Unfortunately this is not the year for the Flames. Too many bad contracts and the young guys aren't experienced enough yet. However, after this year the Flames shed Wideman, Engelland, Smid, Raymond, and Bollig. That's all wasted space gone. At the same time there's a strong possibility that several young guys will make a serious push. Kylington, Andersson, Jankowski, Poirier, Shinkaruk, 2016 1st, and Gilles. We will also know what we have in Culkin, Kulak, Klimchuk, Wotherspoon, Arnold, Agostino, and Ortio.
I hope the Flames sign Lucic this off-season and that they win a lottery pick. That's a best case scenario in my opinion.
I'd like to throw our 2016 1st on the top line, but Johnny didn't even start on the top line and he is Johnny.
Opening Night:
Gaudreau - Monahan - Lucic
Ferland - Bennett - Puljujarvi (lottery) / Shinkaruk (no lottery)
Colborne - Backlund - Frolik
Bouma - Stajan - Hathaway/Bollig
Brodie - Hamilton
Giordano - Wideman
Jokipakka - Engelland
Reimer
Ortio
2017 could look a lot better.
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