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Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald
Interesting way of spinning it. The reality is that you have Gaudreau and Tkachuk both committed to their new teams for eight years, while Huberdeau and Weegar are committed to the team through this season. The Flames are in the same situation they were just in, just kicking the can down the road a bit. They still have to get both players under contract long-term for this be a big win. If they sign long-term I fully expect the value of those contracts to be close to $16M+. Keep that in mind as you mull over the flexibility, especially when each additional player added prior to the extension of these players works against the amount can be spent to extend these two. Without these two under contract, the comparison between the state of Gaudreau and Tkachuk is not a fair comparison. Even with these two players we are still a forward short to possibly maintain last season's outcome.
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We need to acknowledge that last year was an offensive aberration.
The entire league got COVID at one point or another. Often times you were playing teams that were barely icing NHL lineups.
Add to that, there was a three week break in the middle of the season when everyone got to recover from the nicks and dings of the first half.
There aren’t going to be eight 100 point players next year, and there won’t be sixteen 90 point players. That didn’t even happen in 2005-06.
The defense is better than it was 48 hours ago. The offense is possibly more consistent - Huberdeau has been more productive than Gaudreau the last 4 years. 345 points to Johnny’s 321.
Huberdeau is bigger and stronger than Gaudreau, and he’s a better skater than Tkachuk.
They were a top-10 team in offense and defense. Maybe they fall back a few places in goals For, but they could easily win the Jennings next year if the big change on the blue line is Weegar for Gudbranson.