Flames road gets tougher without Mark Giordano

Posted by seestyle on August 4th, 2022

Its hard to win when you're consistentlyoutpo se sed and outshot. Its even harder when thenyou lose one of your best players.

The Flames appear to have lost captain (and Norris Trophy contender)Mark Giordano (upper-body injury) for some time after he left Wednesday win over the Devils. How long? Nobody is saying.

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As per Brad Treliving, there is no update/timeline on Giordano (upper body).

Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames)

"We want to make sure we're being diligent in terms of the protocol on all of Jonathan Villar Jersey the medical side of things." - Treliving

Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames)

Certainly, the team is talking as if Giordano is going to be out a while. Defenseman Dennis Wideman was as saying Anytime you lose a guy like that you have to try to pick it up by committee, it's not going to me one guy that's going to pick up all those minutes, it's going to be spread around. The six of us will try to pick it up for him."

That doesnt sound like a team that expects Colby Rasmus Jersey its best player back any time soon.

And thats a problem. The Flames are a poor po se sion team, ranking in the bottom five of shot attempts (Corsi) and unblocked shot attempts (Fenwick) in almost all even-strength situations, overall Cal Ripken Jersey , close and when factoring in score adjustments.

Giordano is under 50 percent of shot attempts on the ice, but relative to his teammates, he stands out. Consider while hes on the ice, the Flames had 48.4 percent of the shot attempts. While hes off, that number drops to 42.7, which would be the worst mark in the league this side of the Sabres.

So it should be no surprise hes a positive influence on his teammates' numbers. Every Flames player who has this season has a better shot attempt differential with him than without him.

His partner on the blue line, T.J. Brodie, sees his shot-attempt percentage drop from 49 percent to 38.1 percent without Giordano. Without Brodie, Giordano's percentage dropped from 49 to 43.8, indicating just how well the two complemented each other or, if you want to be harsh, how weak Calgary's defense is beyond them.

With the Wild and Kings rapidly ascending the standings, the Flames dont have a lot of margin for error. They currently stand a point behind the Wild for the last wild-cardspot, and are Dylan Bundy Jersey tied with the Kings on points for the last spot in the Pacific. But its hard to argue Calgary is better than either of those teams, and that's withoutmentioning the Sharks, who are currently two points behind the Flames.

There is the trade deadline on Monday, but dont bank on Calgary making a big splash. Flames general manager Brad Treliving they are still balancing competing now with their long-term future:

Our goal and mi sion is to get into the playoffs. Weve put a lot of work into this season. Zach Britton Jersey The players have done an extraordinary job to put us into this position, so we want to help the team, Treliving said.

But Trevling then followed that up by saying: I dont believe were in the position where we can put top young a sets, top young players into these types of deals.

Given that the prices have been high this deadline, that would take the Flames out of the Jesus Sucre Jersey mix for a rental. And with , they may actually be sellers.

That may be hard to stomach for the Flames fans and players given how much of a pleasant surprise this season has been. But on the outside of the playoff race and with their underlying numbers, the Flames were not really contenders. Without their captain and best player, a playoff spot, let alone a deep playoff run, seems muchharder to fathom.