After flirting with the bottom spot in the league for most of the year, the Flames ended up fourth last in the league. The Flames are in a spot that fans have practically never seen before, where they have fully embraced a roster reset and have leaned heavily into the young players in the organization. Conroy wants to be back in the playoffs, but he doesn’t just want to be in one year and out the next; he wants the team to be a consistent playoff lock. This process may take another couple of years of lower finishes in the standings, but it will be necessary for Conroy’s vision to be fulfilled. With next year being the first true year of this vision coming to light, where do you see the Flames finishing next year? We asked, you answered.
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Where will the Flames finish next year?
We presented the poll below to our readers:
Bottom 5
This would be a repeat of this past season. Depending on what the Flames do this offseason and how the young players progress, this result is quite likely. This past year, the team was projected to finish in this spot, and this was when they still had Weegar, Andersson, and Kadri on their roster. Additionally, it doesn’t seem like there are many teams that are on a downward trend like the Flames would be standings-wise.
Anaheim and San Jose have taken massive steps, while other teams like Chicago are hoping to take a step next year. The only team that I believe would be near the bottom again would be Vancouver. The Rangers still have Zibenajad, Trochek (for now), and Fox. Toronto is still sticking with its core of Matthews, Nylander, and Knies, and Seattle has not done anything to make me think they won’t be on a path to mediocrity again. Calgary and Vancouver seem like the easiest choices to pick for the bottom five next year.
Bottom 10
In my opinion, the Flames players would need to take a big step in production for this to happen. It’s not out of the question by any means, though. We saw Matvei Gridin play at a 48-point pace from Feb 17 to the end of the season, and we saw Zayne Parekh become one of the best players on the ice night after night near the end of the year, too. There is no doubt that Calgary has some great value in its young players, but can they take another massive step next year? This is one of the major areas that is going to decide if they improve their record next year or not.
Mushy middle
I personally see no scenario where the Flames are in this position. I get that lots of Flames fans have some bad memories of practically always finishing in the mushy middle, but many (and I mean many) things would need to go right (or wrong, depending on your viewpoint) for the Flames for this to happen. This is the first time the Flames have gone through this approach, so I truly believe this may be the end of the consistent mediocre finishes for the foreseeable future for this franchise.
Playoffs
Again, in no scenario do I see this happening. I will gladly eat my words if they end up doing this, but in my opinion, this isn’t a realistic option, at least for this year.
The road ahead
Conroy has a plan, and this year he has really stuck to it. I expect the Flames to be near the bottom portion of the standings for the next couple of years, but if their draft picks and player development go to plan, this team could become a strong contender for years to come.