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Originally Posted by Textcritic
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I think you are right about this, and I have also maintained that it would be great to upgrade the second line with the addition of either another winger, or a centre, but I think this detracts from the point of Enoch's analysis. Simply put: the Flames's second line is a dominant line as it is constructed today. In other words, a personnel upgrade is not all that critical for the team to find success, which is in contrast to a fairly consistent running narrative encountered on this site.
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I would say the flames have five legit top six guys. But the fact that Tkachuk is elite and Backlund is an above average second liner is going to pull up whoever is riding shotgun with them.
I think the underlying problem with the flames is the third line. Really good teams have one or two top 6 guys playing on their third line. I think the organization recognizes this too, which is why they have targeted guys like Zucker and Kadri...both those moves effectively add a top 6 player to the third line.
If the flames can land a legit top 6 player via trade and/or two of Mangiapane/Bennett/Dube can develop into top 6 guys, then the flames would be legitimately be a Stanley cup favorite.