[Jore]

in general, they should have graduated a few youth on the farm this year. kulak made the team out of camp through his own abilities even though they insisted on playing grossmann ahead of him. all of his results pointed to his being an everyday nhl player, but instead they played wideman over him and then later bartkowski. there was no way that a bottom pairing of young players could have been worse than bartkowski/engelland, who were the worst pairing in the league in the playoffs.

i'm not sure the flames have to get younger now. they have to fill the bottom of the roster with effective players who can get out of the defensive zone, who can make a pass, who can hang on to the puck, who can cycle around in the offensive zone. sometimes this comes in the form of cheap players like versteeg and chiasson, sometimes through prospect graduation. maybe jankowski, kulak, lazar, whoever else has enough to play 12 mins a game and push the right way, maybe they don't but you have to give them a chance.

what they can't do is continue filling the bottom of the roster with unskilled gritangible leaders like brouwer, bouma, engelland and the like. these guys sink the team, kill momentum, and put the other lines behind the eight ball.