Rate the Flames: Starting 6

by D'Arcy McGrath

For the past week, Calgarypuck.com readers have had their say, position by position, player by player, the fans have rated the Flames.

But when the dust settles, how does the team look on the whole?

Where are the strengths? Where are the weaknesses? Do they match up with league wide held perceptions of the team?

Let's take a look.

Top Ten Flames

Through each position analysis we provided each players' ranking within his position as well as overall. The table to the left summarizes these results.

#	Player	Rank
1	Iginla	4.7
2	Morris	3.6
3	Conroy	3.6
4	Turek	3.5
5	Gauthier	3.0
6	Lydman	3.0
7	McAmmond	2.9
8	Boughner	2.9
9	Savard	2.8
10	Gelinas	2.7

Clearly there are no shocks at the top of the list with Jarome Iginla leading the way.

Calgarypuck fans seem to have faith in Craig Conroy, elevating his status after a break out season.

It's interesting to note, five of the team's top ten players have been acquired by Craig Button in the last two years, including Craig Conroy, Roman Turek, Dean McAmmond, Bob Boughner, and Martin Gelinas.

Recent trade demands have come from Marc Savard, a player that has slipped from the club's top five to ninth.

The top ten group consists of one goaltender, four defencemen and five forwards, which appears to be a good mix.

Roster Cuts

Thirty different players received recognition in this analysis, a number which sits seven players over the club's roster limit.

Based on the groups analysis, the training camp cuts would come down as follows.

Goal: Jamie McLennan
Defence: Steve Montador
Forwards: Dave Lowry, Robert Dome, Steve Begin, Jeff Shantz and Scott Nichol

Position Comparison: Averages

Using the roster established above, it's interesting to look at the strengths and weaknesses by position.

The Calgarypuck group, in terms of a 23 man roster, have goaltending as the Flame's greatest strength, with an average of 2.8.

Next up is Defence with an average rating of 2.7.

The forward group comes in last with right wing at 2.6, center at 2.5 and left wing at 2.3.

The Core: Averages

To get a more accurate view of the club's complexion, it's better to take it one step further and break the club into its core.

For the case of analysis, we can assume the core is made up of the top goaltender, top four forwards, and top two forwards for each of the three forward positions.

In core terms, the number one position is right wing, at 3.55, led by Jarome Iginla and his 4.70. Goaltending is second at 3.50, center is third with 3.20, followed by defence at 3.13 and finally left wing at a distant 2.80.

With the top four positions all sitting within 0.42 of each other, clearly left wing is the club's Achilles heel, at least in terms of personnel.

Stay tuned throughout camp to see how closely the actual Flames roster resembles the Rate the Flames Roster.

Be sure to get your entries in for the Training Camp Roster Pool