Quote:
Originally Posted by timbit
Wandering in the desert? That is the Calgary Flames.
Show me other teams in the league that don't have any impact players between the ages of 21-27 in their lineups. Any contenders?
How is that going to change in 2-3 years ? While the Flames older impact ( use the term very loosely in this case) players continue to age, how are they going to replace them yet stay ahead of the other teams who are using the same drafting and development strategies that you speak of.
They have failed, minimally, the last 3 seasons and will again this season.
Keeping up with the Jones is going to be a helluva lot tougher than drafting 5 or 6 picks and developing one or hopefully 2 of them.
Who are these assets that will "dramatically " alter things and/ or hold the fort in the next 3 years.
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I think you misunderstood my post, or I was not clear enough.
My post was in reference to a rebuild, and how I don't think the Flames would be 'wandering in the desert' for so long if they went ahead with a rebuild.
Like this team and its' players or not, but there is definitely some tradeable assets that would garner excellent returns for a rebuild - even though their 'best before' dates are gone.
As for your comment I have bolded, the answer is in 2 parts:
Brodie, Backlund and Baertschi on the Flames right now - 3 bodies that I think NOBODY is going to argue doesn't deserve to be in the NHL, and 3 bodies that will at the VERY least, go a long ways in support of a future core if they are not considered part of it. In addition, the Flames no longer have cupboards that are bare - there is legitimate reason to be more optimistic about what is coming through the pipeline. Flames ARE still in the bottom third of the league in terms of prospects, but they are MUCH improved from 3 years ago. Sure, there will be some busts, but there seems to be like a lot of good young pieces to help a rebuild out - not just in the fancy names of Gaudreau, Jankowski and Granlund, but also in the character, grit and solid two-way players such as Arnold and Reinhart. Defencemen that will probably never be all-stars, but seemingly very decent ones coming up like Ramage, Wotherspoon, Culkin, Seiloff and Kulak - not to mention Breen. All-stars? Nope - not without some very unexpected growth and development from this bunch, but definitely lots of 'probable' NHL material there. All of them? Probably not - some will bust, and some won't. However, there IS a crop of intelligent players coming up the pipeline.
2nd part: Iginla, Kipprusoff, Bouwmeester, Giordano, Tanguay, Cammalleri, and perhaps Glencross (NTC notwithstanding, he may choose to leave rather than go through a rebuild) - these are all players that would return something at the very least 'decent' to accelerate a rebuild. All of them gone? I don't recommend that - but all of them will return something to help a rebuild in whatever combination they are sent out for. Don't forget about Stempniak, Butler and may I dare say Stajan? I think Stajan has played himself into 'tradeable' status - though probably not worth trading.
The problem with the Flames is that they are built incorrectly (strong and wings, not up the middle; not enough size and grit) and they don't have enough franchise players that are "game-breakers".
I am not advocating a full-scale rebuild - merely pointing out that the Flames do indeed have EXCELLENT pieces moving forward for trades to bring in blue-chips, and they have some blue-chips that could POSSIBLY develop into key players already (Baertschi, Gaudreau, Jankowski) - but that they require more of these blue chips since you can't count on all of them to even be an NHL player.
So yes, I do in fact feel that the Flames do have players that can drastically alter the direction of this franchise.
They also have players that should really help compliment other players through the rebuild and be here when the team is 'competitive' again, I would hope. Hudler and Wideman probably will not be traded. Whomever the Flames don't trade from the list above would be considered solid players to have around anyways.
I think the Flames COULD rebound in about 2 years - depending on how far down they go in the rebuild (too far down, would hurt too much for too long, not far enough and there won't be enough change).