You think the Flames are better than they were in the pre season?
The signs were all there
I think Arizona is better than the Flames were at times in the pre-season.
But what I'm saying is that the pre-season isn't a good predictive tool of the regular season. Just like (looking at Nashville, for instance) the regular season isn't a good predictive tool of the post-season.
Teams tend to make adjustments at each level, and different factors exist for each. And some guys will consciously ease up when they know there's nothing on the line.
Sure, there are examples you can point to (Calgary and Montreal, for instance) where the pre-season was a harbinger of the regular season. And there are just as many cases where teams were the opposite in the pre-season to how they started.
It's wrong to say that pre-season doesn't matter. But what matters in pre-season isn't always going to show up to people watching the games.