[Vinny01]

The Flames did the least of all the teams at the bottom in terms of trying to get better in the offseason and many would argue if anything they made themselves worse. They moved on from 4 of the 6 Dmen last year with Zadorov, Hanifin, Tanev all being traded and Kylington being allowed to walk. They replaced those guys with Mirimanov, Jake Bean, Kevin Bahl, and Tyson Barrie.

They traded Markstrom for futures and replaced him with a rookie

They traded Mangiapane for picks and let Grier walk and replaced them with Mantha and Lomberg.

The Flames are punching above their weight due to Wolf’s game translating well to the NHL and having Huberdeau somewhat bounce back or at least play his best hockey in Calgary. Kadri seems to be aging like Joe Pavelski and still producing at a good clip despite being in his mid 30’s. Zary and Coronato look like potential top 6 forwards and Weegar is still a stud on the back end.

This team can’t score, they suck on the PK and in the Faceoff dot. They work hard and typically do not get blown out and have won 18 of 38 games while getting 7 loser points and having a -12 goal differential. They are not a great team but they are playing hard and getting decent production from 3 of their top young players and their veteran 6.