By Payton Knoph
Frustration has been mounting all season on a Calgary Flames team that cannot seem to find it's identity. With inconsistencies all around, there does not seem to be any sense of a team ready to go any distance this season. While they are 5 games above .500, the Flames are also a collective -3 in goal differential. Of all playoff teams, the Flames are last in goals against. Defensively this team is a bust.
At the start of the season the Flames prided themselves on the quality defensive depth that they assembled. Shea Weber, a 36 year old veteran was brought in to play backup minutes, a role that perhaps was not up to his liking. So, the Flames traded upcoming RFA defenseman Jonas Brodin to the Buffalo Sabres. Now, getting top-4 minutes, Weber is still not performing up to par -and neither are the rest of his defensive partners.
The Flames are flawed. And with the trade deadline quickly approaching, the team will be looking to make most of the expiring assets that they have in defenseman Nick Grossman and Shea Weber. It remains to be seen what kind of return that they will get, but it will certainly be geared towards restocking the farm team in the way of picks and strong prospects.
Look for the Flames to be busy in the coming weeks.
1/4/2021 - 225 words
