[Cali Panthers Fan]

It's interesting to me because where the Flames were weak for the first 30+ games was defense and goaltending, especially goaltending. I would say our defense is slightly better than the beginning of last year, and our goaltending is significantly better (remember, at the start it was an inexperienced Karri Ramo and McDonald who was pretty terrible). We carried the play during that early stretch and a lot of offense was generated from simply outworking the opposition. Then injuries happened, which hurt us mostly for consistent offensive production, but when Gio went down our possession dried up a lot too. That's when the offense went in the tank and didn't recover until we had some key veterans return, a late surge from Cammalleri, and some young and enthusiastic kids helped our possession numbers.

This year our offense has taken a step back due to Cammy's departure. However, the pre-season last year was about work ethic and competition for jobs, and I would say this year's pre-season camp has had even more competition. If that carries over, we should be able to outwork the opponent most nights, but we aren't going to surprise anyone so it should be a wash 5 on 5, and we will likely draw fewer penalties.

Which means the power play needs to be deadly this year. We have Giordano and Wideman who can both score from the point, and Brodie and Russell who are decent quarterbacks and puck movers. Hudler is good on the half boards and Glencross, Monahan, and even Colborne are decent in front of the net. What we are missing is a true sniper, someone who can sit in the slot and take a one-timer and blow it past the goalie. We didn't replace that with Cammy's departure and we don't really have anyone in the organization who does that (maybe Granlund, but TBD). What you're likely to see is a lot of shots thrown on net from any angle and a lot of garbage goals 2 feet in front. The lack of versatility in the forward group means that it will be difficult to score once teams figure out how to defend our PP. It could honestly be a long year offensively, but there's hope.

By the end of the year we could have guys like Gaudreau, Baertschi, Granlund, Ferland, and Poirier adding some significant skill to the forward ranks at the NHL level and replacing veterans who aren't as dynamic offensively. We don't really know what we have at the NHL level for any of these players just yet, so that possibility could make the team a significant offensive threat again.

So, like last year's defense and goaltending, the Flames offense could start off pretty rough and become respectable by the end of the year. Just my two cents.