I have often said I think this team is better than last season. Unfortunately so far this offseason they have at best tread water. Their forwards are better with the addition of Coleman and Ryan being the biggest loss.
The blueline is worse on paper but there are questions all around. Did we see one peak Tanev season and will he regress or miss significant time with injury? Hanifin, Andersson, Zadorov, Valimaki, Mackey, Kylington all have promise and show flashes. Steps forward can be hoped for pretty much all of these guys but there is also the chance none are able to step up with the loss of Gio.
Markstrom will be the key in my opinion. The rest of this roster is good enough that if Markstrom is top 5 in the league the Flames will be a top 2 team in the Pacific. I think Tkachuk will bounce back, I hope Mangiapane can continue to ascend, Johnny, Minny, and Lindholm to do what they have done in the past.
I do worry what happens to this team if it goes poorly for the first 25 games and they sputter to 10-12 wins and if Johnny remains unsigned all of a sudden they could be tearing this team down completely by the deadline.
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