Funny how people are 100% sure that CGY will finish top 10 in the draft.
Top 9 forwards are not bad at all.
Top 4 D is pretty good as well.
If they want to finish top 10 in the draft they need to start selling.
If not they might end up between #11 to #15 or around that.
Nobody is calling it 100%, it's just closer to a 90% thing. Since the Flames traded away Lindholm, Hanifin, and Tanev they went 7-14. Since then all they have done is trade their starting goaltender who was coming off a fantastic season, and all they have added since then is the depth defenseman Bahl. Mangaipane was basically replaced by Mantha and Kylington was by Bean, it's too early to call either of those upgrades or downgrades but I would lean towards downgrade at the moment.
If we look at all the teams that finished near or around them in the standings, they all made relatively significant upgrades to their rosters since the last trade deadline:
- The Habs added a top 6 forward and are expecting the return of Dach, they also likely have one of their young dmen make the team (my guess is Hutson).
- The Yotes (now Utah HC) added Sergachev and Marino.
- The Sens added a starting goalie and some forward depth. They lost chychrun but Jensen is great defensively which is what they needed the most.
- The Kraken added Stephenson and Montour, they also probably won't be playing with a core player injured all season long again.
- the Devils added a starting goalie (from the Flames) upgraded Marino to Pesce, and Bahl to Dillon. Also Dougie's back.
- The Sabres added forward depth and will have a full season with Byram now. They also got a new coach.
- Philly added Michkov and Minny re-added Spurgeon, but those 2 teams were still a fair bit ahead of Calgary in the standings
Sure you can probably make the argument that Calgary's young guys will take the next step but that same argument can be made about every team I mentioned above, and including teams like Chicago, Anaheim, and Columbus.
The Flames aren't going to go get blown out by the opposition like San Jose did last year. They will make games interesting but fundamentally they lack the star power to win on a consistent basis , and unless Wolf or Vladar catches lightning in a bottle they will probably average over 3 goals against per game and less than 3 for per game.