vic wrote:What's with all the Calgary love in those projections?
Yeah. That escapes most people I've talked to as well.
They lost a solid member of their blueline in Russell, and didn't replace him. He's barely a top-4 on a lot of teams, but he ate a ton of minutes and is a PK specialist. Up front they added Brouwer, who could make them tougher to play against, or he could just end up being Calgary's version of Brandon Prust who takes a step backwards with the change of scenery from east to west.
In goal they "upgraded" from Hiller and Ramo/Berra to Elliot and Johnson. The last time Elliot was the go-to number one anywhere his numbers were more reflective of an AHL backup. Johnson is a journeyman NHL backup though, so they have reliability there, but nothing that will bail Elliot out long-term. If you look at Elliot's numbers, prior to landing on Ken Hitchock's defensive powerhouse St. Louis Blues, he is a terrible goaltender. And the Flames just dumped their defense-first coach in favour of our old assistant coach.
They also have this dark cloud hanging over them in the form of Johnny Hockey's contract demands. If he think he's worth $8.5M, I just can't see him signing long-term at the price Calgary is offering. If they cave and give him that salary, well we all know he's not worth that kind of cash, and that will be a boat anchor contract on their team for years.
While I fully expect to see LA and SJ take a bit of a step back this year, to suggest that they are going to finish higher than any of the California teams is hilarious.