Caged Great
Registered User
With another frustrating effort in Dallas, the Calgary Flames are once again mired in a quandary. On the surface, the Flames are close to a playoff spot, only four points out of 8th, but are also stuck in 14th place, ahead of only four teams in the entire NHL. Unfortunately, when looking deeper into the math of the current situation, it does not smile kindly on the Flames side at this point.
The rough estimate for the threshold for 8th place is going to be around 54 points. The Flames currently have 26 points in the 27 games played, which puts them on pace for about 46. Unfortunately, that’s quite a bit off the pace for 8th. In order for the Flames to get up to 54 points the Flames need to acquire an additional 28 points, with only 21 games remaining, or having a record of 14-7. That doesn’t look that difficult on the surface, however, that translates to a .667 point percentage the rest of the way. Giving a comparison over an 82 game schedule, that’s a 109 point pace. Something which only 3 teams managed last year. The picture looks a fair bit uglier if the actual points necessary for 8th is any higher.
So, it appears as if we are headed for another season on the outside of the playoff picture, barring a 7 or 8 game winning streak sometime in the immediate future. The situation is fairly bleak for the current iteration of the Calgary Flames. Organizationally though, the cards are not stacked so decidedly against the Flames.
The rest of the article is here
http://www.firesidechat.ca/2013/03/19/there-are-some-silver-linings/