There are, officially, no more excuses for the Calgary Flames.
Johnny Gaudreau is back alongside Sean Monahan to lead an offence packed with emerging depth.
The goaltending has been revamped with a Brian Elliott/Chad Johnson duo that excels at everything last year’s trio couldn’t, namely stopping the puck.
The leadership group has been augmented with veteran Troy Brouwer who will not only add more experience and accountability to the young bunch but he comes with an offensive upside that could help second-line centre Sam Bennett flourish.
None of this is to diminish the added excitement in the dressing room that came with the introduction of a new coach who was hired on the strength of being a more player-friendly coach than Bob Hartley.