Good discussion ...
I give the Forecaster a lot of credit they predicted Edmonton and Vancouver to miss in their preview magazine, Vancouver being the eye brow raiser.
Who'd a thought that the Flames would be a team that everyone feels good about while still picking in the top five? That's a pretty tough combination to pull off. I liked the Iginla comment yesterday by someone that said the culture improvement isn't because he left but because others emerged because he left. I think there's something to that. Will be so interesting to see what they do with ...
a) a new GM - his footprint on the team, moves at the draft, and ...
b) Hartley - he's on his last year of a contract and Burke has to know he has things on the right page. Will the new GM want a new guy? They have to extend him this summer and not lameduck him all year.
c) Free Agent time - the Flames have only 15 players signed on their current roster ... will probably bring back 6 of their own leaving room for 2 bodies. I don't see Cammalleri coming back with his hot streak. I have them 1 players and 4 or 5 million short of the floor so call ups won't get it done. Have to be careful on chemistry.
The Oilers must be thinking summer splash at this point, they have to change the culture. They dodged a bullet not signing Clarkson, but they do need some size, and they certainly need change. How many teams have to trade for culture and leadership? That's a tall order.
Canucks are fortunate in having Horvat and Shinkaruk added the summer before they collapsed, that's not a bad jump start. They are really harnessed by having two untradable aging Swedish twins in on their roster taking up cap space.
Crazy year. Sure makes the rebuild less painful!
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