The Calgary Flames core group: Johnny Gaudreau, 23, Matthew Tkachuk, 18, Sean Monahan, 21, Mark Giordano, 32, Mikael Backlund, 27, T.J. Brodie, 26, Dougie Hamilton, 23, Sam Bennett, 20, Brian Elliott, 31. By comparison, Todd McLellan’s Oilers scored the 26th-most goals, 199, while allowing the fourth-most, 242, finishing seven points behind the Flames. RelatedWith Gaudreau, Monahan, Backlund, Bennett and Tkachuk, the Flames look to have a strong top-six for years to come. WEAK LINKSWhat your great players do for a team in a second, your weak players wipe out in a second, especially if those weak players are in key spots. No, not when the Oilers have McDavid, but after that it’s close, with the Flames ahead on the blueline and the Oilers ahead at forward.

Source: National Post September 13, 2016 16:41 UTC