Quote:
Originally Posted by Poe969
Saying we have 2 decent goalies doesn't mean much; both Ramo and Hiller haven't proven they're starting goalies as they both have their issues. Their defense doesn't look that good especially compared to most teams in the west and their top pairing is only above average compared to the other pairs. Gio had a great year....year, not years. Expecting players who play at one level for most of their careers and then have a sudden good year doesn't mean that they'll improve more or even maintain that level of play. I hope Gio can play as well as he did last year but expecting him to because he did it once isn't a good idea. Brodie surprised a lot of people with his play and if he can continue to improve it would be great. The young gritty thing really scares me as players who play with that much reckless abandonment tend to get injured sooner or later or start to "fizzle out" as playing that hard all the time takes its toll on them. Heartley was a good coach but at what point do the players start to tune him out....
I am just saying why I think they'll be a bottom place team. If you take "heart" out of it and just look at the players on paper then the Flames have one of if not the worst team in the league. Last year more things went right than wrong for them and they finished 4th last. I don't see that many good things happening again.
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But see that thinking is flawed. Sure if you're comparing the Flames to the Kings or the Hawks or any of the other top flight teams, our roster looks bad. But do you really think our group is worse than the Oilers for example? Think about it. Is Ramo/Hiller a worse tandem than Fasth/Scrivens? Are Gio, Brodie, Russell, et al really worse than Marincin, Nikitin, Schultz et al? Maybe you can make the argument that their forward group is better, but outside of maybe 3 guys, that's a pretty weak line up as well.
You can also do this exercise with a few other teams. Analyze the Senators, Coyotes, Predators and Hurricanes line up and tell me with a straight face that all those teams look better top to bottom. Some might have a few stars sprinkled in here or there, but on average, most of their players can't crack an AHL squad.