This is the year... All of last years playoff team with Hamilton, Gio and Frolik added.
Frolik for the Hudler replacement is a long reach. He was put on the Jets top lines due to injuries and was an adequate but not a solid top-6 guy. Stafford stepped up a heck of a lot more with his opportunity.
Frolik sort of fits into the mold of Stempniak.... a lineup filler. I don't think it will be very long before he, similar to Mason Raymond, will have his ice time and spot in the hierarchy challenged from the prospect pool... (Arnold, Jooris, Poirier, Ferland and Klimchuck) It is hard to imagine that he will be given more opportunity with the Flames than he had with the Jets.
I would have rather had the Cap room to keep Russell and one of Wideman and Hudler.
The biggest hole was not the need for a top 4 d-man. The Flames had 4 of the best in the league last year.
However getting Hamilton really filled the defensive depth and youth hole better than any other option I can imagine.
The Flames still need a couple of young #5/6 that could step up in a few year. Flames Management clearly recognized this and did the best that they could with their 2nd round picks and maybe Hamilton bought them enough time.
It will be up to Hartley and the coaches to get the defense to play as well as they did last year..... Who thought that replacing Aucion with Bouwmeester and Gio being top-4 ready would be such a step backwards in 2009?
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