I have spoken before about how every single NHL betting season throws out a team that is a surprise package in a good way. What I did not talk about where the surprise teams who ended up being a whole lot worse than people guessed they would be. The Calgary Flames were the big surprise hit of last season, but they have been a crushing disappointment this time around, and may well be proving that last year was nothing more than lightning in a bottle. The Flames are unlikely to make it into the playoffs this time around, and are in fact still in the running to get the top pick at the next draft. The fact that they did not do much at the trade deadline suggests that this might be a team that is going to be active in free agency, especially with so much cap space still sitting wide open. The Flames will have another tough outing on Wednesday when they welcome the Nashville Predators to town.
