Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
Players I am excited about:
Mangiapane
Dube
Coleman
Gaudreau
Vladar
Players I am concerned about:
Gudbranson
Zadorov
Valimaki
Backlund
Ritchie
Players I am intrigued about:
Kylington
Tkachuk
Monahan
Hanifin
Andersson
Pitlick
There are a lot of question marks, for sure. Especially on D. But there is also a lot of depth, and it is a roster that could look good under Sutter.
The big ace in the hole - the chance for the Flames to be a strong or really strong team, is the goaltending. It might be fantastic.
The reason I am excited about this team is the combination of potentially having great goaltending, along with a great coach. A lot has to go right, but those two things could be a great foundation to build on.
|
The top line with Tkachuk on the right side of Gaudreau has looked genuinely effective at even strength too. We had lost that ability from the Gaudreau-Monahan pairing between the avs first round collapse and this past spring when they were finally separated. That new top line needs to be kept intact to help lead the way because I sense they could outproduce their opponents on a lot of nights.
If we can just clean up the defense to where we have 3 pairings that can each do the job in their own end well enough that we're not gripping our armrests watching them then we could probably make noise in a weak division, maybe a round or two deep into the post season.
I just pray that Gudbranson's AAV doesn't make him a staple on the bottom pairing longer than warranted and same for Zadorov potentially on the second pairing. Both guys are #5-6 defenceman on a good NHL team at best.