The season so far...

A few observations on the season so far.



Its been a pretty successful season so far for the Flames. Hard to complain when they have been flirting with 1st in the North West for pretty much the whole year. The problem at the moment is, if your not in 1st your 6th, just 4 points away from 9th place. And a surging Red Wings squad with a hot goalie in Howard has to be cause for concern for all the teams in the West, especially when they are healthy.



Its great the see the North West is back to being the toughest division in hockey. At the moment, 7 points separate the top 4 teams since the Wild have turned their season around making it a 4 horse race. All other divisions have at least a 13 point spread between the top 4. I will be kind and not mention how the Oilers are fairing so far. Its been a tough year for our rivals from the north. Any time a team loses their top forward, dman and starting goalie for any significant time its going to be a long season. I almost feel bad for them....almost.



A look at the Flames from the goalie out:



Mikka Kiprusoft - Kipper has been showing that he still is the goalie all Flames fans have been hoping he still can be. He is among the league leaders in all the goalie stats, most importantly being SV% which is back up to a very healthy .926 after having that decline over the past few seasons. He has performed miracles once again for his team, many nights facing 35+ shots and keeping them in the game. There have been a few forgettable soft ones that have sneaked past Kipper, but most of the time he has been exceptional when he hasn't been hung out to dry by his team mates. The kick save against the Sharks has to be the save of the year. If Kipper can see it he will stop it. Kipper thrives on a heavy work load, so even with the Olympics coming up I think he will have enough left in the tank to take this team as far as they can in the playoffs. A few extra games off down the stretch would be great, but if the Flames are still fighting for playoff position I hope we see Kipper between the pipes whenever he is needed.

Curtis McElhinney - Curtis has looked pretty good when he has gotten the nod for a start. The team seems to be confident enough in themselves and in him when he is the backstopper. As I said, Kipper is who I want to see in goal when the game really matters. But all is not lost if McElhinney gets the call. As long as its not a long term thing.

Defence

Jay Bouwmeester - JBow has been an exceptional acquisition by Sutter. Flames fans can be confident having him patrolling the blue line for 25+ minutes a game, game in and game out. He has been solid all around for Calgary, in all situations. His offencive production is not at the level we were hoping for, but it is very apparent he has some great offencive skills at his disposal. The best is yet to come from Boumeester.

Mark Giordano - In my opinion, the Flames best dman this year hands down. Gio has developed into a solid all round defence man who is more than capable of playing in any situation thrown his way. If it were not for them depth this team has on the blueline, Gio could easily be playing on the number 1 pairing on a regular basis. He is sound defensively, makes outstanding breakout passes, and has the wheels to join the rush with excellent puck skills. Glad to see him back with the Flames after taking a year off overseas. Sutter needs to keep Gio with the team as he only has one year left in his current deal, and at just over $1M this season and next, Gio has to be one of the biggest bargains in the league. Sutter would be wise to renegotiate during this off season to show Gio that he is a valued part of this team.

Dion Phaneuf - Dion and the coaching staff have to decide what sort of blueliner Dion is going to be. Either he is going to be an offencive defenceman where the team can live with the defensive liabilities that will stem from that style of play provided Dion is putting up the points. Or he has to work on being another Regehr. A punishing, defensively sound defence man who the team is not counting on for offence, but know they can rely on to shut down the oppositions top offensive threats. I don't think that Dion game has matured enough to be the kind of player he is trying to be now, and because of that his game is suffering both at both ends of the ice. I still have faith that Phaneuf can be the cornerstone for the franchise in the future, but with Jbow signed long term as well as all of the other defensive assets available, I wouldn't be overly upset or surprised if Dion gets traded to help out the offence. Provided the return is right.

Robyn Regehr - Not the best start to the season for Reggie as he and Phaneuf seemed to take some time to gel together. But since the shaky start, Reggie had provided pretty much what we have all expected from him. Solid, hard hitting defensive play. Regehr taking an opposing player into the corner or end boards is generally a thing of beauty, with just a touch of nasty thrown in. Just ask Ales Hemsky.

Cory Sarich - Sarich has been pretty solid on the blueline when he has been in the lineup this season, which hasn't been enough. With the performance of Aaron Johnson and Steffan Kronwall who have taken Sarich's spot when he was out injured, his cap hit of $3.6M for the next few years seem rather high for a 3rd pairing dman. Especially when there are others in the system able to fill the spot at a much lower salary. If Dion doesn't get moved, I expect Sarich will to put a few more goals up front.

Adam Pardy - Pardy is developing into a very good #5/6 defense man for the Flames. He is very sound in the role is expected to fill, and does not make very many mistakes. His puckhandling and skating abilities have hugely improved since last season, as has his confidence. With another year to go in his contract, hopefully Pardy's game will continue to improve as it has over the last season.

Aaron Johnson - From the limited amount of game time Johnson has had, I have liked what I have seen. An agressive, hard hitting, hard working player, perfect for the Sutter system. He would move into the 3rd pairing with Pardy very nicely.

I'll cover the forwards later.

C