Things look very good for the Calgary Flames in both the present and future.
Coming off a season where they advanced to the 2nd round of the playoffs the Flames didn't lose any key players and added two big pieces in Dougie Hamilton and Michael Frolik.
Even with the expected regression for Jiri Hudler, Lance Bouma, and co. the Flames seem like a reasonable bet to return to the playoffs in 2015-16.
On top of a very good core that features the likes of Frolik, Hudler, Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, T.J. Brodie, Mark Giordano and Hamilton the Flames also have a very good prospect system in place.
Headlined by Sam Bennett, Emile Poirier, Brandon Hickey, Mason McDonald and Jon Gilles the Flames already had an above average system prior to this year's draft.
Add in the likes of Rasmus Andersson, who I am extremely high on, and Oliver Kylington - two blue liners with top-4 potential - as well as a handful of others and you're looking at a very good prospect pool.
That's why the Flames were ranked inside the top-10 (9th to be exact) by ESPN's Corey Pronman in his organizational prospect rankings.
New post at @ESPNInsider: My 2015 organization/farm system rankings http://t.co/BNzUDLD8fp
— Corey Pronman (@coreypronman) August 11, 2015Note: You have to be an ESPN subscriber to read the piece.
With a good core in place, a plethora of good prospects on the way and eight picks in the 2016 draft the Flames are well positioned to ice a competitive team for the foreseeable future.
That's surely music to the ears of Flames fans who have seen their team make the postseason just once over the last six seasons.