Quote:
Originally Posted by Ashasx
Kadri also apparently showed up to training camp out of shape. Look at him now.
It's always the same excuses for our prospects. "Out of shape", "Was never really that good". Look at other franchises.
At what point do we start blaming the team for continued failure in every way?
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There are different levels of out of shape. From the news we've had both Howse and Ferland have REALLY struggled early in their pro careers to be in the type of shape that the organization requires. Heck since Ferland got traded to Saskatoon we've even heard that he's been having to work on his conditioning there too. Clearly this is an ongoing issue and the major reason why he wasn't given more ice time in Abbotsford.
Continued failure in every way? Hyperbole isn't helping your argument. Brodie developed just fine in the Flames organization. Giordano was developed by the Flames. Backlund looks like he'll be fine. I'm sure Baertschi will be fine long term as well.
You have to look at each case individually. It appears you instead want to write off the entire developmental system. Some of what you are calling "excuses" are in fact "reasons". It is hard to make the jump to pro hockey in a lockout year and if you show up out of shape then you wasted your own opportunity.
We haven't had a lot of elite prospects down in Abby the past couple years. Seems like you want to rage against the system just to vent. If you do a closer analysis then you have to look at each kid individually. Stop making generalizations and stop blaming the coaching staff for problems that players had under their control.
This isn't alchemy. You can't turn mediocre prospects into gold over night or at all really. I don't think we've seen any clear example of Ward completely mismanaging a top prospect so I'm not sure where this Ward sucks mentality comes from that a couple posters have trumpeted. Our top prospects (Horak, Baerstchi, Brodie) have played well under Ward and clearly have earned their opportunities. Breen by all accounts has made significant strides this year under Ward.
I think if you want to place the blame for our mediocre prospect pool then it rightfully rests more on the scouting staff, the GM, and our draft position. In comparison to many teams we just haven't had as many picks, especially high ones. Over the past decade many teams have had multiple 1st rounders in a single year, multiple 2nd rounders, etc. We've NEVER drafted top 5, NEVER drafted two players in the 1st round, and barely ever had a 2nd rounder in the past decade. Go count how many 1st rounders and 2nd rounders some teams like CHI and have had over the past decade.