 |
| Backlund is one of only two players playing for the Flames that was drafted by the team. |
By Guest Blogger Greger Buer
When you hit a fork in the road, you must choose a path. Left. Right. The Calgary Flames have been sitting at the crossroads for the past five seasons. At the end of each year, the Flames either came off a crippling first round defeat or missed the playoffs entirely. After each of these disappointments fans, media, and folks in the organizations themselves would try to explain what they thought the team needed to do to improve. Most of the time the problems these groups found were definitely viable, but the fundamental problem is this was a veteran team that gets older every year.
The Calgary Flames are so desperate for youth that everyone around them reacts in utter shock on those few occasions when a young player cracks the roster. Look at the hype when Mikael Backlund broke through, when T.J. Brodie had a solid training camp, or when youngster Roman Horak was named to the season opening squad.
For most other teams an injection of youth is expected and at least one or two rookies make the jump each season. A quarter of the Nashville Predators seem to turn over each year, yet that team consistently makes the playoffs despite a payroll that is dwarfed by Calgary.
