This is from July 19th. I thought it was interesting to see the Flames so high on this list given how few changes there were around the roster.
>7. Calgary Flames
>Goal Difference added: 8.6
>Salary added: -$3.1 million
>In: Yegor Sharangovich, Jordan Oesterle
>Out: Tyler Toffoli, Troy Stecher, Trevor Lewis, Milan Lucic
>I’m shocked the Flames ended up this high, especially after losing the Tyler Toffoli trade. But addition by subtraction goes a long way and the Flames added a lot by not re-signing either Trevor Lewis or Milan Lucic. Part of Calgary’s problem last year was how disastrous its fourth line was with Lucic and Lewis being primary culprits of that. They’re gone now and as a result, the Flames are 16 goals better from those two losses alone.
https://theathletic.com/4701104/2023/07/19/nhl-offseason-ratings-most-improved-teams/?source=user_shared_article
by Breadman_88
9 Comments
Why do you think we lost the toffoli trade? Yaegor has big upside and if he clicks with hubs then it’s over over
Addition by subtraction is big, including Sutter. But getting a younger faster taffoli with more than control is far from a loss. People seem to forget taffoli was a 50 pt player his entire career.
Not too surprising to see them near the top, with only $1M cap increase, a lot of teams got worse on paper, whereas the Flames stayed relatively the same outside of the Toffoli trade.
No Lucic or Lewis is a big win
Playing Pelletier, Coronato, Ruzicka, and Duehr more should make the team better. They’re younger, faster, and have more talent than most of the players they’re replacing.
Yegor is a very underrated addition. He can easily be a 20-25 goal scorer for us in an elevated role
No Sutter, No Lucic, No Ritichie
We are so ready
I thought Lewis was perfect in his role on the 4th line last season and think we may miss him. He is big, fast, always made safe plays, and had veteran 2 way accountability.
Moneyball-style projections are neat, but it’s more important that there is a new system and coach. Dom’s model doesn’t account for that.