NHL PLAYOFFS: 1st round picks

WEST

1 San Jose Sharks vs. Colorado Avalanche
SHARKS IN 6

2 Chicago Blackhawks vs. 7 Nashville Predators
HAWKS IN 5

3 Vancouver Canucks vs. 6 Los Angeles Kings
KING IN 7

4 Phoenix Coyotes vs. 5 Detroit Red Wings
WINGS IN 6

EAST

1 Washington Capitals vs. 8 Montreal Canadiens
CAPS IN 5

2 New Jersey Devils vs. 7 Philadelphia Flyers
FLYERS IN 7

3 Buffalo Sabres vs. 6 Boston Bruins
SABRES IN 4

4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 5 Ottawa Senators
PENS IN 5

Flame Out

After 7 straight seasons of post-season action the streak will end this year for the Flames. After losing to the San Jose Sharks 2-1 last night along with the Colorado Avalanche beating the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in a shootout, the Flames were officially eliminated from the playoffs.

The Flames have been plagued by inconsistency for the past couple of seasons and it turned out to be their downfall this season. The offense dried up after losing leading goal scorer Mike Cammalleri in the off-season. Flames management and fans hoped now departed Olli Jokinen would fill in but it never panned out. The Flames lost 22 one goal games this season. including last night. The defense was the focus in the off-season as goals against needed to come down. With key addition of Jay Bouwmeester, the departure of Dion Phaneuf and the amazing season from Mark Giordano along with Vezina-type play from Miikka Kiprusoff, the Flames played the type of defensive hockey needed to win in the playoffs. Coach Brent Sutter along with brother and GM Darryl Sutter ride themselves on defensive style of hockey and the Flames definitely played that way.

All in all, it was a disappointing season for the Flames especially after a 17-6-4 start. December was an average month, with the Flames going .500 but January was the Flames down-fall and an ultimate season-low. The Flames lost 9 straight games including a 9-1 sch-lacking to the San Jose Sharks. The Flames never recovered from the losing streak and GM Darryl Sutter went crazy. He made 5 separate deals which saw 6 players go and 8 new faces come in. Mikael Backlund was also recalled during the trades so in total, 9 new faces were inserted in and out during the rest of the season. Bringing in that many new faces at that time of the year obviously spells panic but it will never spell success. In came Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Ian White, Jamal Mayers, Chris Higgins, Ales Kotalik, Steve Staios and Vesa Toskala out went Dion Phaneuf, prospect Keith Aulie, Olli Jokinen, Brandon Prust, Aaron Johnson and Curtis McElhinney.

The Flames now face some big questions going into the off-season. People's opinions range from firing GM Sutter, firing GM Sutter and Coach Sutter, trading captain Jarome Iginla and trading Miikka Kiprusoff.The Flames have prospects but other than Mikael Backlund and last years first round draft pick, Tim Erixon, many questions surround on whether or not they will become legitimate NHLers. The Flames don't have a 1st round draft pick this year after trading it to the Coyotes in the Jokinen trade and wont pick until the 3rd round. If GM Sutter doesn't get fired he has some big time decisions to make and will have to do something amazing to win back the fans confidence. I will have another post on what I think of the Flames trades they made this season and what I think they should do in the off-season.