[bubbsy]

Flames fans perhaps overrating the players. If Backlund was such a great 2nd line center, and Monahan was such a great top line center, and Hamilton was such a powerhouse top pairing dman then this team would be in the top half of the conference, rather than the bottom half.

I probably have a wildly differing opinion than most. Monahan is a first line center but not an upper echelon one. He has a great shot in close, one of the better in the league and finds opportunities to get to the right spots. He's not a fast skater, yet doesn't play a grinding & physical style. He's below average defensively. All of this is greatly overlooked due to playing with on of the top 5 play makers in the game at the moment.

Backlund is a decent skater, and just one of those jack of all trade players. He's not an overly offensive player and I think his recent point totals have been inflated by playing with Tkachuk. That's not a slight but I really think not having a upper echelon top line center and then having a 2nd line center that is bordering as an elite 3rd line center, has a lot to do with the offensive challenges the team sees.

Hamilton is a good complimentary top pairing dman. What I mean by this is that he's fine on the top pairing as long as you have an elite partner playing with him. Giordano does so much of the heavy lifting on that pairing. I would love to be proven wrong and have Hamilton man his own pairing with hamonic, and Brodie with Giordano, but that's a topic for another thread.

If our core was so great then this team would not be so average. In my opinion, this team's core is very small. Giordano, Gaudreau, tkatchuk. I'd probably lump Monahan in because he's on a great contract and his value to the flames is likely stronger than any return on a trade. Though, I sure would be ok if the flames tested that assumption a bit to be sure.