Colorado's collection of stars, all high first-round draft picks, have a field day in a 6-2 Flames loss that shows what a rebuild can look like
Nathan MacKinnon was the first overall draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche in 2013. Mikko Rantanen was grabbed 10th overall two years later and Cale Makar was selected fourth overall in 2017.
Those are the calibre of players teams can collect when they’re in a rebuild. Those are the Colorado players — along with Valeri Nichushkin, drafted 10th overall by the Dallas Stars in 2013 — who obliterated the Calgary Flames in a 6-2 thumping at the Saddledome on Tuesday.
Calgary actually held a 2-1 lead at the first intermission thanks to goals by Daniil Miromanov and Walker Duehr, along with some great goaltending from Dan Vladar, but it turned into a third consecutive whitewashing for the flickering Flames once Colorado’s stars found their high-octane offence and scored five unanswered goals in a one-sided second period.
Calgary (31-29-5, 67 points) has lost three straight games since the trade deadline and the dealing away of its crew of pending unrestricted free agents: defencemen Nikita Zadorov, Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin as well as top-line centre Elias Lindholm. The Flames, who have been outscored by an 18-5 margin in the past three outings, were in for a tough time, especially after dealing away one of the league’s best second-pairing defensive duos in Hanifin and Tanev.
That said, they have been dominated by a trio of top-tier clubs in the Avs, Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes. It’s debatable whether the defending Stanley Cup-champion Golden Knights, who visit Calgary on Thursday, are in that category right now, but following that game, the Flames’ opposition drops a notch or two.
Every game going forward will not be as much of a debacle as we’ve seen lately. However, those who are clamouring for the Flames to tear down their roster were given a full view of what can be in the Avalanche, and what the short-term future looks like until a team trends upward. Buckle up, because the Flames and their fans are facing a bumpy ride.
