Thing is, Sutter almost completely reconstructed that team for the 05-06 season.
Traded off some of the significant yet supporting players like Commodore and Montador, Lydman (awful decision), Chris Clark, Nieminen, Saprykin, Gauthier, Conroy signed for big dollars in LA, Gelinas signed in Florida, Turek went back to Europe.
He replaced them with Langkow, McCarty, Amonte, Phaneuf, Hamrlik, and the revolving door of experienced #6/7 defensemen. The Flames became a more mature team that played a more sound system, but they really lost their passion and flair and couldn't score their way out of a wet paper bag outside of Iggy himself.
The funny thing is, the 03-04 Flames, while being known as a hard-nosed defensive team, probably would have fared better in the "new NHL" that came into being than the 05-06 team that actually was. That team was tough but they could skate and that's why they could beat the more skilled teams like the HOFer-laden Red Wings. I know many here like to call Regehr and Iginla slow, but that's recency bias. Regehr was effective BECAUSE he was a great skater as a big man. He could take speedy forwards wide and paste them. Right, Hemsky? Guys like Lydman, Clark, Montador, Nieminen, Gelinas, even Saprykin, all above average skaters that were replaced with slower players. Not to mention, the fastest guy on the team, Shean Donovan, was really never the same after that knee injury in the Finals.
So while we could say they didn't go crazy in free agency, the makeup of the team was totally different.
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