated him. He was a better shot blocker than I expected, he was better defensively than I expected and he was better with the puck than I expected. The guy is the definition of warrior and his commitment to the team on the ice is paralleled by very few.
#4 - Kris Russell [D]
Rating: 5/5
I was not pleased in the slightest with the trade for Russell. I believe my exact words were something along the lines of "he is a train wreck defensively, physically soft and merely okay in the offensive zone." Well Russell fed me heaping plate after heaping plate of crow. Russell was solid in the defensive zone, smart with the puck and while not physical he wasn't really pushed around either.
#5 - Mark Giordano [D]
Rating: 5/5
With his struggles last year and the departure of Bouwmeester at last year's trade deadline I was terrified going into the season with Giordano as our #1 defenseman. Instead he put up a season that most defensemen can only aspire to accomplish. Had he not been injured I do not believe the Flames would be drafting top 5, maybe not even top 10. The team went 5-10-2 during his absence and were outscored 60-39 over those 17 games. He was our heart and soul and put up a Norris calibre season.
#6 - Dennis Wideman [D]
Rating: 2/5
Offensively Wideman was alright, he was on pace for 37 points, which was pretty much the same as last season and not too far below his production with the much more offensively talented Capital, but I found defensively this year he struggled. Part of it may have been being asked to play against other teams top lines while Giordano was hurt, but overall I did not find his defensive or physical play up to the standard he set in his first season with the Flames.
#7 - T.J Brodie [D]
Rating: 5/5
Simply put this kid just keeps getting better. He continued to improve offensively and his defensive game was far ahead of where it was last year. His giveaways per game dropped modestly by 0.013 giveaways per game, but that is without factoring in that his ice-time increased by about 20% and the quality of his opponents became much tougher. I would still say he is a #3 defenseman, but he is really showing he has top pairing potential and is still only 23!
#8 - Joe Colborne [C/RW]
Rating: 4/5
Joe came into this season as a castoff from the Leafs organization, dealt because he didn't make their team and needed to clear waivers to be sent down and they were afraid he would be plucked away for free. So the Flames plucked him off the Leafs roster for a 4th round draft pick and had to guarantee him a roster spot or lose him to waivers. Joe started slow, he was decent defensively, skated well and was solid along the boards, but the offense just wasn't coming. Through his first 48 games Colborne had 11 points (4g, 7a), I believe it was around this time that Hartley moved Colborne to the RW from C and we saw Big Joe's offensive game improve. Over the final 32 games Colborne put up 6 goals and 17 points, I know that 6 points doesn't sound like much but when you consider it was 6 more points over 25% fewer games it is actually an increase of 131% in points per game!! I expected 25-30 points, but he was better along the boards, was a better skater, better in shootouts and better defensively than I expected.
#10 - Corban Knight [C]
Rating: 3/5
My view on Knight is different than most on here because in addition to his 7 NHL games I have watched him play in 67 games for the Heat. In the grand scheme I would say Knight met my expectations, when we acquired him I had hopes he could just be tossed into the lineup as the #3 or #4 centre but with the Colborne acquisition and Monahan making the team he was sent to the AHL, which was the best thing for him. Knight is quite strong on faceoffs, one comment I saw a few times (and I feel the need to address it now) after our season finale was how Bill Arnold was better than Knight in the faceoff circle because he put up 56%+ in his debut and over 7 games Knight had a faceoff% in the 47% range, but people forget in his NHL debut Knight was over 61% in the circle.
Okay, back to Knight..... Once I tempered my expectations and watched him with the Heat he constantly impressed me. He is the go to guy on faceoffs, he scored as a solid pace, killed penalties and really improved his physical game as the season went on. The kid will be an NHL player and has the potential to be a Stephane Yelle type player.
#11 - Mikael Backlund [C]
Rating: 4/5
This may be sad but the part that impressed me most from Backlund this year was seeing him play 76 games. Defensively he continued to improve and offensively has has started to break out putting up 39 points. The first half of the season saw Backlund sit a couple times and play on the 4th line for a few nights and that seemed to work. In his first 38 games Backlund had a mere 5 goals, but in his final 38 games he started burying the puck scoring 13 goals. Had he been able to play the final 6 games Backlund may have actually scored 20 goals on the year. If he continues to improve offensively next season then Backlund should establish himself as a solid two-way 2nd line centre.
#13 - Mike Cammalleri [LW]
Rating: 3/5
Injuries were the story of the year for Cammy, missing nearly 1/4 of the season. Despite his injuries Cammalleri still led the team in goals and finished 3rd in points. His production was exactly where I expected it to be.
#15 - Kevin Wesrtgarth [RW]
Rating: 3/5
Exactly as I expected, average fighter but the heart of a lion.
#15 - Tim Jackman [RW] Traded to Anaheim
Rating: 3/5
Tim Jackman was Tim Jackman. He put forth a consistent effort and would throw the body around.
#16 - Brian McGrattan [RW]
Rating: 4/5
We all knew that Big Ern was the toughest SOB in the NHL, but we didn't know is he was capable of being an everyday player and being one of the best team guys on the team if not in the NHL. His discipline deserves mention here too, in 76 games Ern had a mere 5 minor penalties on the year!!
#17 - Lance Bouma [LW]
Rating: 5/5
Not gonna lie here, my expectations were not very high for this season. With his devastating knee injury just a few games into last season I thought Bouma would lose a step and would need significant time in the AHL to get back up to speed. But I couldn't have been more wrong. He never lost a step and has been in beast mode for his entire 76 games. He led the team in hits, led forwards in blocked shots, had a mere 15 giveaways and put up a respectable 15 points. Lance Bouma is to this team what Chris Clark was to the '04 team.
#18 - Matt Stajan [C]
Rating: 4/5
Offensively and defensively Stajan was exactly where I thought he would be. I have him exceeding expectations because he showed character, leadership and a level of consistency we have never seen from him before.
#19 - Blair Jones [C/RW]
Rating: 3/5
Exactly as I expected. Fringe NHL player, good AHL player.
#20 - Curtis Glencross [LW]
Rating: 2/5
It was tough to give Glencross a 2 here, I think when he played he was exactly who has has been the last few years and once again he was on pace for about 25 goals and 50 points. Unfortunately when you miss more games than you play it is difficult to say expectations were achieved.
#21 - Roman Horak [C/LW] Traded to Edmonton
Rating: 3/5
Exactly as I expected. Fringe NHL player, good AHL player.
#22 - Lee Stempniak [RW] Traded to Pittsburgh
Rating: 2/5
I expected a bit more from him offensively and defensively he took a step back from last season.
#23 - Sean Monahan [C]
Rating: 4/5
I am proud to say I was one of the guys arguing that we should pick Monahan over Lindholm, in his rookie season Monahan was better than anyone could have expected. As an 18 year old rookie I would have been happy with 10 goals and 20 points, I never considered for a moment Monahan would be score 22 and be as good in the shootout as he was. His 5 shootout goals were tops on the team. His 4 game deciding shootout goals were more than all his teammates combined and good enough to be tied for 3rd in the NHL. His 62.5% was also #5 in the league among all shooters with 5 or more attempts. What else can be said, the kid is money.
#24 - Jiri Hudler [RW]
Rating: 3/5
Hudler started off amazing and was on pace to shatter his career numbers, in the end his final numbers were quite close to where I expected. I knew he would be hot and cold throughout the year, I just thought the hot and cold stretches would be shorter.
#27 - Derek Smith [D]
Rating: 3/5
Exactly as I expected. Fringe NHL player, good AHL player.
#28 - Lane MacDermid [LW] Retired
Rating: 1/5
I can't say I expected the guy to quit on his team.
#29 - Reto Berra [G] Traded to Colorado
Rating: 4/5
I know most will disagree here, but you aren't think about expectations when you rate him so lowly. None of us expected him to be in the NHL this year, it was expected that he would play for the Heat and get acclimated to the North American game and challenge for the backup job next year. We never expected him to get called up because MacDonald was ******** the bed and Ramo was recovering from ankle surgery and unable to play as much as needed and none of us expected Berra to get some of the worst goal support I have ever seen. For a guy that was adjusting to the North American game and was rushed into the NHL, he kept us in the games he played.
#31 - Karri Ramo [G]
Rating: 4/5
In the first half I expected him to struggle due to adjusting to the North American game again, but in the 2nd half he was splendid. He showed that he deserved to be the starter next year and earned his job. I thought he would improve in the 2nd half, but not to the degree he did.
the rest will come later, it's 2:30am and I have to be up at 7:00am
