Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Same Flames

03/23/2013 at 2:27pm EDT

from George Johnson of the Calgary Herald,

Hope is ebbing. Unrest growing. Blame moving out and spreading swiftly, like ripples in a still pond.

It’s all so numbingly, distressingly familiar.

With a fourth consecutive springtime of playoff-less hockey in the offing, will the Calgary Flames actually institute meaningful change or continue the familiar pattern of caution that has characterized this organizational philosophy?

Be warned: The usual, hollow post-failure vow to savagely, thoroughly critique the entire setup, top to bottom, and make the necessary alterations won’t cut it anymore. The rot has gone on too long.

They are, if you can bear to look, closer to 30th overall than eighth in the Western Conference.

continued

from the National Post,
The first thing you need to know about the Calgary Flames is their take on the new NHL: They never got the memo. There, steeled by Darryl Sutter's traditional view of how the game of hockey ought to be played, Calgary will win between 70% and 90% of the puck battles on a good night. Because that's another rule Calgary has its own take on: You don't win battles, you don't play here. Behind it all, for those rare times the opponent wins the puck, then manoeuvres it through the best defensive blue-line corps in the National Hockey League, stands Turku Broda himself -- possibly the best goaltender in the world today. "He's as good as I've ever played with, and I've played with some good ones," observed Flames winger Darren McCarty, "He's like Dom, but he's so much more in control. He's agile like that, but Dom has to make the rodeo save where Kipper doesn't. He's just there."
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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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