Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinordi
On paper, the Flames look like one of the five worst teams in the league.
Could they surprise? Yes.
Much more likely, IMO, that they finish as one of the five worst teams in the league.
Doesn't help that they play in the West either where they should get beaten up on a regular basis by the top teams in the west who mostly improved this offseason.
Teams that got better proportionately to the Flames in the West by trade and fa aquisitions:
Anaheim
Dallas
Colorado
St. Louis
Chicago
Minnesota
Vancouver
LA didn't do anything but they're the champs have to lump them in.
The key that many fans don't seem to calculate is how the Flames improved relatively to their competition. That's what matters. Evaluating the Flames roster in a vacuum compared to last year tells you basically nothing to how they'll fare against other teams this year.
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Chicago, St. Louis, Colorado and Anaheim were elite regular season teams already, their shuffling of the decks doesn't really concern us. You can only be so good, unless you think we're going to be facing some sort of WC monstrosity where the top 5 teams have 115+ points each.
Van looks like crap, St. Louis screwed themselves for goalie, and Colorado still has no defense. For what it's worth.