[toquester]

I know the popular consensus appears to be that the Flames have completely fell apart since they shipped out Iginla and Bouwmeester, but I am not so sure. Considering the top players, they are still a pretty decent group.

Look at the forwards -
Glencross and Baerschi are a given, but Cammalleri, Tanguay, Hudler, Stempniak, Backlund and Stajan seem to be a pretty good group to build around and when you add players like Cervenka and Horak, it doesn't look that bad at all. All of that group has value and I would feel no inclination to want to "get rid" of any of them. Adding a drafted player from the top five, would only make them better in all liklihood. In that group, the only problem with a Drouin or MacKinnon is where do you put them? And then what do you do with someone like Gaudreau or a potential dark horse coming forward because one does just about every year.

Then on defence, Giordano and Brodie are the standouts but there is nothing much wrong with Wideman. I would not be dumping any of them for the sake of addition by subtraction either. One more top four defender and I would be comfortable with that group. And who is to say the Flames don't get the first player taken, likely Jones. Or with the money freed up with the recent moves, why not a free agent?

That leaves the goaltending position to worry about. From my perspective, this is the area where the team has been let down this year. Will Kipper rebound or do they have to do a lot of tinkering there? Only time is going to tell but the team has been collecting a number of goaltending prospects and if just one of them pans out, that problem could potentially be solved.

The moving of Iggy and Bouw provide the team with a real opportunity to improve over the long term. If the team completely tanks (which it appears it has done), who could blame them. All of these high profile player losses make a great excuse. And this in a year with a very strong draft. A top five pick along with a couple of later first rounders and a lot of cash to go after a free agent or two, plus the development of youngsters like Baerschi or Gaudreau and this team may be positioned better than it has been in years.

I am optimistic this is not going to be one of these lengthy rebuild ordeals at all. A few breaks and some good management and I believe things are about to change.