The arc of a National Hockey League build is anything but symmetrical. It goes up, it evens out, then your provincial rivals comes to town and spank you 7-3 on a Saturday night, and you feel like you’ve almost got to start all over again.
As the Calgary Flames trundle into the Air Canada Centre on Monday for a date with the Toronto Maple Leafs, followed by visits to Montreal and Ottawa for a chilling three games in four nights bit that will get them to the all-star break, the rekindling of the Flames has been reduced to a smoky affair.
Suddenly, the fire is choking, and general manager Brad Treliving is huddled low, fanning the blaze. Where there was fairly recently some promising fire, suddenly fragile embers remain, with the Flames clinging to the final wildcard spot in the West.
Nearly 50 games into the season, and Calgary is fragile. More fragile now than they were 30 games in.
“What’s concerning is, we’ve got to have more pushback,” captain Mark Giordano said after Calgary’s nationally televised debacle. “We’ve got to be more resilient when things do go bad. We’re getting behind, then we’re giving up more. We’ve got to stop this.
“Some of the mistakes we’re making are glaring mistakes. At this level they can’t happen. (The Oilers) just ate us up tonight.”
Ironically, the Flames suddenly find themselves where the Oilers used to be. The goaltending has submarined. Players who had shown leadership at a young age have plateaued. Progress that was there a month ago has disappeared. Indeed, it has backslid.
Is Sam Bennett the centre they thought he was going to be?
Does Johnny Gaudreau complain too much about the same treatment that every star player gets? And where did his extra step go?
This is just one rough year for Sean Monahan, right? He’ll never be a great skater, but he still has the pedigree to be a first-line centre on a championship-caliber team, doesn’t he?
You can build a defence around Dougie Hamilton, right? Because we’re wondering about that amongst constant rumours that he’s available at the right price.
Those are the micro issues on a team looking to evolve from middle of the pack to elite. The bigger picture is less about individual talent, and more about believing in head coach Glen Gulutzan’s process.
“It’s all mindset. Confidence. Belief in what you’re doing,” the Flames sharp, young coach said this past weekend. “Look at the great teams. It might be minute No. 15; it might be minute No. 55 when they break through. But they have that belief (that they will). You’ve got to create that in the locker room.”
There is a common insecurity on rosters that aren’t quite sure whether they have what it takes to win on any given night. They panic after an early goal against, providing reason to abandon the plan.
It’s a vicious cycle. They don’t trust the process enough to stick by it, and as such, the process doesn’t work very well. So, they don’t trust it.
“The funny thing with succeeding is you’re going to fail more times than you succeed,” said newcomer Troy Brouwer.
“Our problem is, we change when we get behind by one (goal),” admitted Gulutzan. “That’s not enough (of a deficit) to change. The game is 60 minutes for a reason. You play the whole 60 the same, then you give yourself a chance at the end.”
Gulutzan’s biggest problem lies in goal. There, a game plan that held Edmonton to one regulation goal a week before was totally undermined when three of the first four shots got by Chad Johnson in the rematch.
“You have a game plan for a team … and then you allow three in (four) shots,” Gulutzan said after the 7-3 loss. “Now the whole two days you spent preparing are out the window.
“It seemed like every time we made even a little error, it went in.”
That’s coach-speak for, “We need some saves here.” That will be the number one job for GM Brad Treliving, who must find an upgrade on both Johnson and off-season acquisition Brian Elliott, who has lost the trust of the organization.
There is talent here, and young Matt Tkachuk should be a Calder Finalist. Treliving can build with this core, but the question is, how high?
And, while we’re at it, how fast?
This is Treliving’s third season in Calgary, and after reaching the playoffs in 2014-15, his team failed to make it last season. This season, it’s touch and go.
Meanwhile, up the road, the Oilers have blazed past. They are bigger, better, and have their franchise goalie. Suddenly, the Flames are in their rearview mirror, and going the wrong direction.
Tonight, it’s the Maple Leafs, who are playing with bold belief and oodles of skill. Surely their project hasn’t passed Calgary’s too.
Has it?
