[Sylvanfan]

Going into 14-15 I seem to remember that the sentiment was the the Flames would no doubt be a bottom 5 team. That team was a statistical outlier, and something like that would have to occur again.

The points in the original post are reasonable although did Backlund and Andersson get mixed up?

This team doesn't have a Gaudreau up front to be that wildcard scorer. It likely will need to be a guy like Brzustewicz to make the team and produce points at a really high rate on the PP. Up front many of the veteran guys like Coleman, Backlund, Kadri, Kuzmenko, Sherangovich would all need to have stronger than expected seasons plus the return to 70 plus point production by Huberdeau.

Vladar and or Cooley would also have to play play really well too in the 35 or more games that they play.

They would need that unhrralded guy like a Morton to make the team and go on a Josh Jooris like heater where he gets 10 goals in 30 games and other guys who come up score above expected to help out the overall output.

Really the team would need to have a decent start and be in that position on US Thanksgiving and have the confidence carry them through the season.

It's all unlikely, but outliers happen every season.