Cheering when they fall (part two)!

I was going to do this as a comment to Cam's blog entry but it probably deserves one of its own. The Flames, who possess a super-star in Iginla, a world-class goaltender in Kipprusoff and a future Norris Trophy winner in Phaneuf, shouldn't be fighting the Avs for West's final playoff spot - but they are. For each of the three reasons I just mentioned, I still think that they will pull it out but it should not be this close and if their road woes continue once the playoffs begin then the Sea of Red will be a will be reduced to a gathering pool under Playfair's corpse.

Last season the Flames were the golden children going into the playoffs. Co-favorites, along with the other perenial underachieving Senators, to give us the first all-Canadian final since the Flames last won it all. Suter rode them for 82 games and when the Mighty Ducks came to town, they out worked a tired and dispirited Flames team. No problem, let up on the reins a bit and we can do this. Unfortuately the Flames' disappointment may prove to be as great as the Oilers' if they don't turn it around in a hurry.

Lowe's signings of Rolston (better save % than Hasek btw), Pisani and Horcoff can be questioned all you like but the truth is they are under contract and none are really out of the range of what comprables would be signed for. The real issue is Smyth. Both the Oil and Smyth took a pair of gambles. In the Summer the Oil gambled that Smyth would not have a career year and would cost less to sign later - lost that gamble. Smyth gambled that the Oilers would sign him at more than market price - lost that gamble. Smyth will likely still get his $ in July (heck, even from the Oilers) but if Lowe wasn't willing to overpay for Smyth - he got pretty good return for him in three first-rounders. The Oil have their own pick this season (it was last year's first that they traded to Min for Rolie) as well as the Ducks' so they will have a pretty well stocked cupboard in terms of prospects next year (they also, finally, have a new AHL team to put them on). The real question is how good will their pick be? At the rate they are diving, they could be in a top four pick position in a week and while the is bad news for today - it is how you build for tomorrow. What's the real price of losing a couple of games this week if you are already out of the playoffs when the win could be Cherpanov or Esposito? How can it hurt anyone? Oh, right, the games are against Colorado. Shall we all go down together?