Are the Flames good? No. As many posters have mentioned, they need to continue to add talent.
However, they are no where near as bad as the league thinks/expected.
Not just the general view, but an almost unanimous view was that the Flames sorely lacked talent and also lacked high-end prospects.
Well, they definitely still need more high-end prospects (obviously), but the progression of several of the young guys has been pretty incredible in the last year.
Under 25-ers on the team (I am including Backlund because he was 24 until about a week or two ago):
Backlund and Brodie both took their games not only to new levels, but to levels that few even dared to hope for. Both are now solid NHLers.
Bouma missed ALL of last year. Honestly, I expected him to play this season in Abby to get his game back. Instead, he has turned into a modern day Bobby Nystrom. You win with guys like that.
Byron has basically come out of nowhere and been a solid contributor with tons of heart.
Colborne is simply not the same player that came over from Toronto in October. He is now a legitimate young player and I can't wait to see how far he can take his game with more strength and confidence
Monahan has progressed nicely all season
Then you have the group of prospects that are close:
Granlund - simply put, he has progressed further this year than anyone could have hoped
Ortio - see Granlund
Knight was a nice addition to our prospect depth and has progressed nicely. Ferland was growing by leaps and bounds before his injury. Arnold had a break-out year. Wotherspoon quietly, steadily improves and impresses.
And then there is Gaudreau. Yes he is small and has a big hill to climb, but his NHLE says it all - the highest we have seen since Malkin and Kane.
Baertschi has had an off year, but he remains a blue-chip prospect.
And there is reason to be optimistic about Poirier and Klimchuk. Agostino has looked like a legitimate prospect in his short time here.
Goaltending:
Ramo has progressed all season long and now looks like a bonafide NHLer. Ortio has progressed so far that the Flames traded Brossoit and Berra within a couple months.
Leadership:
Giordano. Enough said.
To summarize: the Flames organization has progressed a tremendous amount in the last 12 months. With a couple more really solid drafts and a couple high-end prospects to add to the mix, they will be well on their way to bringing the Flames back to respectability and then contention.
Not all of the players mentioned will turn out or remain with the Flames long-term. But regardless, they have all increased their value as assets if nothing else. The Flames have pretty decent depth now with respect to players under 25 - a pretty remarkable turnaround in the last 24 months.
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