Quote:
Originally Posted by Matty81
The flames trotting out the exact same roster as last year minus Gio plus Coleman and expecting a hugely different outcome, to me defies logic a little.
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But it isn't ‘the exact same roster’, it's turned over by more than 25%.
Out since the end of last season: Mark Giordano, Josh Leivo, Nikita Nesterov, Joakim Nordstrom, Derek Ryan.
In: Blake Coleman, Erik Gudbranson, Oliver Kylington (as a regular), Trevor Lewis, Tyler Pitlick, Dan Vladar, Nikita Zadorov.
(I count Kylington because he only played 8 games last year and never in the top four. I don't count players who were only on the roster for a few games.)
The team is bigger, heavier, faster, and has got rid of several sub-replacement players. They now have four forward lines and three defensive pairings of legitimate NHLers, which is something they haven't been able to say for years. They also have a coach who slots those players intelligently, uses them effectively, and gets them to play a smart, uptempo game right from the opening puck drop.
So in fact, it isn't the same team, and it hasn't been playing like the same team, and frankly, what defies logic is
not to expect a different outcome.