Calgary Flames: Three Teams Who Will Cause the Most Trouble

Number Three: Nashville Predators

While the Nashville Predators have never quite been the biggest threat to the Calgary Flames (or to any team really), people need to stop underestimating them now. Making the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in franchise history and giving the defending champs a run for their money? Yeah, I’d say they’re a top team in the league.

Their top-four is arguably one of the best in the league and the Flames will definitely have some competition in that area. Like I mentioned earlier, the Flames added Travis Hamonic to that top-four this off-season to really solidify that area.

However, the Preds have the likes of Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, Mattias Ekholm, and P.K. Subban for their top-four, giving the Flames a run for their money. But, the Flames also added Michael Stone as that fifth defenceman. And when Stone first came to the Flames line-up, they had a ten-game win-streak. But we don’t quite know if we can fully attribute that to Stone, or if anything was just basically better than Dennis Wideman.

Related Story: Five Reasons the Flames' Season Turned Around

Last season, the Preds and the Flames met three times. The Preds won two of those games while the Flames won one. However in that Flames win, they had a 4-1 lead and blew it which led to overtime where the Flames won 6-5.

The Flames and Preds meet again three times this upcoming season, and with the Flames aiming to get 100 points, these games could very well be what causes them to go over/under that 100-point mark.

The Preds are projected at earning 102 points and the Flames are projected at earning 97 points:

If the Flames can give the Preds a run for their money, they could potentially hit that 100-point mark.