Monahan and Gaudreau are proven elite players that are playing on the 23 and under team at the World Cup. Bennett and Tkachuk are 2 high end young players with extremely high ceilings that haven't even scratched the surface yet.
Giordano is a proven leader and elite 2 way defender. Brodie is a smooth skating 26 year old who seems to get better every year. Dougie Hamilton is a 23 year old right shot, big body, excellent skating Dman with multiple 40+ point seasons.
Those 7 players make quite the intriguing core. The Flames seen to have a solid goaltending tandem going into this season and also have a top prospect who is returning from an injury. The farm also ha several intriguing pieces that could turn out into valuable players down the road.
Backlund, Frolik, and Brouwer are solid veteran forwards who could help this team contend sooner than later but remains to be seen if these guys are going to be with the group beyond the next 4 years when our young star forwards are in their prime.
Personally I really like the group the Flames have put together. They appear to have nailed it with their 3 top 10 picks during the rebuild and are benefitting from former GM's winning the jackpot on a couple 4th rounders.
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