00:00The Calgary Flames have certainly been playing better right up until the third period of their
00:04game against the Seattle Kraken where things all fell apart. But where are the Flames right now
00:10in the whole tanking situation? Let's take a look and just a lay of the land for the Calgary Flames
00:16as we flip the calendar to 2026. So the 2026 portion of the schedule, not overly kind to the
00:33Calgary Flames, but there's a lot of people in the fan base who are particularly happy about that.
00:38So let's take a look here. Right now Calgary is still bottom three in the Western Conference.
00:44They are currently, that's points, right? Yes, they are currently at 40 points, which is
00:51rough going Western Canada. Three points up on Vancouver and six points up on the Winnipeg Jets
00:58where the bottom has just completely fallen out there. And no East teams are below them. It's a
01:04very much a Western front at the bottom of the NHL standings at this particular time. And that is
01:11where a lot of people want the Flames to be. Now again, with a whole lot in the NHL just in general,
01:17but with the Western Conference specifically for this discussion, all of that is to say the Flames
01:25also just five points out of a playoff spot. So this is where you get a lot of the concern
01:31about the murky middle and everything like that. And my thought on this has kind of remained the same
01:37the whole time. It's that I don't think that you need to worry about where this Flames team is going
01:44to be at. The time you start to worry about the Flames really making a push is when you start to
01:49hear them in trade conversations for not the right reasons, right? Like everyone wants them to trade
01:54Rasmus Anderson. That should happen soon. Everyone wants them to move on from Kadri and Blake Coleman as
02:00well. Those last two we'll see on that, but this isn't a very good hockey team. Like that's basically
02:08the crux of this. And I know that they've won a lot of games and they've been able to kind of work
02:12their way back. But you think about it, like they've been a pretty good hockey team since basically
02:18November, right? Like it's a two month stretch where they've played some pretty good hockey after
02:22a disastrous start. They've worked their way back to just two points below NHL 500. And they're still
02:28third last in the National Hockey League. Like it is, it's going to take a couple of just wild runs
02:36for the Flames to work their way back into a playoff spot or even into playoff contention. So with this
02:42roster, as it sits right now, yes, Dustin Wolf is kicking, like it is rebounding. And that's what you
02:49want to see. I still don't think it's going to be a problem. Team Tank, I don't think you have to worry
02:55about it. It's just, it's not a good team. Like you look at the teams ahead of them right now,
02:58like the Blackhawks, the Blues, the Predators, that group was kind of anticipated to be around
03:04where the Flames are anyway. And like the Blackhawks, they're at this spot and they're
03:09going to get Bedard back here pretty soon. The Blues have significantly more NHL talent than the Flames
03:15have at this particular time. Now that we can have a lot of discussion about where you would rather be
03:20at this point, the Blues or the Flames, but still that the Blues are a better NHL team on this
03:25January 6th, 2026 than the Flames are. The Preds may start selling off so they could become an issue,
03:30but right now, again, better hockey team than the Flames are. And they've beaten Calgary a couple of
03:34times now and are working their way out of their doldrums. Like you just, it would be one thing if
03:39the Flames, I thought, were a significantly better team than some of the teams ahead of them, but they're
03:43not. And I don't think they're better than Vancouver, who's behind them. And I certainly don't think
03:47they're better than the Jets who are behind them and having a very difficult go of it right now
03:51this season. So team tank, I still think everything is fine. Tal John, to your point,
03:56the horrible start was epic. Yeah, that helped a lot. And that's a lot to dig yourself out from
04:02when there isn't another team that is openly and outwardly tanking, unless like you consider the
04:08Vancouver Canucks, who moved on from their number one defenseman. But still, like I think
04:13laser beams pointed at Earth, game on the line, planets on the line, and Max Kellerman has taken
04:20Iguodala, I would take the Canucks in a game over the Flames right now. If everyone is at their best,
04:26the Canucks still have a better roster than Calgary does. So this is, it's been a battle back,
04:32and it's the Flames once again, just being the Flames. But in terms of like a mushy middle or anything
04:38like that, I still don't think you really have to worry about that at this particular time for this
04:43group. Tal John also in the Twitch chat, good for the draft, we should not be worried about making
04:50the playoffs till the new building. I'm with you, 100%. I don't mind how the Flames are going about
04:57it, where you just, you throw the kids in and see where they land, you know? Like, I hope that
05:03Parekh, and we'll talk about him in a little bit, I hope Parekh gets an extended look now at the NHL
05:08level, and just see where he, see where it goes, see how it goes. I would love for Stromgrin to get
05:13an opportunity here. Steinberg just tweeted out that Beecher's, I think, week to week, I just saw.
05:18So I would like to see Stromgrin get an opportunity. Let some of these kids, Karens, should be back in
05:24at some point. I think Gradeen should have an opportunity here at some point. Let the kids play,
05:28and let the chips fall where they may. So no, like it should not be, oh, try to go out and trade
05:33for a number three centerman. Like, if you start to hear the Flames creep up in, like, Kiefer Sherwood
05:37rumors, then you get worried. But as currently constituted, this ain't that good of a hockey
05:43team. They try really hard, and they make life really miserable on teams who, in the dog days of
05:49the NHL season, would kind of not like to have to work that hard, quite frankly. And that's where
05:54Calgary picked up a lot of points last year, and that's where they've picked up quite a few points
05:57this year. But you saw it last night. If Calgary has anything less than their A game, it's really
06:02difficult for this team to win hockey games. So the tank, not a concern. Not even worried about
06:07it a little bit. You're right, Tal John. Like, they should be building through the draft at this
06:11particular time. And I am a little surprised the Rasmus Anderson trade has yet to come down.
06:18I still think it'll probably happen before the Olympics, but I thought it happened before the
06:21season, and then I thought it happened before Christmas. So I have been wrong on a number of
06:26different levels on that one. And Kadri and Coleman, like, Coleman is playing phenomenal hockey right
06:31now. And I just, at some point, someone's gonna get desperate. With, maybe it's now,
06:37Colorado, losing Landis Cog for a little bit. But Kadri is just exactly what every playoff contending
06:45need, every playoff contending team needs right now. So the thought of Calgary not getting just
06:51a blow-away offer for him, I don't think, I think that's gonna come. Do I think someone will give a
06:59godfather offer for Blake Coleman? Probably not. I think they should. Like, I think he would really
07:04benefit a playoff team. But I do wonder if they get a godfather offer for Kadri, all of a sudden
07:09Coleman becomes much more available in trade conversations and works it out that way. So,
07:16yeah. The tank, where it's at right now, yes, it would be nice if they were just so far out,
07:20you'd think they're in first. Like, just so far back that it's just, there's no hope of any chance
07:28of them moving up in the standings. And that's not where they're at. It's probably not where they're
07:32going to be at because everything is just absolutely locked in. And everyone is just so
07:39muddled and tight in the West right now. But more losses will come for the Flames. That they have a
07:47Wednesday night game here against Montreal. I think Montreal is a really interesting test case
07:52for the Flames to look at. In terms of, like, where the rebuild can help and everything like
07:58that. But you look at the schedule after that. Like, Boston, they beat Boston. But that's still,
08:03again, I think they're better. Like, I just, again, I don't think the Flames are that good.
08:06So, I'm looking at all these teams and it's like, well, that could be a win. But probably not.
08:10Like, it's not a murderer's row coming up. Boston, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Blackhawks,
08:15then back home against the Islanders, the Devils, the Penguins. And then it starts to get a little
08:19bit tough. Well, once we get toward the end of the month. But even then, like, that's a row of
08:23teams battling for playoff spots at this particular time. But then you go into the, toward the break
08:30here. And it's home Devils, home Penguins, home Caps, then home Ducks, at the Wild, Sharks. Leafs
08:38come to town, Oilers will be here again, and then at the Sharks again. So, that last one against the
08:43Oilers is the last one before the Olympic break. I just, there's a lot of losses in there. And I
08:48think everything is going to be all right for the Flames on the whole tanking front. That is
08:54absolutely for sure. Looking at Deeds' comment here about Zayn Parekh, I want to get to that here in a
09:04little bit. I have a couple of things on that. I just want to talk more about the Flames stuff here
09:08first, and then we'll talk about Parekh. Because I do have something on Zayn at the World Junior
09:12Hockey Championships and everything like that. As far as last night's game goes, I think it was
09:17kind of a perfect summary of where this team is at right now. Because they had a ton, like they played
09:25really hard. And they created actually quite a few opportunities. If nothing else, they had a ton of
09:30zone time early on. It kind of progressed, right? Like they were working hard, winning a lot of puck
09:35battles. I thought their work in limiting what Seattle could do on their exits and entries was a
09:40real big part of the first 40 minutes of that game. Calgary had a ton of zone time. It wasn't really
09:45leading to a lot of dangerous chances. And then the danger started to come. I think they had 11 high
09:49danger chances in the second period or something along those lines. They were able to really start to
09:54create off of those chances. But again, it's the lack of finish on this team. They just, they don't
10:00have those goal scorers. Coronado, the aim was just off for him last night, that the shots were kind of
10:05going all over the place. So they did a good job of creating the opportunities, but they just don't
10:11have the guys to take advantage of all the opportunities, which is something we've been
10:14saying about this team basically since Goudreau and Kachuk left. That has always been the case with
10:20this group. But I did really like what they were able to do in limiting what Seattle could do
10:25on the exits and thus the entries into the zone. So Seattle would get a couple of rush opportunities,
10:31some good chances. Wolf would have to make a couple of good saves, but then Calgary was able
10:34to rush back out and set things up very well again. So again, some positive things that they did,
10:41but overall, they just don't have the guys to finish that can put this one away. And then it
10:46just shows this team cannot take a period off because you go to the third period, they've been
10:51battling for 40 minutes. It's a 1-1 hockey game. This is an opportunity to step up and really
10:55take this one over. And then you get a bad turnover and a goal. And then this team is just not doing
11:03what it's supposed to do in terms of, again, the entries and the exits. They let Seattle just free
11:10and clear out of the defensive zone, not hindered at all. And so that creates the rush up ice. And
11:15when you get that, when it's not a slow exit and you are able to rush three, four guys out,
11:20you get what happened on the done goal. And it ultimately was very poor D zone coverage from
11:26Calgary, but you get Kako rushing up the right wing side. Beneers comes in and kind of takes that
11:31wing as well. Kako steps up right inside the blue line and was, honestly, you could almost see how
11:39surprised he was with how much time he had. Like, it looked like he was ready to stop up and go,
11:43oh, oh, wait a minute. I have, there's time now. And he's able to put a perfect pass to done,
11:50who's able to make a move, go in and score. But it's Beneers driving in that kind of takes
11:54Kuznetsov back a little bit, backs him up and creates all that time for Kako to be able to stop
11:59up, make the pass to done and score. Should a defenseman be able to walk three of your players
12:04to get into the slot and get the goal? No. But all of that gets set up because it was a very clean
12:10exit for Seattle. They're able to rush up the ice. And now the flames are kind of in scramble mode.
12:15And of course, you're going to back off and take probably Seattle's best player in Beneers and
12:20watch him. But that lets Kako kind of pick the team apart. And so it just, Calgary stopped doing
12:24what made them successful in the first two periods. And it just shows they're not good enough to take
12:29a period off because Seattle kind of ran their show after that and was in complete control of
12:35everything from that point on. So it just, this really did summarize a lot of what is wrong with
12:41this flames team where they don't have enough guys who can finish and they just don't have the talent
12:47to be able to play at even 85% against teams that are fringe playoff contenders in the NHL. I know
12:55Cooley was a little under the weather for this game, but I do, I do think we're getting into too many
13:02games now for Dustin Wolf in a row. That was his sixth straight and he's been playing excellent.
13:07And I, I didn't notice it as quickly as, as Kelly Rudy did where Wolf was maybe fighting it a little
13:12bit. Um, I thought he made some excellent saves. Now, when you go back and watch, maybe you can
13:17kind of see like, okay, yeah, he is maybe not as sharp on rebound control and everything that he needs
13:22to do, but he is still at least making some great saves. Like he was, he was good in this game,
13:29but we've seen him be great. Honestly, even if Cooley isn't ready, then throw say in there or
13:34something. I just, I think Wolf needs a bit of a breather now because we're getting back to a
13:39pretty ridiculous pace for the flames. Number one goaltender in a season where you're third last
13:43in the national hockey league. You don't need to be putting those kinds of miles on your young
13:47defenseman or sorry, on your own goaltender in a season that really doesn't matter a whole lot.
13:51So, um, interested to see now what happens. Like I said, I would like to see Stromgren get back in the
13:55lineup. Um, I would like to see Parekh work his way back in and, um, just get a real extended run.
14:03And again, we'll talk about him here in a second, just quickly on the Seattle side, Grubauer continues
14:07to kind of step up. That was the big issue for them last year is that goaltending. They just
14:11couldn't, couldn't stop a thing. And that ended up spiraling them into a number of different problems,
14:18but like it's a fine hockey team. You have been here. So I think is going to be really, really good.
14:22But aside from that, it's just, they're kind of where the flames are. Just, they have a bit more
14:28talent, an elevated version of where the flames are, where they have a bit more talent up and
14:31down the lineup, but they probably needed to rebuild a little bit sooner and not try to do
14:36the Vegas thing of just make the playoffs right away. Um, because they, like they have veneers,
14:41right? Hasn't turned into that guy yet. Nice goal. Um, but hasn't really turned into that guy yet,
14:46but it's like, it's a fine hockey team. It's not one that scares you at all, but a pretty good hockey
14:53team nonetheless. And veneers looks like he really is something after maybe a couple of years that
14:57weren't necessarily what he was looking for. Uh, tall John in the chat, I may fly home for hockey
15:01day in Canada. My parents live in Moncton making that decision today or tomorrow. Oh man, that would
15:06be, that'd be a lot of fun. I, I, I do like sometimes sports net can get a little hokey with the hockey day
15:12in Canada stuff and everything else that goes around it. But I do love the idea of just Canadian
15:17matchups all the way through the day. Um, or Canadian adjacent because we only have seven or
15:20we have seven teams now instead of the six, but I love the idea of just hockey day. We just roll it
15:25all the way through all these Canadian matchups, really gear it up and make it a, make a big day
15:29of it. Um, and so yeah, get to fly home, hang out with the fam, launch 12 hours of hockey or, uh,
15:36just a couple, depending on what games you want to pick. Um, it sounds like a great idea,
15:40tall John, but, uh, obviously, you know, a lot of things can go into it. Never been to Moncton.
15:44Seems like a cool place though. Um, so hopefully you get to enjoy that out there. Uh, that's it
15:48for this part of the flames talk. We're going to get into a couple of other hockey discussions here
15:52on the live stream, or if you're watching this after the fact, uh, in other videos, but, uh, do
15:57want to remind you guys that, uh, really want to put the pedal to the metal growing the channels here
16:02this year. So if you could share, uh, share this video, if you're watching live or watching this
16:06after the fact, um, last year, the, the growth was a lot of fun, uh, seeing a few more people in the
16:11chat, getting to interact with a few more people. Uh, that was great, but it's, it's kind of go time
16:15now for, uh, needing this to, to grow more. Not that I love everyone who is here. I just want you
16:20guys to have more people to chat with. So, uh, if you could hit that share button and, uh, send it out
16:25to your, your flames fan friends, and, uh, we can keep the conversations going all throughout the day
16:29here on Couch Potato Diary.
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