Ok, I'm worried

Ok, here's the thing; the Flames have a shitty schedule, big 6-1 win, 3 day layoff, momentum dead. We missed 'Double' Dion Phanuef and his 29 minutes of bone crunching, one timer, keep your head up play. The Flames always seem to have trouble with Nashville. But still…

Let's end the excuses.

No one can convince me the Flames are not a very good hockey team. We have franchise players in every single position, (Iginla, Regehr, Phanuef, Kiprusoff) we have some young talent (Lombardi) some undeniable skill (Huselius, Tanguay, Langkow) and a whole lot of heart.

And we do not look good at all.

It's not that I'm worried we won't make the playoffs. 'I don't know why everyone is worried' my friend told me. 'If we're not .500 by Christmas, then you can hit the panic button.'

Fair enough.

But this team should be better than .500. I'm not worried about .500. I'm not worried about the playoffs. The Flames have too much talent and too much heart to not hit those achievements. Here is what I am worried about:

The Cup.

Its my general guess that within the new rules it takes team's about 3-4 years to peak, and then about 2-3 years after that the team begins a rebuilding stage. Players that win get bigger contracts, and theres a limited time you can keep bargains on the team, and bargains are what is needed to win.

Kiprusoff at $3.5 million? Phanuef at $850,000k? Regehr $1.9 million (Hamrlik makes twice what Regehr does to keep it in perspective).

Does anyone think their salaries won't skyrocket come negotiation time? Is there one human being on the planet that thinks Regehr won't make more than Hamrlik?

What I'm trying to say is that the Flames have a limited - scratch that - very limited window to win the cup before we have to blow it all up and start again. I think this team is good enough to at least contend. A less talented Calgary team contended only two seasons ago. So I have to ask myself, when I watch the Flames play, do they look like contenders? Do contenders get beat by the bottom dwelling Bruins? Do they give up soft SH overtime goals? Do they come out flat against division bench mark teams?

You tell me.