[Heavy Jack]

Gaudreau - Lindholm - Tkachuk
Mangiapane - Monahan - Coleman
Dube - Backlund - Pitlick
Lucic - Richardson - Lewis
Ritchie, Gawdin

Wildcards
Zary, Pelletier, Ruzicka, Phillips

Hanifin - Tanev
Zadorov - Andersson
Valimaki - Gudbranson
Mackey

Wildcards
Kinvall, Stone, Kylington

Markstrom
Darth

Out
Giordano, Ryan, Nordstrom, Leivo, Nesterov, Rinaldo, Robinson, Simon, also going to include Bennett

In
Coleman, Pitlick, Lewis, Richardson, Zadarov, Gudbranson

If we look at that top line and keep it together it means that there is at least one different player through out the rest of the forward lines which really speaks to the overhaul that happened over the summer. Was it the overhaul we were hoping/expecting as Flames fans?? I’d say no, the core forwards remain untouched however the addition of Coleman does arguably balance out the top 6 and allow for a much more sturdy bottom 6 versus what was deployed last year.

The D is the biggest questionmark on the year and it’s going to have to be a by committee approach from them but I do think there is a lot more physicality through out which will help with the normalized schedule. Big years for Andy and Valimaki here and it will be interesting to track them.

At the end of the day we did want to see change and you can’t say that hasn’t happened here though a more shocking shake up of the core would have been ideal I can understand where it would be a hard market right now to achieve a deal like that with the past two years being such anomaly type seasons most GM’s would be taking a wait and see approach before moving out any major pieces via trade.

Honestly I’m excited for the season and the roster (on paper which means as much as nothing to us flames fans at this point) does arguably look much more balanced. Here’s to some competitive Sutter hockey!