The review is fair I think. That's what the Flames have been for the last 2 seasons, basically. People who have a negative outlook are going to point to this and agree. I can't argue with them.
I also think that there are realistic explanations (not having to put homer glasses on and drink the kool-aid) for seeing things a bit differently. Monahan has been a regular 30 goal scorer, and he started out as one last season until he got hurt. Gaudreau is an elite PPG player. Lindholm and Tkachuk also have that ability. Being able to run 2 lines now with that potential is a FIRST for Calgary, thanks to Mangiapane breaking out and Coleman joining the team. Backlund + Pitlick + Dube on the third? That's going to be a very quick line that will be disrupting other team's top lines. The 4th line - everyone laments Ryan departing, but I say 'good riddance'. Ryan was good when moved up into a scoring line - that depth was nice. However, as a 4th liner, I thought he was useless. This team will put up better numbers - notice how Sutter had them out against the McDavid line? Notice how they scored (though it got waived due to an insignificant off-side 20+ seconds earlier). That's going to be a good 4th line for the Flames this season.
Defence does scare me, I won't lie. I still can't come up with 3 pairings that make sense to me. Zadorov and Gudbranson are both just terrible puck movers, Andersson is good in some ways, but exceptionally weak in other areas. I worry about the transition, I worry about bad unforced turnovers leading to high danger chances against... but Sutter is a guy that can squeeze out blood from a stone, so there's that.
I am not worried about Markstrom in net. He is good. Playing behind a system like Sutter should make him elite (assuming that Sutter fixes some of the defensive concerns I raised in the previous paragraph). Vladar to me is maybe a bit less of a known commodity than Rittich, but the way I see it, he is at a higher level relative to the experience Rittich had when he became the backup in Calgary. Let's face it too - Rittich was unbelievably good for stretches (last season vs Toronto, for one), but he has also been mostly inconsistent. Maybe Vladar just comes in and gives this team a bit more consistency.
So, who knows how this story unfolds? Maybe the Flames fizzle out this season yet again? Maybe with some actual solid coaching, this team plays consistently well all year and becomes a team of nightmares for opposing playoff teams? I am not entering this season with expectations of either - I am simply going to just allow myself to be entertained by whatever may come.
What I do think is that this team is going to be a difficult team for anyone to model properly. This team has been widely inconsistent in prior seasons, and this team is working towards building an identity for itself this season. If they are successful at building that identity, then what I notice is that teams with real identities tend to over-deliver and exceed expectations, just like that less talented 2014/15 team did.
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