The future is bright! The future is when?

[Stormchaser]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

2012 Kings (Champions) and 2015 Kings had an identical record.

So if the 2016 Kings have a identical record next year do they make the playoffs?? Not in my books unless Calgary takes a step back and other up and coming teams falter as well.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by stormchaser

So if the 2016 Kings have a identical record next year do they make the playoffs?? Not in my books unless Calgary takes a step back and other up and coming teams falter as well.

Calgary and other teams won't have as many free points this year

[monkeyman]

I'm not convinced LA will be better next year. A lot of questions there for me.
-how much is left on the Sutter shelf life.
-Slava Voynov.
-how hungry is an aging core group who's won it all 2 times.
-Their current cap situation and pending RFA's also makes it likely there will be moves in the off season.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Calgary and other teams won't have as many free points this year

Yup - should be a much more even playing field this year.

Last year, the bottom 4 teams AVERAGED 60 points. The bottom 5 averaged 62.2. Those are the lowest totals since 2001. By quite a bit.

By comparison, in 2010 and again in 2012, the 29th place team had 74 points.

If next year is more typical again - with the bottom 5 averaging about 72 points (the average of the prior few years), that's 50 more points, and those 50 points come at the expense of the other 25 teams (though there can be some extra poser points scattered around).

[Bunk]

October 21, 2015

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by New Era

...I also hope the Flames keep the youth movement going. I see another four or five guys that should step in sometime this fall (Arnold, Agostino, Poirier, Wotherspoon and possibly Culkin) and continue to push this team toward being a contender. I'm still not sure when this team arrives, but if they continue with the youth movement, I wouldn't be surprised to see that critical mass achieved by the 2016-2017 season...

I agree that the contributions of young players and rookies to the team was tremendous this year, and I also expect a continued, gradual progression of new players slotting into the lineup from the farm.

But let's be honest, here: there was not really a "youth movement" this season—at least not one that was mandated at training camp. Go and look back at some of the early threads from the Fall. Management and coaches endured a lot of criticism from some members on this board for not having more roster spots available for rookies like Baertschi and Wotherspoon. And as the season progressed, there was more complaining about how the team was not holding rookies to the same standard as veterans in the distribution of ice time. There was plenty of ire hurled at Treliving for picking up Setoguchi and Diaz, because some fans believed that these were unnecessary obstacles to seeing some promising rookies make the jump.

No. It wasn't a "youth movement." It was natural progression that we witnessed this season. It was Bob Hartley doing his damnedest to ice the best team he could, and it was young players stepping in and earning their spots. This is EXACTLY how we should want things to continue.

Anyhow, I think we're likely two years away; maybe three.