Beyond the Boxscore Weekly: Nothing but losses from the Calgary Flames

The Calgary Flames failed to pick up a win as their play hit a season-low in quality before the first month ended. They constantly have trouble getting to where they need to be in the offensive zone aided by everyone struggling to transition the puck into attack mode. If you can’t successfully manoeuvre the puck up ice, you’re going to be chasing it in your own end instead. Nobody has stepped up, nobody is the Flames clear cut best guy, and nobody really seems to want to do anything about it either.

The St. Louis game may be the worst from an emotional fan perspective – it really felt there was a lack of effort in that one. The Heritage Classic against the Oilers was also a struggle to watch. The speed of the Oilers had Calgary’s defencemen backed in all night and overwhelmed the Flames. They have really lost any form of a solid structure on the breakout and forecheck – it’s creating chaos, a lack of chemistry, and stacking up losses for them.

This Week’s Risers

• Blake Coleman: 60.71 CF%, 51.85 SCF%, 50 HDCF%, 54.50 xGF%

Blake Coleman was the only Flames player to finish with an even amount of high danger chances for and against. You don’t really notice him out there doing his thing but he’s always good to contribute 12-15 goals, 20-25 assists, and rock-solid defensive play. The trouble is when the guys at the top of the salary cap fail to produce you start looking down the list and Coleman’s name is high up on there. The amount of offence he produces would be fine if the top dogs performed but they need a bit more for their dollars spent right now. Coleman is the riser this week only because everybody else on the roster is a faller.

This Week’s Fallers

• Elias Lindholm: 38.46 CF%, 16.67 SCF%, 14.89 HDCF%, 21.68 xGF%

Brutal stretch of play here from Elias Lindholm. As the number 1C you have got to be able to elevate the others that play with you – Lindholm has not done that. He wants big time money yet is tracking as a complementary centre rather than a driver. His play is lowering his price tag by the day and if this doesn’t correct itself in a hurry we will most likely see Lindholm end the year with a new logo on his jersey.

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