Opinion: The Calgary Flames need to drastically reverse course to avoid disaster.

The Calgary Flames made what seemed like a big move when they acquired Brian Elliott from the St. Louis Blues through a trade, and by all accounts Elliott made a big impression during training camp, so much so that the team and Elliott were reportedly in discussions regarding a contract extension.

The performance of Elliott come the regular season however has been drastically different, and now the Flames should be strongly considering an option they were rumored to be discussing at the National Hockey League Draft, the acquisition of Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop.

Elliott has been nothing short of abysmal over his limited sample size of two games, posting a goals against average of 5.07 and a save percentage of .818 over that stretch, truly catastrophic numbers for an NHL level goalie. 

While there is certainly room for him to turn it around the inconsistency alone should raise some major questions about his ability to be a full time starter, something he never really was as a member of the Blues with Jake Allen always providing another number one option for that organization.

The Flames would risk losing Elliott for nothing at the end of the season should they fail to re-sign him, effectively losing the second round pick they gave up for him with only a year of service to show for it, but the potential long-term disaster they could create should they agree to the extension the two sides are rumored to be working on could be much, much worse.

[pub]