Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
Here's my overall POV.
Things I like
- The roster is more aligned to how Darryl Sutter wants the team to play. If you are going to have him as a head coach you need to give him a squad he can work with
- I'm confident Tkachuk will be much better this year and he looked good in the pre-season
- I'm also confident Markstrom will have a better season and early returns (pre-season) are good with Vladar. Might have something there
- If Monahan IS healthy that's a big add back too in terms of a productive (even 25 goals) guy up the middle
- I think Coleman is going to be a strong add.
Things I do not like
- The defense is going to be worse without Gio unless Hanifin takes a big step. Which he might. But then you need someone else to take a big step behind him (Rasmus?)
- Not a fan of Gudbranson being on the team
- I'm also not a fan of Ritchie being around, though hopefully he's the 13th forward and not a regular day guy
- I'm just kinda tired with the forward group and yearning for bigger changes there
- Overall I don't think this team matches up well with teams that have truly elite players. The Flames simply do not have an upper tier of "best players" to match up.
I think this team can make the playoffs and if they do - I would not count out any group led by the old farmer. If they falter, I hope they used the TDL to make some tough decisions about the team and use it as an opportunity for a larger re-shaping.
I would say my emotion heading in is not excitement but more intrigued.
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I agree with all of that. I’d add a big question mark for me is whether Monahan will bounce back hard, whether Dube takes a step forward and whether Mangiapane keeps up the pace.
On D I wonder if regular season will suit Zadorov and Gudbranson more than preseason. And whether Rasmus has a bounce back year (I think talked that one bad season = bust are unfair).
The thing about losing Gio is that you have to project how Gio would have played this year. He’s lost a step in the last two consecutive seasons (though he recovered a lot paired with Tanev, which IMO has a lot to do with the Tanev effect). At some point the legs are going to not be there for Gio and this may well be the year.