I don’t know about significantly worse but I do think it is a step below.
For defense I think Josi is better than Gio, Subban better than Brodie, Haminic and Ekholm equal and Ellis is better than Hanafin. I think Calgary defense is good, while Nashville’s was elite.
Up front they did have Johanssen to get them to the finals and with him and Forsberg I think that matches Gaudresu and Monahan. I like our top 6 wingers better than theirs but prefer Turris to Backlund. I also prefer their bottom 6 to ours.
I think Rinne is much better than Smith.
And Laviolette a gigantic improvement over Peters.
Josi and Gio to me are pretty close. I actually like Gio more on the defensive end.
We have nothing close to PK. But the remaining 5 guys to me are interchangeable in terms of top 8’s. Hanifin has the highest ceiling if anyone in the discussion though.
Their forward group is pretty similar. Gaudreau is the most talented player, and the rest are pure preference. I actually really, really like Calgary’s middle 6 now. Having two ~40 point guys on your third line is pretty decent.
Czarnik is a huge wild card, Janko and Benny could be too.
A healthy Smith is less of a wild card than Rinne who seems to fall apart at the worst times. But Saros is miles ahead of anything we have.
Calgary is a Preds/Knights hybrid.
As for coaching, let’s see Peters actually get a game in yyc before we cast out judgements on him. We have Gully two years to flub around until we turned on him.