[GreenLantern2814]

The rebuild in 2013 had Gaudreau already in the system.

A true franchise player, who came in and made an immediate impact.

Sven was a 2 PPG player in the W his D+1 season, and had a spectacular emergency call up.

Gio and Brodie were just getting together, and Backlund was becoming the player he would be the rest of his career.

The goaltending was awful.

Drafting/pick hoarding under Feaster was alright. Drafting Monahan at 6 was a great call.

Fewer bad contracts to get out from under, by the time Treliving came along.

This time around:

No future superstars in house at the moment - Zary is a nice story, but nobody should see him as a franchise player yet.

Goaltending is stable - established vet, superstar rookie, and a big guy with upside who’s done some good things.

Defence: mostly on expiring or almost expiring deals. If Rasmus doesn’t want to be part of a rebuild, he could return more than anyone else on the roster. I like Poirier, Morin and Solovyev.

Forwards: absolutely wasteland when it comes to skill right now. Too small, too soft, too slow, you name it, they’ve got a problem with it.

Two terrible contracts which may not be movable, but with the cap being what it is, sucks to be them, they took the money, so go to work making yourself attractive for someone else to gamble on.

I think ultimately, this time we’re set up better because I think we’ll bottom out harder and get a better collection of prospects over the next 2-3 years than we did last time, and I think guys like Morin, Honzek and Poirier will all be excellent support players to whatever new core we draft.

Finally, I think there aren’t two people who care more about the greatness of the Calgary Flames than Craig Conroy and Jarome Iginla. They don’t need these jobs. They don’t need the money. They’re here to win, because they love the team and this city.

And I’m inclined to believe Murray Edwards might listen a little closer when those two guys tell him “it’s over, we need to tear it down” than the heir to the Boston Pizza fortune.

The team that opens the new building is going to be a good time.