Last week, The Win Column surpassed the one million view mark in 2021. This milestone was a big one for our team as it marked the first time we had reached that number in a calendar year. We’ve seen incredible growth this year on all platforms and we owe it entirely to all of you, our readers.
Each month this year has been a new record for the site. January 2021 was the best January we’ve ever had, February 2021 was the best February we’ve ever had, and that’s been the case for every single month this year so far. We cannot thank each and every one of you enough for your continued support and engagement, and we hope you’ve enjoyed our content as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it.
Of course, we are not without our flaws, and we know that there are areas we can improve on. If you have any feedback or suggestions for TWC, please let us know through any of our social media channels, email, or the comments. We’ll do our absolute best to implement changes that you want to see and will work hard to make sure our readers are getting the most out of our site as possible.
To commemorate this milestone, we’ve compiled a few of our greatest hits from this year. Enjoy!
1. Breaking down each NHL team’s roster by nationality
Every year, we break down each NHL team’s roster into a few different interesting categories. This article breaks down each team’s season-opening roster by nationality. This year, the Calgary Flames were bounced from their title of “Team Sweden” by the Los Angeles Kings. Maybe next year. We also broke down each team’s roster by acquisition method to show how many players were acquired via trade, draft, free agent signing, or waivers.
2. The Calgary Flames won the Lucic trade and it’s not close
A timeless classic, we dove into the nitty gritty of both Milan Lucic and James Neal’s careers after the infamous trade between the Flames and Edmonton Oilers the day after Neal’s contract was bought out. It became abundantly clear that the Flames were the winners of that trade, and Lucic continues to be both a fan favourite and an extremely useful hockey player.
3. Impact of the 2021–22 NHL schedule on fantasy hockey
Every Saturday, TWC releases content related to fantasy hockey. Prior to the season getting started, we broke down the 2021-22 NHL schedule to identify all the nuances relevant to fantasy hockey. We looked at heavy and light weeks for each team, off day schedules, back to backs, and many other areas that affect the way managers draft and run their teams throughout the year. Our fantasy hockey coverage can be found here.
4. The Calgary Flames need to go all-in for Jack Eichel
Jack Eichel seemed to be a topic that would not go away. This was a polarizing topic with fans mostly siding heavily in the yes or no camps. The Flames were linked to Eichel from the very beginning and were in it until the very end, per reports. We stated our case for why the Flames needed to go all-in for the superstar. With the Flames’ hot start this season, it seems like they’re doing just fine without Eichel, but it was fun to think about the possibilities when he was still on the market.
5. Breaking down the Calgary Flames’ history of nearly acquiring star players
The first of a three-part series, we looked back in time at all the times the Flames nearly acquired a star player. Related to the Eichel trade that sent him to Vegas instead of Calgary, we broke down all the high-profile stars that could have been Flames had the deals been executed. Part two of the series looked back at all the times the Flames gave away their star players for underwhelming returns, and part three broke down all the times the Flames did acquire star players.
6. Defensemen the Calgary Flames could target in NHL free agency
After Mark Giordano was taken in the expansion draft, the Flames’ depth on defense was quite thin in comparison to previous years. We looked at defense options for the Flames in free agency to fill the void, but the options were quite limited. The Flames did end up adding Nikita Zadorov and Erik Gudbranson in the offseason, but the biggest revelation has been Oliver Kylington who has stepped into at top-four role admirably.
7. TWC’s 2021 Consolidated NHL Draft Rankings
The 2021 NHL Draft was a weird one with so many players not able to play meaningful games the previous year and a half. Rankings were all over the place, scouts disagreed over almost everyone, and there wasn’t even consensus over the first overall pick. We analyzed several major draft boards and rankings to create consolidated rankings for the draft. We also did this for fantasy hockey before the 2021-22 season started and are already prepping for the 2022 draft.
8. Recapping Calgary Flames’ prospect Matthew Coronato’s NCAA debut
With their first-round selection in the 2021 NHL Draft, the Flames took USHL goal scoring machine Matt Coronato. He’s the best offensive prospect in the organization and got off to an incredible start in the NCAA for the Harvard Crimson. We recapped Coronato’s NCAA debut, the first of many productive games for him in college.
9. Jacob Markstrom’s start to 2021–22 places him in the NHL history books
The Flames have not historically had success with goaltending since Miikka Kiprusoff retired back in 2013. This season, with Jacob Markstrom and Daniel Vladar in goal, the Flames are boasting the best goaltending tandem in the entire NHL. Markstrom in particular has had a torrid start to the season, posting a league-leading five shutouts. His pace already has him in the NHL’s history books, with more records hopefully beaten as the year goes on.
10. Crowning the 2021–22 Calgary Flames Halloween costume champion
Capping our list of greatest hits in 2021 so far is our fun breakdown of the Flames’ Halloween costumes this year. The players delivered in a big way this year, giving us some truly quality costumes. It’s great to see everyone having a good time and getting into the holiday spirit.
Again, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you all for your continued support.
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