Quote:
Originally Posted by Oil Stain
That's a whole lot of "ifs".
Then you have the if Giordano can repeat a career year, and if Hiller can rebound from his slide.
With so many if's you have to be really lucky to have most of them go the right way.
I would say the Flames roster looks about the same as last season, and the same results at season's end wouldn't surprise me.
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Yes, it (i.e. my list) is a lot of "ifs". 4 to be exact. If a lot go right, the Flames forwards will be better than last year. If not, not. It may not be highly likely that they all go right, but given that 3 of the 4 involve improvement or maintenance of play by talented young players, I don't think it's fair to say the Flames would have to be "really lucky" to have them go right. It's not like they're relying on veterans repeating uncharacteristically successful career years.
The one part of your post I really disagree with is that the Flames need Hiller to rebound from his slide. They also have Ramo, who looked good at the end of last season, who can carry the bulk of the play if Hiller disappoints.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goodlad
To add to the bolded; we had a lot of "ifs" go right last season...and still drafted 4th overall.
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Did they? Injuries to Giordano, Wideman, Cammelleri (who was disappointing much of the season), Glenncross, Stajan, and Russell; step back from Stempniak, who was 2nd in scoring the year before; Ramo was good at the end of the year, but neither of their goalie projects really grabbed the reigns for the whole season; Sven failed to make an impression. . . .
In terms of things going right, Monahan lived up to expectations, Gio was excellent when healthy, Backlund had a good 2nd half, Brodie showed progress, and some of the call-ups showed promise in limited action. That's not exactly having the stars align.