Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
In terms of progression, the Flames were a lottery team two years ago, a wild card team this year. My expectation for this year was that they'd be a solid PO team, and hopefully win a couple rounds (though POs are tricky to predict at this point). I felt they still have a couple holes in the roster and aren't as deep as they can be (and will be when the rookies are ready and a couple expensive contracts drop off).
|
This is pretty similar to how I feel. However, I get why there's so much debate over Gulutzan. Defensive issues not getting better while the top line cools down would pretty much mean disaster, but get the defensive mishaps down and the bottom 6 producing at even a mediocre pace, and we're IMO at true contender level. (Depth everywhere + offensive superstar or even two with Monahan threatening to score 50 + solid goaltending.)
These are both I think very realistic scenarios, which is why I feel like I really don't know where we're at. Most likely of course somewhere in the middle.