Quote:
Originally Posted by dino7c
Monahan
Gaudreau
Hamilton
Tkachuk
Giordano
Hamonic
Backlund
All on reasonable contracts...Flames have some dead weight and need some help on the right side. I think most people would say the Flames "window" is just now starting to open.
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As much as I would love for the Flames to find the same kind of success as teams like Tampa and Boston, right now the evidence suggests this is what the team tops out as - a bubble playoff team struggling to break out of mediocrity. And they've leveraged so many picks and opportunities to move struggling players before they lose most of their value (Bennett, Brodie) that I have a hard time seeing improvement coming in the near future.
How much more improvement can we reasonably expect out of players like Gaudreau and Monahan who are already some of the top players at their position? Gio, Backlund, and Hamonic are all good bets to get worse as time goes on while Hamilton and Tkachuk still have some room to grow.. but overall I think this is pretty much what we're looking at, and it's not close to a Stanley Cup winner as it stands.
Pending some major addition to the core or a drastic improvement once Gulutzan is given his walking papers I can't say I see things as rosy as you do, but that's just my opinion.