Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
How excessively dramatic of you.
Look, I have already clearly stated that I am under no delusion regarding the Flames's attractiveness as a UFA destination. At the moment, given the current stage of each team in their respective rebuilds, Edmonton is clearly a more appealing choice right now than Calgary, but ONLY because there presents a better potential for winning in the short term (so its seems, on paper at least). Nevertheless, the Oilers are still among the bottom 25-teams in their ability to attract UFAs, and I highly doubt that they will ever manage to crack the top ten even under the best of circumstances. This due to the unavoidable fact that Edmonton will never be able to offer as much as the big US markets—all that Edmonton will ever hope to have to offer that will make them an enticing destination compared to the big markets is winning, but they still have a long way to go before even entering that conversation.
|
Fine, all Edmonton has to offer is the ability to play with players like Hall, Hopkins, Yakupov, Eberle, Gagner, and Perron. Oldest player is Perron, and he's all of 25. Most of the top six are players drafted 1st overall. I'm sure that it adds an asterix to a players career, at the end.
On defence, it's not like they just drafted a good defender. They're stuck with Ferrence and Belov as UFA's, Larsen as a traded player, and Smid, Petry, and Nick Schultz as other defenders.
Which position is Calgary reasonably better than Edmonton? If I were a player, I'd say that Hall is the best Left Winger, Hopkins the best centre, Eberle the best Right winger. Would Yakupov be the best 2nd right winger? Hemsky the best 3rd right winger? Dubnyk the best proven goaltender? Hell, wouldn't LaBarberra be the best proven backup?
I feel for Flames fans, lived in Calgary during the young guns era. Getting young talent is hard, and there is only one way to do it. Good luck, hope the draft goes well for you...