Absolutely ridiculous the amount of guys 24 or younger that will be IMO, legitimately pushing for a full time NHL gig with the Flames next fall.
At forward:
1. Backlund (24) - On the team for sure
2. Horak (21) - 75 NHL games the last two seasons, he's ready IMO
3. Reinhart (21) - Has really looked good in his call up
4. Baertschi (20) - Hopefully bulks up a bit this offseason
5. Hanowski (22) - About to get a look, and could be a legitimate threat at camp, we'll see
6. Byron (24) - RFA, I think he'll be back
7. Aliu (23) - RFA as well, I think he'll be back and ready for camp
8. Bouma (23) - Another RFA, is a legitimate bottom six NHLer IMO
9. First selection at the 2013 draft maybe ?? - Depends how high we draft
...and then on D:
1. Brodie (23) - See Backlund
2. Breen (23) - Would be getting a look now, if not for injury
3. Cundari (22) - About to get a look, sounds promising
4. Wotherspoon (20) - Might surprise at camp like Brodie did, will probably start in AHL though
Admittedly, still not a lot of "elite talent" there, but who knows how they'll all end up developing. Certainly appears to be a lot more NHLers in the system now though, even if most of them end up as bottom half of the roster/depth guys.
Obviously we won't see ALL of those guys make the team out of camp next year (if still Flames property), because we still have plenty of 25+ year old guys signed, and need to stay above the cap floor, but the young guys certainly are emerging in this organization.
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