The Flames lost 4 straight contests to end the 06/07 regular season. They limped into the play-offs and were soundly humiliated by the Red Wings, despite stretching the series to 6 games.
The Calgary team of last April was, by all measures, abysmal. They gave up a lot of shots, a lot of goals and didn't score many themselves. The talented individuals on paper didn't translate to a capable team on the ice.
Unfortunately, according to the available evidence, not much has changed over the summer. The Flames finished the pre-season on Saturday by losing to the Sharks 2-1. They managed only one win in eight games, that coming in a shoot-out. They were shut-out twice and scored a meager 13 goals over the 8 contests - a 1.6 GPG average. They surrendered 24 goals against, for a -11 GD. They lost several games to "lesser" rosters. They're record of 1-5-2 was only equaled by Pittsburgh (1-3-2) and Boston (1-4-1) and was surpassed by the rest of the league.
The Flames have won 3 games in their last 18 going back to April. And although Calgary boasted a top 10 offense last season, I can't seem to remember the last time they score more than 3 goals in a game.
Of course, this is probably overstating things given the relative importance of the pre-season. The Flames performance thus far, while not panic-inducing, is certainly disheartening. Particularly because it looks like they're going to start this season in the exact fashion they ended the last one. And I have BAD residual feelings about how they ended last season (for good reason).
I've slowly realized it was probably foolhardy to expect the summer months to erase the stain of failure from this club. Turning over a portion of the roster obviously wasn't enough to cure the Flame's ills. And clearly Keenan has only begun to institute his own environment in the club's dressing room and behind the bench. The (losing) culture that prevailed in April still prevails now and it appears that it might take more time than I personally anticipated to properly alter it.
I'm certainly not going to predict a season of failure based on a bad pre-season. But it's probably safe to say we'll be treated to another ugly October at the very least.
Sigh.
