By Rob Ficiur

For the first time since 2002 neither Alberta based NHL team will be in the playoffs.  At the time I am writing this, the Calgary Flames are six points out of the eighth and final playoff spot, so die hard Flames fans might suggest that I am being premature in writing about the Flames demise.  Losing games to Minnesota and the Islanders this week has left the Flames too far out to catch red hot Detroit and Nashville.  However, Flames fans, having lost in the first round the last four seasons, the playoffs haven’t brought back the Red Mile Fever we saw in 2004.
There are four reasons why these teams are missing the playoffs:
1.      Injuries – The Oilers top forward Ales Hemske played only 22 games;  top goalie Nikolai Khabibulin played in only 18 games and top defenseman Sheldon Souray appeared in only 37 games for Edmonton this year.  Every team has injuries – but no team would thrive when they lost their top players for most of the season.
2.     Goaltending -  With the Bulin Wall only playing 18 games this year the Oilers have relied on two rookies to carry the load.  The result has been predictably inconsistent.  In Calgary the Flames experienced the opposite problem. Miikka Kiprusoff was relied upon to start 64 of the team’s first 75 games.  Without a reliable backup for most of his career, Miika has been a steady work horse, but eventually mental and physical fatigue has reduced his effectiveness when the games count most.
3.      Draft Picks –  Calgary has done a dismal job drafting top prospects.  From 2000 to 2007 the Flames drafted nine players in the first round.   Today only two of those players are wearing the Flaming C.  2002 first rounder Eric Nystom has 11 goals as a fourth line player.  2007 draft pick Mikael Backlund has recently been promoted to the big team.  His one goal and two assists show he might be ready for regular NHL  play next season.
Of the other seven first round picks, Dion Phaeuf has emerged as a star, and Chuck Kobaseau as a regular NHL player.   The remaining five first round picks have played a total  10 games for the Flames.  Fans know that not every draft pick will turn out.  However, when a team has gone nearly a decade and only drafted one star player, that weakness affects the entire organization.
4.      Consistency - During one stretch in November, the Edmonton Oilers set a club record by winning five road games in a row on one road trip.  None of the Gretzky led championship teams had ever accomplished such a feat.  Did this mean the Oilers were a playoff contender?  No…it was a hot streak that just got their fans excited before the team turned colder than the Edmonton winter.
Calgary has upset their fans by doing the opposite.  The Flames went on a winning streak in November that put them within a point of being the top team in the Western Conference.  Having reached that high level, the team reverted back to the hot / cold syndrome that has plagued the team for the last four years (and three coaches).
The future looks better for the Oilers than the Flames.  Because of their dismal season the Oilers will get a top draft pick to help rebuild their team.   The Flames, having traded away this year’s first round pick, have no elite prospects waiting to take roster spots.  Flames managers and fans will have a long summer to figure out what must be done to make the team a contender.  The most frustrating thing about the Flames is that on paper they look like they should be chasing the Canucks for first place in the North West; however once again this year they have played games on the ice not on paper…and this version of the Flames has burned out even before the playoffs began.