[OptimalTates]

Last season was the perfect storm of everything coming together except for the injuries to Monahan. You had the best top line making 20M for one of the best bang for your bucks in the salary cap era (non ELC contracts).

And they still won a single game in the second round while almost getting beat by a wildcard team. Luckily they had Gaudreau to score that OT winner in game 7 so they could even make it to the second round, but he's gone now.

Under Treliving the Flames have 704 points in 618 games, good for 16th in the league during that period. They have made the playoffs 5 out of 8 seasons and advanced beyond the first round once and never made the semi-finals. I'd be curious if you could find a more mediocre team in that period (assuming we mean somewhere between moderate or slightly below average). The Wild? But 7/8 playoffs, far more points than the Flames over that same period. Just another team you expect to fight for the playoff spot and lose quickly should they make it.

There's a lot of worse teams, obviously, but I'm not sure if there's a more "meh" team in the league over the last couple seasons. Sixth overall was a nice regular season, but they faltered in the playoffs and got worse in the off-season.