[PeteMoss]

You can call it tanking or not. But they are miles away from being even decent.

They've got some good prospects but how close or how good they are is widely overrated.

Besides Girgensons, their forward prospects are not great. They've got good depth on defence but most of them are likely 3-6 guys except Ristolainen. They have no goalies of note anywhere in the system.

They are probably 4 years away from being a borderline playoff team and that's a long time to tell fans to pay for tickets to watch losses. Its also a long time for players to not pick up bad habits and short cuts while they constantly lose.

EDIT: Regarding the 'all they did was trade UFA' stuff. The Flames signed Stajan to a contract and trade for Smid so their players didn't have to spend the year getting beaten like a drum.

I also don't think people realize how bad they are. Buffalo would have to improve by 25 points to just match what the Flames did this year. If the Flames improve by 25 points they would finish with a better record than the Kings did this year.