Unlucky year all around. Unlucky that Brodie was injured to start. Unlucky that all 3 goalies started the season horribad. Unlucky that the Brodie injury happened at the same time as Giordano was rusty which happened at the same time as Hamilton struggling which happened at the same time as the goalies struggling. All that snowballed and the season was lost a month in.
Given that the season was almost a write off at the very beginning I think the rest of it played out quite well for the long term. Bennett got in a solid year of development including a move back to centre. Hamilton bounced back after a rough start and looks well on his way now. Jokipakka, Nakladal and Wotherspoon impressed to the extent that Wideman is completely expendable now and we can replace Russell from within. Gaudreau didn't suffer a sophomore jinx and has developed into one of the most dangerous players in the league. Monahan struggled for the first half the season but rebounded nicely in the 2nd half and looks back on track. Backlund took another step forward and has become one of our most important players. Frolik proved to be a solid signing.
And now as a reward for that crap season we get to draft top 7 in a draft that is at least 10-12 high end players deep and thus we get to add another key puzzle piece.
When you take the long term view it is my opinion that in the last 20 years we've never been closer to being a perennial contender as we are now. The Flames have never had as many valuable young assets and pieces as they have now. The Flames haven't had as competent a GM/coach combo since the early Sutter dual role era.
The future is bright. The rebuild is going swimmingly IMO. We're only a few pieces and some development time away from being a perennial contender. I've never been more excited about the long term future of the Flames. We have some of the best young talent in the league in Gaudreau, Bennett, Monahan, Brodie, Hamilton plus our picks and prospects.
It sucks we missed the playoffs but this team is very well positioned to move forward. I'd expect a huge bounce back year next year and I'd be shocked if we have to talk about top 10 picks for the next 5 years. Treliving has a wealth of assets at his disposal to fix our immediate and long term needs. The asset accumulation phase of the last 3 years was a success.
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