Calgary - better team than they've looked so far.
13 Johnny Gaudreau -
23 Sean Monahan -
28 Elias Lindholm
19 Matthew Tkachuk -
11 Mikael Backlund -
88 Andrew Mangiapane
Gaudreau needs no introduction, Monohan (#6-2013) is a young star, Lindholm (#5-2013) broke out last year at 24, how much is him and how much his linemates? Tkachuk (#6-2016) may be fat, but so is his wallet, he can score. Backlund is a solid but not special (ES 34, 34, 31, 43), Mangiapane is an undersized scorer who was passed over his first draft year, scored in the OHL and the AHL but unproven in the NHL.
17 Milan Lucic -
10 Derek Ryan -
93 Sam Bennett
16 Tobias Rieder -
77 Mark Jankowski -
67 Michael Frolik
That third line is putrid, Lucic, nuff said, Ryan, ES 20, 31, 27 with good two way play, but at age 33 he's not getting better, Bennett (#4-2014) is a solid 4th line forward playing on the 3rd line.
Reider is a freakin' Lady Byng finalist who can' score, Jankowski is a passable 4C, Frolik (ES 33, 22, 31) might be a decent 3LW.
5 Mark Giordano -
4 Rasmus Andersson
55 Noah Hanifin -
24 Travis Hamonic
7 TJ Brodie -
26 Michael Stone
Giordano shows no signs of slowing down at 36.
Hanifin (#5-2015) and Hamonic are off to slow starts, but too young and talented to play this badly.
Brodie and Anderson are getting equal ES minutes, with Brodie reverting back to his norm after a career season last year.
Stone/Kylington are the #6/#7 D-men on merit.
Goalies could be the problem, Rittich is a bottom half guy (.906, .911 in his first full season at age 26), and Talbot is terrible.
Rittich is unlikely to play 60 games (career high is 58 in 2015-16), so Talbot will get 25 or so starts.
They played over their head last season, were exposed by Colorado in the 1st rd, and are now playing below their talent.
Built around Gaudreau and a group of high picks (Monahan, Tkachuk, Lindholm-Hanifin/Hamilton), and a couple key veterans, they lack depth at forward and quality in goal.