Are the Flames a serious Cup threat?

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tntkid

Fire Maurice & Chevy
Nov 27, 2011
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When the season is over and a team makes the playoffs that is when it is determined if they are a cup contender,

Not halfway through the season.

Nice jinx thread by the way.
 

Bond

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May 10, 2012
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I already said that it is worse than it appears when you consider their terrible goaltending the PDO should be under 100 easily. Shows how unsustainable their play has been offensively. And your PDO number is wrong.

I think you are confused. Higher PDO means they are winning more than should be and unsustainable and a lower PDO means they are winning less than they should be.

If the Flames had a lower PDO that means you are arguing that they are even better than they have been playing.
 
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Bond

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May 10, 2012
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It's a marathon not a sprint. Got a whole other half of the season to go. They're in a great position right now.

Yeah, I don't think too many Flames fans are raising banners yet, we have been burned too many times. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if they miss the playoffs with what has happened in the past.
 

Machinehead

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Jan 21, 2011
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They have the ability.

The thing is, they've never really done it before and you usually lose before you win.
 

WhiskeyYerTheDevils

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Probably not. They are pretty weak down the middle. I think they can get to the conference finals but not sure after that.

Teams that are strong down the middle - Pittsburgh, Washington, Tampa, Toronto are the favorites out east and all would give Calgary trouble if they were able to get out of the west.
 
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Snakepit

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Nov 19, 2013
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I mean, it's January, but if what we've seen so far continues a WCF appearance prediction sure wouldn't be laughable.

Playoffs are too hard to predict. They'll get there, and be one of the better teams to get there, but after that anything can happen.
 

Rubi

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Did Vegas win?

Did they at any point in that series look like a threat to the Capitals?
No they didn't win but they did compete in the Stanley Cup finals which makes them in everyone's mind except yours I guess, a serious Stanley Cup contender. And Vegas had never done that before and the OP question was "Are the Flames a serious Cup threat?".

Not saying the Flames are a serious contender, but to outright discount a team because the current roster hasn't competed against the cup before is a fallacy.
 

Machinehead

GoAwayKakko
Jan 21, 2011
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No they didn't win but they did compete in the Stanley Cup finals which makes them in everyone's mind except yours I guess, a serious Stanley Cup contender. And Vegas had never done that before and the OP question was "Are the Flames a serious Cup threat?".

Not saying the Flames are a serious contender, but to outright discount a team because the current roster hasn't competed against the cup before is a fallacy.
The only team I can think of that wasn't a contender and lost before they win the Cup is the 2006 Hurricanes.
 

Pinkfloyd

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Oct 29, 2006
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No they didn't win but they did compete in the Stanley Cup finals which makes them in everyone's mind except yours I guess, a serious Stanley Cup contender. And Vegas had never done that before and the OP question was "Are the Flames a serious Cup threat?".

Not saying the Flames are a serious contender, but to outright discount a team because the current roster hasn't competed against the cup before is a fallacy.

Yeah but prior to them making it to the Finals, I don't think anyone viewed them as a serious threat to win the Cup either. It doesn't really mean anything until we get there and see what happens.
 

blankall

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Jul 4, 2007
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I will give you that Rittich does not have a large body of work. But the rest of your post is not born out by the facts and is often conjecture. Explain to me how Rittich needs to be “more” consistent? Explain to me how the Flames have not shown, compared to other teams, that they cannot win close games?

You don’t play two goalies in the playoffs, so what the backup has done this year really has no purchase in terms of predicting what will happen in the playoffs.

Again, “show me” with Rittich is a fine take. I am there too. But to suggest the Flames (who are top ten in the league in goals against) need “better” goaltending is not very persuasive. They are getting solid goaltending from Rittich and have been all year.
I've watched the vast majority of Flames games this year. The team is holding other teams to very few shots. Rittich's pattern seems to be 1-2 amazing games, an ok game, a bad game, then Smith comes back in for a game or two.

Don't get me wrong, I really think Rittich is doing great and hope he continues to do so. However, I think he needs to take a step forward, particularly in consistency of play to be the netminder of a Stanley Cup worthy team.
 

Rubi

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Just thought I'd throw this in here..

From Odds Shark, current odds to win the Stanley Cup this season:

Odds to Win the 2018-19 Stanley Cup: Flames Are Skyrocketing up the Board

ODDS TO WIN THE 2018-19 STANLEY CUP: FLAMES ARE SKYROCKETING UP THE BOARD

Stephen Campbell | Thu, Jan 3 2019, 3:05pm

Capture.JPG
 

blankall

Registered User
Jul 4, 2007
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Once the playoffs start any team in them has a chance!!

I think a lot of people in this thread are overlooking this. How often has the #1 team from the regular season actually won the cup?

Here's actual Vegas odds for anyone interested:

Odds to Win the 2018-19 Stanley Cup: Flames Are Skyrocketing up the Board

The Flames are now tied for #4 with SJ. So according to the professional bookies (who have some knowledge and experience at setting sports odds) the Flames are in a serious cup threat.
 

krutovsdonut

eeyore
Sep 25, 2016
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definitely maybe.

age and experience tells me that they will lose a series to age and experience that they should have won.
 

CrosbyMalkin

Registered User
Aug 7, 2005
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Answer is no.

Anything can happen though once the playoffs start. Still put my money on Pens or Caps until someone proves they can take them out in a 7 game series. If I had to pick a 3rd team I would add Lightning.
 

Kamiccolo

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Aug 30, 2011
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I think you are confused. Higher PDO means they are winning more than should be and unsustainable and a lower PDO means they are winning less than they should be.

If the Flames had a lower PDO that means you are arguing that they are even better than they have been playing.

No, I am not confused. It should be under because the goaltending has been so poor the flames should be winning more than they were. However, because the offense is also playing at such an unsustainable level, it not only negates this negative PDO but brings it in the positive by over a full point. In reality, the Flames are likely leading the league in PDO if the goaltending was not artificially lowering the forwards PDO.
 

Luigi Lemieux

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Sep 26, 2003
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I have the eastern contenders as Washington, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Toronto, and Boston. Western contenders are Winnipeg, Nashville, Calgary, San Jose, Vegas.

So they're a western contender but looking at the list the western contenders are significantly weaker. I would be surprised if a western team won the cup.
 

crackdown44

Cold milk cools down hot food
Dec 1, 2017
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No, I am not confused. It should be under because the goaltending has been so poor the flames should be winning more than they were. However, because the offense is also playing at such an unsustainable level, it not only negates this negative PDO but brings it in the positive by over a full point. In reality, the Flames are likely leading the league in PDO if the goaltending was not artificially lowering the forwards PDO.

Or we could just use PDO as it’s meant to be used instead of the way you want to twist it to invent something completely irrelevant that falsely supports your argument lol
 

Roof Daddy

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Apr 1, 2008
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If the playoffs started today, you’d probably have to have them as the 2nd or 3rd best bet based on momentum. But as others have mentioned, there’s still a ways to go and a lot can change. They’d be the favourite out of the Pacific, and that likely punches their ticket to the conference finals, but I feel like one of the Jets or Preds are due - kinda like Washington last year.

Then there’s the East where you’ve got the best team in the league, a very strong Leafs team (with a ton of assets to make an impact deal at the deadline), as well as previous cup winners in Pittsburgh and Washington.

I think I’d have them 7th on my list of contenders.
 
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