Craig Button: Flames have the 28th "Best" group of players under the age of 24

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Kasi

Well that’s not something nice to hear either if you say the players we draft suck. If they suck or they are being held back in the long run that means the players are not helping the Flames which doesn’t bode well for the team. That being said I have a hard time thinking some farm players are not better than Lucic/Lewis/Ritchie. It’s not that high a barrier to beat.

Lewis and Ritchie are near 20 goal pace on the 4th line...Lewis is an excellent PKer

Those guys have been good

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

Almost all stanley cup winners are not in the top 10 youngest teams in the NHL. More teams win with an average age of 28 than win under an average age of 27.

Average age also can swing in a hurry. Flames have Backlun, Lewis and Lucic over the age of 32. Lots of good players 24-26 which is just over the threshold for this list.

You can make a case Backlund is the only player that his age is a big concern. His contract is almost up and if he stays I bet it's for less money.

Lucic and Lewis are UFA's and the wrangler have lots of player playing very well.

The concern for me is always of this season is a disaster will the Flames move on from good vet players?

The Flames need to be winning a cup right away and right now they look touch and go to make the playoffs. Next year the highest paid players will be Huberdeau in his age 30 season, Kadri in his age 33 season, Weegar in his age 29-30 season and Markstrom in his age 33-34 season. I am just not sure having all the big cap hits tied up in those players will result in a cup winning team. Typically players do not improve and have career years at this age. It certainly happens like we saw with Gio winning the Norris at 35 and Kadri last year with a career season at 31 (others like Duchene also enjoyed career years over 30)

It bothers me that Pelletier is one of a small handful of players who has yet to play a NHL game from the 2019 draft 1st round. By all accounts he should have been given a look but they would rather not go in that direction.

A lot of the older guys are expiring soon. Lucic, Backlund, Tanev, Toffoli and this will happen at the same time the Flames are looking to extend Lindholm who will be 29 and Hanifin who will be 27.

If Zary, Pelletier, Coronato (if he signs) can make the team and play a meaningful role in the middle six the team outlook will hopefully change. No player under 25 right now feels like a core piece and all the core pieces upfront are over 27 years old today. The blueline is younger but the forward group feels very old right now and will only age more if they have 3-4 guys over 30 being the highest paid.

[traptor]

These articles can't be taken as the law. They're subjective opinion pieces. They also aren't always researched very extensively and have tons of mistakes and oversights.

They didn't even include Pelletier on the list even though he has two PPG AHL seasons. Wolf is projected as a B grade tandem goalie and skinner is a starting goalie even though Wolf has out played him at every level.

I don't think Calgary has an elite prospect pool, but we have some solid prospects.

[Kasi]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Lewis and Ritchie are near 20 goal pace on the 4th line...Lewis is an excellent PKer

Those guys have been good

Lewis is serviceable but Ritchies goals have been flukes. I think Pelletier or Zary could give more upside but sure go with the min cost vets.

[TheIronMaiden]

Lewis and Ritchie are not the reason this team is losing.
The blame falls on the top six ( with exception to Kadri).

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

What were his worst moves for us as GM?

Really? As a Flames fan you know this.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Lewis and Ritchie are not the reason this team is losing.
The blame falls on the top six ( with exception to Kadri).

Maybe early on but had Kadri really been the best forward?

[Kasi]

If you get more skill up the lineup maybe Huberdeau and Kadri look better? Then players like Coleman can move down the lineup and then the fourth line gets better. The point isn’t that the team needs to graduate players to be fourth liners it’s that they need to graduate impact players and then players moving down will be higher impact than the players already there. It’s clear we’re not going to win the lottery to get a superstar so I think we have to win with superior depth.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Kasi

Lewis is serviceable but Ritchies goals have been flukes. I think Pelletier or Zary could give more upside but sure go with the min cost vets.

lol okay guy

Playing in the AHL is not hurting those two vs. 4th line in the NHL

[Buff]

Yes! We're in the top 100!

[Mathgod]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

A team full of 30 something’s doesn’t win in the NHL today.

The Bruins say hi.

Edit: Penguins too.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Mathgod

The Bruins say hi.

Edit: Penguins too.

The Bruins won when key players were young and they still have players in their 20’s in key situations.

Penguins have a generational talent and haven’t been past the first round since he was 31

[Mathgod]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

The Bruins won when key players were young and they still have players in their 20’s in key situations.

Penguins have a generational talent and haven’t been past the first round since he was 31

All of the Bruins key forwards aside from Pastrnak are north of 30. While nothing is ever a guarantee, they are poised to do serious damage this year.

Penguins may have lacked playoff success in recent years but Crosby/Malkin/Letang are still going strong, plus a bunch of other players 30 or up. They are the hottest team in the league right now.

Age is not necessarily an impediment. Look at Ovi or even Pavelski this year.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Mathgod

All of the Bruins key forwards aside from Pastrnak are north of 30. While nothing is ever a guarantee, they are poised to do serious damage this year.

Penguins may have lacked playoff success in recent years but Crosby/Malkin/Letang are still going strong, plus a bunch of other players 30 or up. They are the hottest team in the league right now.

Age is not necessarily an impediment. Look at Ovi or even Pavelski this year.

Pasternak is by far their best player and Debrusk is their second highest scorer right now. Bergeron and Marchand are proven and their team might not win anything but many of their older players have been to 3 cup finals together and won 1.

McAvoy and Pasternak are their franchise players and are 24 and 26 respectively

[Classic_Sniper]

Haven’t done the research, but if someone said the Flames are in the worst position right now in the league, I’d probably believe it. An old team, lots of long contracts, mediocre in the standings, minimal playoff success, one of the worst prospect pools in the league and an old ass building.

Did I miss anything?

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

Haven’t done the research, but if someone said the Flames are in the worst position right now in the league, I’d probably believe it. An old team, lots of long contracts, mediocre in the standings, minimal playoff success, one of the worst prospect pools in the league and an old ass building.

Did I miss anything?

The Athletic had a piece last week where they predicted the standings in 2025/2026 that had the Flames 15th.
Which is hilariously likely accurate

[Mathgod]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Pasternak is by far their best player and Debrusk is their second highest scorer right now. Bergeron and Marchand are proven and their team might not win anything but many of their older players have been to 3 cup finals together and won 1.

McAvoy and Pasternak are their franchise players and are 24 and 26 respectively

Having a legit cup contending team, and actually winning the cup, are two different things.

Since GMs only have control over how they build their team, and no control over whether their team actually goes on to win the cup, the best any GM can do is achieve the former and then hope for the latter. The Bruins are clearly legit contenders this year and the Penguins also appear to be.

The Bruins key forwards are Pasta, Bergeron, Marchand, Krejci, Hall.

And I don't really get what you're trying to argue anyway. If 3 or 4 of your highest paid players are in their 30s, it means you can't win a cup?

Look, while the Flames going forward will have some guys in their 30s locked up under big contracts, they also have players currently 26 or younger that should play big roles in the coming years such as Ruzicka, Andersson, Hanifin, Kylington (hopefully!), Mangiapane, Dube, Pelletier, Zary, Wolf, Coronato (hopefully!), Porier. Maybe Schwindt and Zohorna too. Didn't include Phillips as it doesn't look like he's ever going to get a fair shake here.

To me, the age of key players matters far, far less than the quailty of those players. Huberdeau has the 3rd most points in the NHL over the 3 seasons prior to this one. Kadri and Weegar have also had good NHL careers thus far. So really it's not an issue of age, it's more an issue of getting these guys to play to their potential. If they do, the Flames will be fine. If they don't, the team will continue to struggle.

[SeanCharles]

This franchise chose to build its team in a way that was extremely risky.

Everyone was applauding Treliving in the offseason but the reality is he acquired older players that had career years in other organizations and signed them to long-term deals with inflated AAV’s.

This organization refused to accept all the data right in front of their face. You build a winning team through the draft and you strengthen it with trades and smart free agent signings.

Signing Coleman and Kadri as free agents, trading a 24yo for a 29yo and in general assembling a team good enough to compete but not good enough to do anything significant is just madness IMO.

This is the best draft we’ve seen in a while and instead of embracing the situation we were thrust into by Johnny and Tkachuk we decide to take a massive risk and load up on players who are only going to decline.

I’m not saying the Flames won’t turn it around and make the playoffs and even win a round but I don’t believe they are good enough to beat the true contenders in the league.

We will never win anything until we embrace the fact this team isn’t good enough to win it all and we should rebuild.

I do still think we will be competitive but that is not the goal for me, the goal is the Stanley Cup and we aren’t anywhere close to being in that conversation with how the team looks now.

[Aarongavey]

I know a lot of people are criticizing the Flames lack of youth depth, but would you rather have Dobson and Kyrou or the years of Elliott and Hamonic. Sometimes you have to firesale your future for a couple good memories.

We have a 1st rounder this year that could possibly get us into the playoffs.

[Mathgod]

This team's ownership will never allow the team to go into a full, patient rebuild. Might as well accept it.