That trade came two months to the day after the Flames hired Bill Peters as coach. Peters, who coached the Hurricanes the past four seasons, replaced Glen Gulutzan, who was fired April 17 after Calgary went 37-35-10 and missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second time in three seasons.
The Flames added another former member of the Hurricanes when they signed forward Derek Ryan to a three-year, $9.375 contract July 1.
"I think we're deeper than we were at the end of the year, but it comes down to the individual performance and collective performance," Calgary general manager Brad Treliving said. "It's the execution. That's what the whole game is about, is how well you can execute, how well, hopefully, you can find chemistry.
"We need people to play to their potential. We need to max out. We need to execute. That's the difference in teams that look good on paper and teams that look good on the ice."