Quote:
Originally Posted by Fan in Exile
It's hard to read the core's potential. Teams like the Oilers, the Leafs, the Jets and the Sabres seem to have more talent. The Flames have more depth but less star-power. I like how they're built. Maybe Tkachuk turns out to be our Claude Lemieux - a solid enough regular season guy who takes it to another level at playoff time. I could definitely see it. I don't mind the analogy between the Flames/Oilers of the 80s. It's a different era and I could see the Flames coming out on top.
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Well the Oilers have McDavid, the Sabres have Eichel and the Leafs have Matthews. We don't have a centre of that calibre. That's said I think only the Sabres have centre depth approximating ours long term. Monahan, Backlund, Bennett, Jankowski is amazing centre depth. Sabres have Eichel, O'Reilly, Girgensons, Reinhart if they play them all at centre. With Johnny and Tkachuk I think we have a couple star wingers. I think Tkachuk's upside is a lot higher than Claude Lemieux.
On defense we're looking pretty good.
I'm not as concerned about RW as most. Wing is the least important position and we can always put Tkachuk with Johnny and Monny if we wanna stack a line. Wingers are the easiest to acquire in their prime or at the deadline.
Goaltending is always a question mark but with Gillies, Parsons, Rittich, McDonald and Schneider I think we have outstanding prospects.
The Flames already have the majority of the pieces needed to be a perennial contender and some extra assets on top of that. We're in great shape for the future, just need continued growth and maturation