Quote:
Originally Posted by ComixZone
I just don't agree.
Markstrom isn't a top goalie. He may bounce back, but his three seasons for the Flames have been Average, Top of the League, Bottom of the League - he's average.
Kadri is going to 33 years old next year, and he's a career 50 point guy.
Lindholm has only been a centre for two(?) full NHL seasons at this stage. He was fantastic when playing with Gaudreau and Tkachuk (two of the top-10 wingers in the league), and this year he showed himself to be a 60 point centre. He's not a game changer - and we also don't know if he wants to be here beyond this contract that has 1 season left on it.
Andersson and Weegar are very good defencemen, but they aren't elite. They're not prime aged Doughty or Hedman or even prime aged Pietrangelo.
This team does not have the top-end talent to be a great team.
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Markstrom's problems were two-fold. He had a below average season, but the team also hung him out to dry many times. You could see, later in the season, as the effort in front of him increased Markstrom started to regain his confidence.
The Flames have one of the deepest defences in the league. It goes beyond Anderssson and Weegar. The top 4 of Weegar, Andersson, Hanifin, and Tanev is solid.
As far as the forward core, it had the potential to be one of the deepest in the league. Lindohlm, Kadri, Backlund is a solid centre group. On top of that the Flames were still able to roll up 5 wingers at or very near to .5 PPG. What they were missing was the top end offensive game, which was stifled by the system.