People are getting so fixated on how stacked the top line is compared to how it was last season that they're overlooking the importance of Kadri/Mangiapane now running the second line, and Backlund/Coleman being bumped to the third line, which was previously next to useless and a weakness for the Flames.
They were immensely top heavy last season with that line being relied in for the bulk of the scoring. Now we can expect contributions through the top 3 lines and more balanced scoring.
Overall, it probably bodes better for the team against high end opponents in a playoff situation.
Depth tends to best out top heavy teams at the end of the day. So in that regard, we've taken a step forward.
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