Where to improve the Flames?
02.06.00 09.00MST
Editorial - New Coach and GM hard pressed to return to the Post Season
With any new appointment, there is optimism. But as the Flames missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year this season, that optimism is fragile. Al Coates’ stewardship of the Flames was not deemed a success, but his hiring was, at the time, seen as more of a band-aid. He was the smart choice. His calm business-like demeanour assured the Flames’ ownership group that Coates was keen to cut costs, and navigate the franchise through the hazardous waters of low Canadian Dollars and rising player salaries. With the ship back into safer waters, and the oil sector in the City thriving, the plan now is to be aggressive. Win now! Get those oil dollars back in the seats, wether they be corporate or proletariate.
Enter Dave Fyvie: a young man in a hurry. Assuming the now rare title of Coach and General Manager, Fyvie is a relative roll of the dice. He has no track record and limited experience. But his ideas impressed Harley Hotchkiss enough that the Team Owner handed him the keys to the City’s pride and joy.
The 33yr old Fyvie assured us the team can make the playoffs. Wether or not that is achievable is open to debate. So let’s begin.
The Flames finished the year with a 33-36-13 record that placed them 9th overall in the Conference, just 3pts shy of 8th place Los Angeles - the team that rode a hot Stephane Fiset all the way to the Stanley Cup. The Flames boast some young up-and-coming talent throughout the lineup with a sprinkling of Phil Housley and other mid-30’s vets adorning the roster.
Dave Fyvie wouldn’t have to look far to realise that Calgary’s goal production could be better along with the penalty killing. Goals against, on the other hand, was top ten in the league whereas the powerplay production was exactly middle-of-the-pack.
Dave Fyvie said “We need to be smart with the puck five-on-five and use our special teams to make plays.”
And where does a new General Manager extract these improvements? One can only guess that moving players in and out offer the new Executive the solution. But as the new chief is hesitant to name names or even positions, it falls on the fans and the media to speculate.
The players that broke-out last season: forwards Iginla, Savard and Martin St Louis all are on the right side of 30 and show signs of improving further still. Cory Stillman and Valeri Bure also dialled in good performances and are in their prime. With the Flames strapped for goals, it would be hard to consider moving any of those names out. Where the team seems to suffer from is the shallow depth of foot soldiers: players that occupy the middle-six of the lineup. Domenichelli, Corbet, Lindsay and Wiemer all have something to contribute, but had trouble complimenting the promising top six forwards. Perhaps augmenting this group of players is where we can expect changes.
As Calgary looks steady with its stable of good young defenders and ‘goalie of the future’ Jean-Sebastien Giguere on the back-end the road seems straight-forward for the new General Manager to improve the forward corps.
All of this sounds simple, but looming just days after free-agency begins, is the dreaded Expansion Draft. Where Mr Fyvie decides to hide his team’s strengths from the hungry clutches of Columbus and Minnesota remain unclear. He needs to simultaneously add to his roster and kick to the curb any deadwood without being stuck with a depleted top-six forward group and top-four blue-line.
The Entry Draft, held in Calgary just days after the Expansion Draft, could proved further agency to the young Executive in his first off-season. The Flames are slotted, after adding two new teams to the order, 15th overall. Not bad, but not a shoe-in to add any assets that can contribute right away. That being said, the trade market on the day of the draft is notably soft. The rest of the league is always keen to upgrade their rosters with the ease of simply walking to the next table with a pen and pad in hand. I imagine the new direction of the Flames will become evident here: in early July under the lights of the Calgary Saddledome.
Fyvie hinted yesterday at his press conference that he intends to “build this team down the middle and across the back.” Sounds to me like centre depth is where he intends on improving the team and looking at teams who have strength at that position could potentially give us some idea of who will be the team’s trading partner in the next few weeks. Narrowing that search to teams deep down the middle but starving for defensemen or wingers could improve speculation.
Calgary’s current centres of Savard, Shantz, Wilm, Dubinsky and Johansson are an interesting group of ‘maybe will be’s’ to ‘never were’s’. What’s missing is a true Franchise Centre that all teams covet, but this is not the 80’s. What Calgary needs most is a centre that can be truly two-way. A pivot that can help the scorers and hold his own in the defensive zone. Savard has proven to be a fantastic playmaker but does not posses a 200ft game. Shantz, and Wilm are great in their own end, but cannot be counted on to provide much offence. Johansson and Dubinsky may not even be good enough for big minutes in the NHL.
An asset that could be spent to shore up the centre corps is the diminutive winger from Russia. Valeri Bure (pictured), blocking a younger, cheaper winger on the depth chart by the name of Martin St Louis, could be the solution to Dave Fyvie’s shallow list of pivots. Bure flirted with the 30 goal mark this season with 28 goals (team leader) and 46 points over a full 82 game schedule. Will Fyvie part with Pavel’s younger brother? It is safe to say, the right handed sniper could be in demand and Calgary has pressing needs down the middle of the lineup. Bure’s even made remarks suggesting he’d be open to go elsewhere if it meant more ice-time.
The coming weeks and months will be critical for this team. Will the route to the playoffs be clear with a steady tailwind? Or will the Flames spend more time toiling in the tempest of mediocrity? Only time will tell.