Random thought of the day, apologies if it is not original.
Something definitely was not adding up for me as I took in the STH meeting last week. Burke and Treliving were buttoned up tightly when it came to players they were targeting. No surprise in cases where it would have been tampering, but when it came to the draft, they obviously had it locked down. Even when asked if they preferred a centre as that is not typically a player you would get in a trade, they were reticent to confirm this line of thinking, which told me a lot because Treliving already essentially said that he prefers centres and Dmen when he first came...
Then there's this, Treliving listing Ritchie in the top 5. Not their top 5, but the top 5 that we all know about as proclaimed by pundits. They made it very clear that this was the consensus top 5 players. However, we all know that this is not the case. After 4, there is a lot of confusion from the punditry masses, and Ritchie is certainly not always there, or even usually there.
So, when asked about drafting centres because they are not easily acquired, Burke said that Milan Lucic type players are not easily acquired either (referring to Ritchie). So why on Earth would a management group that is going out of its way to be secretive about player targets drop two pretty big hints towards Ritchie, especially since their reputation would already point towards them being interested in him?
My theory, a campaign to entice Edmonton to pick Ritchie, and leaving a Sam for us. We all know that Edmonton covets that kind of player... Hell, MacT pretty much committed tampering his first hour on the job saying he wanted Lucic. Would Edmonton be stupid enough to draft Ritchie because of hints dropped at Calgary season ticket holder meetings? Well I think we all know that answer.
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