[TurdFerguson]

I have had this conversation with a few people, but given the nature and number of posts on this forum recently I’d like to get the conversation out in the open so everyone can partake and anyone with concerns can voice them.

I am doing a total franchise rebuild. What does that mean? It means I have ripped down anything that resembles established talent in exchange for multiple pieces that have what I hope to be future value. My goal since I started this in December of 2011 has been to amass legitimate prospect depth at the ECHL and AHL levels and then to let that talent mature into a budding CPHL team. If this works then I will be able to sell off the excess to feed back into the development process (rinse and repeat). Basically, I’m trying to restart the Dallas “system” starting from the ECHL and working my way up to the CPHL. I think it has been pretty clear over the past year that I am willing to move any player with CPHL value if I feel I am improving the high-end depth of my system or my depth of quality draft picks to feed my system down the road. What this also means is that the immediate success (this season) of my CPHL team has not been a priority for me. To be clear this is very different from tanking in that I am not purposely throwing games, nor am I treating one team better or worse than another, I am merely approaching every decision for my team from the angle of “what makes me better in the long-term”. That means:

- I’m maximizing my roster at all levels by filling it with as many prospects as I can.
- I am only acquiring rated players if they are young, fit my direction and the price makes sense (I am not into buying players yet although OEL and Myers are the exceptions).
- I would much rather use a roster spot on a prospect then an old UFA placeholder just to appear competitive in a season that for the most part has been planned as a write-off since last December. I don’t feel that a sprinkle of players that help me finish 10th instead of 13th is really worth giving up the roster spot on a player that has long-term value for me.

Currently my team is amongst the worst in the CPHL, clearly that benefits me in that I have my own draft pick but you would be foolish to think that I have spent the last year and the remainder of this season making my CPHL team suck so I can acquire 1 top rated draft pick. Would a top-end pick help my process – absolutely, it’s one of the few perks that I get for enduring a year plus of losing but that is not my motivation.

I could go on and on about this but I’ll leave it here for now. If anyone has any specific questions or concerns about what I am doing and how it affects the integrity of the game then let’s hear them. I’m not trying to undermine the game, but clearly I am taking a long road that most don’t seem to.