Not worth asking on here, people will just say first round exit

2nd round

I think Calgary is a lot better then people give us credit for. We almost beat the cup runners-up in 5 without our best player lol

Honestly, I'm not super stoked about Ward returning, as I was not a fan of his roster decisions in the playoffs. I feel he may be or biggest weakness, but it was his first taste of the playoffs as a HC, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt and give him a chance to show he can learn from his mistakes. I'm also not keen on our PK forwards this year, if Nordstrom plays the top 4 are good, but we need a #5 guy to step up badly as Backlund is always among the team leaders in minor penalties taken.

I agree, it's unfortunate that they chose to bring him back just because he got us to the first round (???) in a tough situation when he clearly showed he's not a great tactician. It looks especially foolish when you realize guys like Gallant and Boudreau are out there. I agree with the PK comment too, I'm hoping they teach one of Tkachuk/Bennett/Dube to kill penalties, I think adding strong defensive play to their games sets us up really well long term and gets better players on the ice more often, which is always a plus imo

When it comes to Boudreau, I honestly don't understand the love he gets as an "elite" coach; his teams have underachieved in the playoffs for the majority of his career. I did want Gallant though, pretty badly. That said, I do see the red flags, being let go twice in such a short period of time, both rather unceremoniously, has to make you wonder what those skeletons are. After Gallant though, I'm not sure anyone would have been a clear better choice.

For the PK, I think we see Dube get more PK time; he was a great PKer in Jr and at the World Jrs. I think Dominik Simon could transition to PK as well, everything we've heard is that he works hard and is solid defensively, seems like a good fit to try on the PK. Of course the best thing we could do is have our top PKers in Gio and Backlund cut down the amount of minor penalties they take.

When it comes to Boudreau, I honestly don't understand the love he gets as an "elite" coach; his teams have underachieved in the playoffs for the majority of his career. I did want Gallant though, pretty badly. That said, I do see the red flags, being let go twice in such a short period of time, both rather unceremoniously, has to make you wonder what those skeletons are. After Gallant though, I'm not sure anyone would have been a clear better choice.

For the PK, I think we see Dube get more PK time; he was a great PKer in Jr and at the World Jrs. I think Dominik Simon could transition to PK as well, everything we've heard is that he works hard and is solid defensively, seems like a good fit to try on the PK. Of course the best thing we could do is have our top PKers in Gio and Backlund cut down the amount of minor penalties they take.

Problem with Simon is I think he’ll be the 13th forward (JG-SM-EL MT-MB-AM ML-SB-DD JN-DR-JL leaves Simon out) and if he’s in the lineup then Nordstrom, an actual PKer, is likely out. So yeah, I would like to see Dube step into that role, he’s fast, works hard, and has nice hands, and because he likely isn’t going to be in the top 6, the more we can get him out there the better. Not taking penalties also works lol but that isn’t going to change at this stage in their careers.

Which coach you like more is up for debate but they’re both established and have decent success in the playoffs (Gallant went to finals, Boudreau went a couple rounds p much every year). I don’t think either is really elite (ngl the only coaches I consider elite are Trotz and maybe Cooper lol) but both are experienced and not a first time head coach which is better now that we’re in our window regardless of who we picked. I just think management doesn’t like spending money on coaches and I don’t agree with that philosophy, especially at a crucial time (we can’t afford to waste any of the next 2-3 years, gotta go deep while we’re competitive).

A lot of Flames fans have the opinion that the Flames ownership doesn't like to pay for coaches, but Peters was a quite expensive coach, IIRC he was making $3m in Carolina before coming over. SO I'm not sure I buy that, but we all have to remember the list of coaches to repeat as Cup Champs, is extremely short. So for all we know the coach matters even less than we think, lol.

I also think you are right about Simon being the #13, but with injuries he'll still be in the lineup alot.