Quote:
Originally Posted by boogerz
Outside of Forsberg, have you seen the rest of their forward group? It's mostly muckers and their center depth is weak. The Flames have more skill upfront
The Preds are thin on defense too. After Josi and McDonagh, it's a bunch of bottom pairing defensemen (including Fabbro). The Flames were more skilled on the backend right up until the departures of Hanifin and Tanev.
Brunette has coached a team that was supposed to be just outside the playoff bubble to the best record in the league since Game 15 of the season.
That's the difference a good coach makes. Otherwise, they'd be right where the Flames are.
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By what metric are you judging their skill up front vs ours?
The Flames have nine forwards with 20 or more points while the Predators feature ten forwards with 20 or more points, but the top end of the Predators roster outproduces the Flames top end by a good margin.
You saying the Flames were more skilled on back-end prior to moving Hanifin and Tanev is also missing the impact of the top-end of their roster. Josi is a Norris Trophy defenceman. I think you're missing that Carrier, Lauzon, and Fabbro make for pretty solid depth when you have Josi doing what he does.
Elite players with good depth >> No elite players with better depth.
The top-end of your roster drives success in this league, the Flames top-end roster is pretty poor - and outright pitiful if you were to subtract Markstrom.
Predators have an elite goalie.
Flames have an elite goalie.
Predators have an elite defenceman.
Flames do not have an elite defenceman.
Predators have an elite winger.
Flames do not have an elite winger.
Neither the Flames nor the Predators have an elite centre.
Predators top-end >> Flames top-end. Making the future outlook worse for the Flames is also the fact that Markstrom is 34 and Saros is 28. Both teams have good young goalies coming in Askarov and Wolf, although I believe you'd generally see Asakarov ranked ahead of Wolf.