Tampa is an amazing team this season - one of the most amazing teams in recent memory. If you had to pick a single team to win the cup, Tampa is the team you put money on.
With that being said, anything can happen. What happens if a few of their stars - Kucherov, Hedman, Vasilevskiy, Stamkos - get injured in this stretch drive? What happens if Vasilevskiy loses his confidence from now until the finals? There are also 4 gruelling rounds of playoffs, and it can very much be a war or attrition. If Calgary - or whoemever else makes the western finals - it just may come down to who the healthier team is. Heck, Calgary lost that war of attrition against Tampa in '04 when they had nothing left in the gas tank in game 7, and were running on fumes in game 6.
Yeah, I would put money on Tampa if you made me pick a team - they are the favourites by far. You still play it out because anything can happen, especially during a very difficult and very physical 4 rounds of NHL playoffs where huge upsets often happen.
Flames should be looking to get better with any acquisitions they make (and hopefully with a long-term vision in mind). You don't hesitate to make a move just because "Tampa is going to win it this year". No, you do your best to become a better team, period, at any time. I trust Treliving that he would only spend 'big' assets on players who can help this team for a few runs at least, and not just load up for a single run. I would't want him to do that even if Calgary was doing as well as Tampa, unless they found themselves with some serious injuries and a bunch of contracts that came up and forced them to do a mini-rebuild - that's the only time a team should really 'load up', IMO. Otherwise, you make smart moves and fill holes wherever you see them in the line-up, and then you add depth.
Tampa doesn't scare me at the moment, and it really is because anything can happen.
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