It’s no secret that the Flames offense was poor last year. They struggled to score consistently at both even strength and on the powerplay. When Sean Monahan and Matthew Tkachuk went down with injuries near the end of the season, Calgary’s anemic attack dried up completely.



What’s interesting about the Flames’ poor scoring is that it was paradoxically poor. Calgary was a top-10 or better team by most shot, chance and expected goal measures. It’s one thing to struggle getting pucks and chances on net – that makes a bad attack understandably bad. But the Flames poured pucks at opposition goaltenders all year and still finished tied for 26th overall in goals for.



The club’s struggle to score spurred Brad Treliving to axe his coaching staff and go hunting for an extensive depth upgrade up front during the offseason. However, there is some evidence that Calgary’s offense was in line to rebound...