The Flames are now a real deal. Not because they signed The Real Deal James Neal but because of the changes they have made this year. There is more to come too. They need to make a couple of small tweaks.
We lost Hamilton in a trade? Well, there was always questions about his compete level. Somebody else can worry about those levels. Hanifin will be better than Dougie in a few years and he brings enough to the table to be a good contributor now.
Lindholm is an improvement over Ferland.
Ryan is great depth who can fill into many roles.
Czarnik is a wild card who has potential and won't hurt the team.
Then James Neal. He can score. He can play on either of the top two lines. He is a good addition.
Each of these additions are good additions but I wouldn't say that each one is the player they needed to push the Flames to the next step. The entire group of players coming in helps the team as a whole. I like what Treliving has done.
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