Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
I think you're being a bit too harsh on what it means to be a top 6 / second line forward, I think we have more than 2 of those guys for sure.
There are technically 192 top 6 forwards in the NHL, which means you only have to put up 35 points to be in the top 192 of NHL forwards.
Kadri, Huberdeau, Backlund, Coleman, Kuzmenko, Sharangovich, and Zary (if you pro-rate) all technically meet that criteria for last season, and Mantha too actually.
In terms of what players on this roster fit and slotting I think in a perfect world it would be:
Bonafide 1st Line: Huberdeau (based on history, not his time as a Flame)
Ideally 2nd Line; Borderline 1st Line: Kadri, Sharangovich, Kuzmenko
Ideally 3rd Line, Borderline 2nd Line: Backlund, Coleman, Mantha
4th Liners: Rooney, Duehr, Lomberg
????: Coronato, Zary, Pospisil, Pelletier
Even just looking at 5v5 points over the past 2 seasons and their NHL rank:
Kadri: 80 (t-35)
Kuzmenko: 76 (t-48)
Coleman: 70 (t-77)
Huberdeau: 63 (T-105)
Backlund: 63 (T-105)
Mantha: 57 (T-137)
Sharangovich: 54 (T-149)
Technically all 7 of those forwards fit into the production threshold of "top 6 forward" over each of the last two seasons. The forward group lacks first line, elite talent, but it actually has a lot of middle 6 / second line depth.
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Totally agree. They very much have a number of top six players. This discussion is always more around perception and "does Calgary have the top six players a championship team might have." And no, they don't, or at least the young guys aren't there yet.
Take Kadri, for example, arguably Calgary's best forward last year. His numbers put him 18th on the NHL.com list of centres last year. With his two-way game, and some of those 17 centres above him being on the same team, he was a better first line centre than at least half the other teams had last season.
Would I want him as Calgary's number one centre if the Flames were pushing for a cup? No way. He's an ideal number 2 guy behind a superstar stud like Mackinnon (which is one of the reasons why they won). But still he absolutely produces like a number one centre in the NHL.
Outside of its unproven blue line and goaltending, the forward group is actually pretty decent and probably above the NHL team average overall. Is it cup winning decent? Nope. But the team could surprise if the defence and goaltending work out. I don't think it'll all come together, but I also didn't think Seattle was a playoff team in 2023 and I certainly didn't think that Vegas would come out of the gate kicking butt.
This is also why I really like Nashville this year, who is always a team with a lot of top 6/top 9 on average forwards, but not a lot of superstar (beyond Forsberg). They added Stamkos and Marchessault, on top of O'Reilly last year, and this team could actually be something with their high end goaltending and D.