I will be rating each team on three different areas which of course are goalies, defensemen and forward. The ratings are from 1 to 10. The rating consists of his personal ability and his importance to the team. This means that a player who scores way more points might get the same rating as someone who does not. There are two categories that i will rate: Every position as whole and then every single player. I will also put in the lines that i think/hope they will play next season. Then last i will give a grade to the whole team.
Calgary Flames
Goalies
Miikka Kiprusoff: The backbone of Flames. Has won the Vezina and William M. Jennings and was considered as one of the possible Hart trophy frontrunners in 04-05 season. Still a really good goalie and important for the Flames. Rating: 10
Henrik Karlsson: Decent backup, but if things continue as they have been will play less than 20 games. Played 16 games and lost 11 of those, but 6 in OT. Rating: 7
Kiprusoff is getting to the age where he might have to start giving away some starts. It makes Karlsson more important and with Calgarys defense getting slightly worse it might be more important than ever. Goalie rating: 9
Defensemen
Cory Sarich: The veteran of Flames defense. Only defender who is over 30 years old and with that he might have to take a big role. Is he ready for it or has he ever been good enough for it? For the sake of every Flames fan, i hope he is. Rating: 8
Mark Giordano: The only real offensive threat in Flames blueline. Important player and will probably keep on forming the first defensive pair with Jay Bouwmeester. Rating: 9
Brett Carson: Is 25 years old and has 78 NHL games. With that he should be a top 6 defender in Clagary. Would not be the first time in NHL history that someone has been a late bloomer and that is exactly what Calgary would need. Rating: 7
Chris Butler: The most games he has played in a single season is 59. Without decent backup that might backfire big time. There are really no big flaws in his game so if he gets a full season he should do ok. Rating: 7
Jay Bouwmeester: The alternate captain of Flames. Has not missed a single game after the lockout. The backbone and image of Calgary blueline. Rating: 9
Anton Babchuk: Good player, but has had some problems with contracts and behavior in the past. Hopefully that is behind and the Flames have a good two way defender in him. Rating: 8
Flames have 6 good defenders, but really no backup. Only way to success is avoid injuries and that is not something that you should build on. So that limits my Rating: 8
Forwards
Alex Tanguay: One of the better players in Calgary. Forms the first line with either Morrison or Jokinen and Jarome Iginla on the right. Important member and a good player. Rating: 9
Matt Stajan: Decent center, but surprisingly with 27 years in the meter he is the second youngest forward in the Flames squad. Only Mikael Backlund is younger than him. Rating 7
David Moss: Scored 17 goals which is 6th best in the Flames squad. Considering that he only played 58 games he could have done a lot more for the Flames. Has been injury plagued throughout his career. Rating: 8
Brendan Morrison: Top 6 forward centered the Calgary first line before a season ending knee injury. Led Calgary in +/- with 13 and recorded 43 points in 66 games. Important, but gettin too old like the whole Flames squad. Rating: 8
Daymond Langkow: Had a nearly career ending injury and slowly returned to action really late during the regular season. Still a good player if fit but like i have said so many times the Flames squad is just too old and he is no exception: Rating: 8
Tom Kostopulos: Moved to Calgary from Carolina, but not really sure he is what they need. Do not get me wrong, he is a good player but on the wrong side of 30 and a right winger where Moss and Iginla already play high minutes. Rating: 7
Olli Jokinen: Top 6 forward and if you ask me a clear choice as number one center. A really good center who is a threat at all times. Rating: 9
Tim Jackman: Decent right winger who with 29 years is one of the "younger" players in the squad. Good, but not marvelous in any aspect. Rating: 7
Raitis Ivanas: Latvian hockey player. He is a miracle in that way, but otherwise not. Played one game last season after fighting with Steve MacIntyre he suffered a concussion that kept him out the whole season. Also old so... Rating: 6
Jarome Iginla: The god in Calgary. Has scored over 1000 points 1106 games. He is one of the 10 players in the National Hockey League who has scored 30 or more goals in 10 consecutive season putting him in a group with Jari Kurri, Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Hull and Mike Bossy to mention a few. Tipped to be a certain hall of fame player he leads the Flames as one of the best players ever. Rating: 10
Niklas Hagman: Has to do better than last year, but is a 20+ goal scorer at best and if plays well is a valuable asset to Flames. Rating: 8
Curtis Glencross: Good and important player for the Flames, but with players like Bourque and Tanguay on his position it is hard to get too much minutes. Rating: 8
Rene Bourque: Second line left wing. Ia able to score impressive amounts of points and is really important for the Flames. Competition like Glencross and Hagman will keep him trying his best every day. Rating: 9
Mikael Backlund: The only really young player in Calgary. Showed some promise last year and hopefully will keep on improving. Rating: 7
Overall some flashes of brilliance, but a really old squad with some inconsistent performers so i have to give Rating: 8
Lines:
Tanguay-Jokinen-Iginla
Bourque-Morrison-Glencross
Hagman-Backlund-Moss
Kostopoulos-Stajan-Jackman
Bouwmeester-Giordano
Sarich-Babchuk
Butler-Carson
Kiprusoff
Calgary has a good squad but really no backup. Old and injury prone team is not promising either, but with some quality players i give them Rating: 8
Key factors
+Some really good players
+In paper tough team
+Decent players from first to fourth line
-No depth
-Really old core
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