Flames Season Preview
CappersPicks.com NHL Betting and gambling site provides the BEST Online hockey predictions for you to bet on for the 2009/2010 NHL hockey season! Stick with us all season long!
2009 Odds to win the Stanley Cup: 20/1
2009 Odds to win Conference: 9/1
Players Added: Jay Bouwmeester, Nigel Dawes, Jamie Lundmark
Players Lost: Mike Cammalleri, Adrian Aucoin, Rhett Warriner, Jordan Leopold, Jim Vandermeer, Todd Bertuzzi, Andre Roy, Wayne Primeau.
Preview: The Calgary Flames have almost lost any magic they had from their cup run in 2004.
Iginla stays strong, and Dion Phaneuf has added a large presence on the blueline, but the team on a whole is diminished and stuck somewhere between being experienced in the way Detroit is, and being young and flashy like the Chicago Blackhawks. Goaltending will be the breaking point for an otherwise capable team.
By adding Jay Bouwmeester to Dion Phaneuf and the Flames Defence corps, they might have enough to compensate for inconsistent goaltending. Brent Sutter as the head coach of the Flames is a gamble, but I’m sort of rooting for him to make an impression. I’m also anxious to see how Olli Jokinen can perform with a full season and some second season chemistry with his linemates.
This team is easily better than every team in the division with the exception of Vancouver, and those matchups will be the most interesting of either team’s seasons. The Flames should go more than one round into the playoffs, but a Cup run isn’t likely over Detroit, San Jose, Vancouver, or Chicago.
2009 NHL Predictions – Calgary Flames
Division: 2nd
Conference: 5th
Wins: 39
