Neither one of these teams should be worried about being like Edmonton. It takes an exceptional amount of incompetence to miss on as many picks as Edmonton has on the rounds outside the first. It takes an exceptional amount of incompetence to just throw their top picks onto the top lines, without making them work for it, and without getting them to even try playing a structured 200ft game that the NHL demands. They are the toe-dragging pond hockey superstars.
Buffalo is building from the defence out. Calgary is building from the center out. I would expect both teams to draft inversely for a while, so with the exception for McDavid, they won't be competing too hard with one another at the draft table :P
I do think the worst is yet to come for Calgary.
Cammalleri will be gone. There is no way the Flames can replace Cammalleri's scoring - especially a very motivated Cammalleri on the last year of his contract, and hopeful of a trade to a contender.
There is probably not a replacement for Stajan next season. It is doubtful that Burke will keep him, but how many decent 2-way centers will be available in the off-season? How many will be willing to come to Calgary?
Stempniak is more likely to be traded away. He has not been good at all (except for his timely goal to open the scoring against the Oilers). However, he was VERY good at the start of the season, and helped Calgary get some wins. He is replaceable in the free-agent market, but then again, he may not be.
Calgary will essentially lose a 'top-line' next year, which is tough to do for any team. The existing players will have to play against a better level of competition. I don't see their record improving at all, and figure them to lose more games next season.
However, Calgary and Buffalo will not be the only teams in the running for McDavid next year. I could see some borderline teams mysteriously doing terrible. Intentional tanking? It has happened before. I don't think any decent teams will, of course - but teams that have been on the bubble may decide to rebuild a bit more aggressively next year.
Also, there is not guarantee that Hartley will return next season. There were many people who disliked Hartley because they felt he wasn't paying enough attention to defence, and was playing a run-and-gun style that doesn't traditionally work in the NHL. It seems like his style is more about being an aggressive team that is allowed to play creatively on offence (demands this of Backlund, for one), but who must be responsible defensively (Baertschi and others). I think the last segment of games has shown this a bit better. At any rate, most people do think that Hartley has been positive for the Flames, and that the Flames have been performing well under his watch so far. They generally don't have any 'flat' games, or blowout games getting embarrassed out there. However, new GMs usually like to hire their own coaching staffs. Regardless of improvement in personnel, this usually translates into a learning curve for the first while. Plus, there is no guarantee that the new staff will actually be better (say what you will about Hartley, but it has been a while since Edmonton has had a competent coaching staff).
NYI and Florida I think make improvements. New ownership group in Florida has been rumored to have told management to spend more - a constant handicap with that team has at least been alleviated somewhat. Islanders can't be this bad again - and I don't think Wang is willing to be this bad moving into Brooklyn. Buying out DiPietro was a huge sign that he is more committed to winning, if for nothing else than to attract more interest and increase the sale price of the team.
Ottawa does have the prospect depth to do well - though I feel they 'rushed' through the rebuild too much. They were not a team that should have traded that many assets for Ryan (who is a good player). They were not ready to compete yet. I don't think they will improve next year, however. Montreal had a lot of success drafting (Ryan Jankowski helped I would say!). They managed to turn their team around rather quickly, and I think are trending up with impact players at nearly every position, though they need to get 'deeper' yet.
Calgary and Buffalo will definitely be competing with one another for McDavid, and there will be a couple of teams that falter - some mysteriously, some not - that will join the sweepstakes next season.
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