Quote:
Originally Posted by AcGold
I'm not skeptical about Burke so much as I look at the history of major trades in the past few years and don't see much in terms of legitimate returns. Phaneuf, Regehr, Iginla, Bouwmeester all gone. Look at what we have in return for those 4 assets. I understand what the situation is with Burke, his history and all just don't have a good feeling about the way things are headed. If the 4 key ufa's coming up gets nobody usable in the NHL we are really screwed.
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That doesn't really make any sense to me. Burke wasn't the guy who dealt Phaneuf, Regehr, Iginla or Bouwmeester so using the value they got back as a predictor for what Burke will get for Stajan/Cammalleri/etc makes no sense. Plus it is still to early to completely judge the Iginla and Bouwmeester trades. If Berra develops into a decent #1 goalie then the Bouwmeester trade looks fine. If Hanowski/Agostino turn out then the Iginla trade also looks fine. Too early to write any of those guys off. Do I think somebody else might've gotten slight more for Bouwmeester/Iginla? Perhaps. But that doesn't mean we got complete crap. Those first rounders in a deep year at the minimum were very valuable.
Do you mean nobody usable in the NHL right away? Or nobody usable down the line? He's not likely to get anybody usable right away, it's likely he auctions off Stajan/Cammalleri/Stempniak/Butler for prospects/picks and then it will take years to judge those trades accurately.
Are we screwed for competing this year and next? You betcha. That's the direction we're going, the rebuilding direction. The direction where we accumulate as many young assets as we can and then deal some of them down the line to fill out the team as needed. It isn't enjoyable. It isn't painless.
I guess it depends on your expectations. I currently expect them to lose almost every game. So I'm not crazy disappointed when they do. I still like watching the young players we do have. On the bright side Backlund was given by far the most ice time amongst forwards tonight and he looks like he's rebounded from his mediocre start to the season. He's showing he could be part of the solution. So is Monahan, Brodie, Gio, Russell, Bouma, and potentially Colborne.
I'm surprised people aren't focusing more on how great the Heat have been this year with a very young core. That shows promise, some glimmers of hope, some development. We'll see that fruits of that later this season and in upcoming seasons.