Problems up the middle

When your hockey club misses the playoffs for a third straight season by such a narrow margin, it's natural to take a look at what your club's weaknesses have been and to try to address them. The easy things to look at are the areas measured in percentages – face-offs and special teams.

To be blunt, there is great room for improvements in the face-off dot and some smaller room for improvement on special teams. In fact, a small improvement by the club's centres would've probably gotten the Flames into the playoffs last season.

Calgary missed the playoffs by five points in the 2011-12 season. They boasted the league's worst record in the face-off circle, with an abysmal 46.2