Bottom line is that last year the team played better than most expected and lots went right. Injuries happen on every team but last year Gio took a step forward and is now regarded as the 9th best defender in the league...we don't get jumps like that every year. As mentioned, other players had career years and some were injured but they were almost expected. We lost our best offensive player and didn't really replace him. As the Flames get better, so do most teams and the Flames didn't do much to get better than last years team let alone other teams.
My biggest worry is that Harley's coaching style starts to lose it's message with the players and they tune him out. There's no sign this will happen but there's evidence of it in the past. Players can only take so much.
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Fan of the Flames, where being OK has become OK.
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