When you last saw your favourite team in action, there had been two surprising developments.



In net, despite being substandard for much of the regular season, Mike Smith was carrying the Calgary Flames against the Colorado Avalanche. His first-round work, against an overwhelming foe, was flat-out spectacular. Heroic even.



Well, Smith is now gone.



Up front, despite being paid a $5.75-million salary, James Neal saw his first season in Calgary end in ignominy. On the biggest night of the campaign — a playoff elimination game on home ice — the winger was deservedly a healthy scratch. A long time coming, perhaps, but still jarring.



Well, Neal is now gone, too.



If you’d dozed off in April and woke up to learn of the departures of Smith and Neal, you might fairly assume that the Flames had once again ripped apart their roster, that this was just the tip of the tear-down.



But that’s not the case. The northward...