Quote:
Originally Posted by SutterBrother
We weren’t supposed to make the playoffs, won the division and were in the 2nd round. Our best players had career years and are in their primes. Our coach established a winning culture and system.
You tweak that, not blow it up. Get a clue.
|
The 2015 Flames also weren't supposed to make the playoffs, were also in the second round, had career years from their best players all in their prime, had a Jack Adams winning coach establish a winning culture. The Flames tweaked. They added Frolik and Hamilton. The 2015 Oilers won the McDavid Lottery. The Flames were not good enough to even make the playoffs the next year, but also not bad enough to get Auston Matthews. And the next year they got Juuso Valimaki while the Avs added Cale Makar.... speaking of which...
The 2019 Flames also won the division and had a winning system. It all meant nothing getting backdoor swept by an Avs team just two years removed from a historically pitiful 48 point season. The Flames tweaked. They replaced Neal with Lucic. They moved Mangiapane up the lineup into Frolik's role. They moved Lindholm to centre. They eventually replaced Monahan with Coleman in their top six. They transitioned to the post-Giordano era. But the results, at best, were identical. Only real difference being that Backlund had a better series, and that no one in our blueline was Hamonic levels of useless (outside of Hanifin-2022, but he was Hanifin-2019 levels of useless).