Well the Flames made the playoffs before last season because the Flames have/had talent. I blame last season to Glen Gulutzan because he seemed to lose the Flames players, had a crappy defensive system and NEVER took a timeout when needed. Sure Brad Treliving made some mistakes but he did try to make the team better with some players that did not work out like Raymond, Bouma and Brouwer. I don't think he could have made the trade for Lindholm and Hanafin sooner because maybe the Flames recently got sick of Hamilton's behavior.