Enjoying the Flames

Johnny "Hockey" Gaudreau

My favorite sports teams are a mess right now. The Orioles are pathetic. The Eagles are mired in mediocrity. Penn State is, too. The Spurs just got kicked out of the "play-in" for the playoffs. The only team with anything going for it right now is, surprisingly, the Calgary Flames.

The Flames are on the cusp of a 100-point season (that's happened only two other times since 1991) and are likely to lock up the top spot in the Pacific conference. Their best player, Johnny Gaudreau, passed the 100-pt mark for the first time in his career. Matthew Tkachuk may soon follow suit. The team went 7-0-0 on a homestand in February, becoming the first team in NHL history to do so.

The Flames have made a few smart moves in recent years:

- Their coach is once again Darryl Sutter, who led them to within one game of the crown last time he was their manager in 2004. From wikipedia, Sutter "is capable of motivating inferiorly skilled teams into overcoming more talented opponents." His "philosophy starts with strong goaltending, team defense and two-way forwards." We've seen that this year, as one site noted when analyzing the Flames' success.

- They returned to their classic uniform. Love that white-hot stylized C.

- They capitalize on value with smart player signings/trades: Jacob Markstrom, Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane, Noah Hanifin, and Tyler Toffoli are all key contributors.

- They get value out of their homegrown talent: Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, Rasmus Andersson, and Mikael Backlund come to mind.

The Flames are a small-market team, so there is urgency here. Whenever a 'little guy' goes far, the team is destined to be split up soon thereafter, as the quality players are generally snapped up on crazy contracts from other teams.

Stay together, boys!!

It's been hard to capture a no-kidding depth chart, because the line combinations are always in flux. From espn.com, here are the current player stats (for those who have played all year plus Toffoli, who was traded to them mid-year):

One depth chart from capfriendly.com:

Another from CBS Sports:

And a final from dailyfaceoff.com:

I don't know what this season holds, but it's been fun to watch.