Quote:
Originally Posted by ComixZone
I keep coming back to the changes in our roster already, and then looking back to the Dallas series...and then looking at the "top teams", looking back at the Flames roster...and thinking "huh...we're pretty good".
Against Dallas, if we had Markstrom - we win that series...
And then add in an impact top-4 defenceman who I think will be looked at as our 2nd best defenceman by the end of 2020/2021 in Valimaki...I think Valimaki will quickly be looked at as an improvement on Brodie.
And then add in the improvement we're likely to see from Hanifin and Andersson, while also replacing Gustafsson and Forbort with Tanev and Kylington.
And then look at the confidence gains we saw in Bennett, Dube, and Lucic while subtracting Jankowski...
Gaudreau - Monahan - Lindholm
Tkachuk - Backlund - Mangiapane
Lucic - Bennett - Dube
Nordstrom - Ryan - ?
Robinson
Giordano - Tanev
Hanifin - Andersson
Valimaki - Kylington
?
Markstrom
Rittich
...if we make no further changes but fill in those question marks with "money puck" high value signings, we're an improved team. Then look at coaching stability with a coach the team seems to respect and not loathe - I think things are looking pretty good.
Good candidates for those "?" roles:
Defence: Kevin Connauton, Ben Hutton, Slater Koekkoek, Jan Ruutta or go internal with Carl-Johan Lerby or Connor Mackey although cap-wise and depth wise it'd be smarter to snag one of the 4 UFA's listed at league-minimum.
Forward: Ilya Kovalchuk, Josh Leivo, Melker Karlsson
I'd really like to see Kovalchuk signed. 4th line RW who can then also play as a PP specialist on the point. Can move up the line-up if injuries occur.
PP1
Gaudreau - Monahan - Tkachuk
Kovalchuk - Lindholm/Andersson
PP2
Lucic - Backlund - Mangiapane
Giordano - Lindholm/Bennett/Dube
PK1
Backlund - Lindholm
Giordano - Tanev
PK2
Ryan - Nordstrom
Hanifin - Andersson
|
I agree that flames get by Dallas with markstrom. I just don’t think they go any further than 2nd round if the top line doesn’t show up. Sure you can win a round , maybe 2 without the first line doing much but eventually it catches up. Nothing I have seen so far has me believing that first line can show up in playoffs. Hopefully they prove me wrong this year.