from Travis Yost of TSN,

One of the most interesting debates of the hockey off-season concerned the Calgary Flames, and whether they did enough in terms of talent cultivation to offset likely regression in 2015-16.

Calgary’s 1-4-0 start hasn’t answered that question, but early signs from Bob Hartley’s team indicate that the latter may – at least in the short-term – be winning out.

The optimism surrounding Calgary’s impressive young core was and still is understandable. It’s more than reasonable to believe that players like Dougie Hamilton, Johnny Gaudreau, and Sean Monahan (to name but a few) will continue to develop as talents. The mere fact that Calgary has these players in place and hasn’t mortgaged much of anything for the future speaks to their ability to challenge in the Western Conference down the road.

But, in the immediate sense, this core group of Calgary players faces a very real uphill battle. Whether the front office wanted it to occur or not, a combination of a 97-point season and a first-round series win heightened expectations.

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