I think what some people need to remember is this: while other teams have had one, if not several, top 5 draft choices in their history, the Calgary Flames have never drafted earlier than 6th overall. Even in the doldrums of the Young Bums era we were only ever bad enough to draft 6th. The scouting and selections in that era was a dreadful mess & I'm sure they could have screwed the pooch if they'd acquired a 1st overall pick, but I feel we've never had a chance to draft a true top-5 marquee player. Imagine a Thornton or Lecavalier instead of a Tkaczuk or Fata.
I like the looks of the drafting philosophy now, but who is to say it pays off? We have promising prospects, but if management chooses to mishandle them & let them stagnate as they have done with countless young players (Irving being the most recent) then we'll never build a contending team. Drafting is the only the first hurdle, nurturing & development is the 2nd & adapting & implementing the players into the team is the 3rd. We are failing at all three hurdles.
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