while it was (obviously) a massive upset, the Flames for a few years were likely better than given credit. they were the 2nd highest scoring team in the NHL that year, this was the season though where they had the 11 game losing streak (don't get me wrong, losing streaks are part of your record) but that was sort of righted by the arrival of Vernon in net, and then the team made the major moves to acquire Tonelli and Mullen so there is alot of reason in retrospect to realize the playoff version of the club was likely quite a bit better than the 89 point regular season total would suggest
in the end many of the core elements of the cup team (MacInnis, Mullen, Vernon, Otto, Loob, Suter*, Macoun, Patterson as well as the support/veteran pieces Peplinski/Lanny/Hunter (better in 86 than they were in 89) were in place along with other very good players (Reinhart, Tonelli, Wilson, Lemelin, Riser)...they were a good team
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