A Shot to the Flames Groin!

Posted by: Phat Quinn

The Calgary Flames are going through what the Oilers went through last season; the injury bug. They have no future in the next few years, because their star players are on the decline, as the Oilers star players are on the up swing! The Flames don't have any up and coming prospects other then Brodie and Backlund as Sutter continues to trade away their first and second round picks, which isn't helping the Flames future.  I wouldn't be surprised if Sutter traded their first round pick at the deadline for another bad contract, and the Flames still won't make the playoffs. He'll blame the bad year on injuries, and the owners will agree.

The only positive that the Flames fans can look forward to is a solid defensive core. They are hard nose and physical, its challenging for their skilled opponents to have success against the Flames. Players like Sarich and Regehr abuse and smash the Oilers small forwards for years; but this all seemed to change as the Flames D seem timid to play against MacIntyre. In one of the pre-season games Mac plastered Regehr into the boards, Regehr looked back to see who it was; when he saw it was Big Mac he had no response. In that game the Flames defense didn't push around any of our players. It seemed that every time one of the Flames defenders went back to retrieve the puck in the corner, you can see the fear in their eyes.  

There is only one player that is fearless on the Flames roster, Ivanans. Well we will see how fearless Ivanans is Saturday, if he decides to seek revenge against the Oilers, weather he obliges MacIntyre or runs around and takes liberties on the Oilers smaller forwards. I don't think Ivanans ranks in the top 10 of the league heavy weights, but who am I to make that decision. Not only did Mac land a K.O. on Ivanans; but Stortini landed a TKO on Ivanans in the spring of 2009, yes i said Stortini!

Last year the Flames went 6-0 against the Oilers, with Bourque tallying 12 points in the process. The Oilers have already broken the curse, when they shut out the Flames 4-0 in the home opener.