Iowa_Flames_Fan

I know a lot of Flames fans who would disagree with you. Playfair has been under fire on the Flames message board for a while, for his failure to prepare and motivate the players on a consistent basis. Both criticisms are probably overstated. The truth is, they have very different styles. Playfair is more of an Xs and Os coach, very patient and tactical--and perhaps a little too slow in making decisions on the fly, which may explain why he has a hard time getting the right matchups during road games. Babcock is more of a motivational guy, as I understand it--maybe not a deep thinker, but a guy who gets the best out of every player in every game--most of the time. I'm no expert on how he's been this year, but his regular-season record, particularly the record in big games, speaks for itself to some degree.

Hey guys, Another Flames fan here--just joined. You guys seem to have a great forum here, with a ton of good discussion. Hope I can contribute in a positive way. Plenty has been said about the special teams, Calgary's road play, and those are all reasons to take heart. But I wanted to add my two cents, because it sounds like part of what is informing people's pessimism is the Wings' playoff performance in past years, especially last year. Last year was an entirely different ball of wax. Edmonton snuck into the playoffs with a record that is quite a bit worse than Calgary's was this year. They changed their system, gave teams a different look and rode a hot goaltender to the finals, a recipe for success in any playoff year. This year, there's very little to choose between any of the teams in the West. Detroit is a better team overall, but the difference isn't as great. With that said, Calgary was picked to compete for the conference at the start of the year--as it turned out, they didn't even compete for the division, as a result of an ill-timed slump and atrocious play on the road. Which leads to the main difference between this year and last: Edmonton was an underrated, overachieving team. Calgary is an overrated, underachieving team. I always keep hope alive. But I still like Detroit in six or seven.