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Originally Posted by bluck
They are going the same route as we did when we tried to add Tanguay and Bouwmeester to an aging core.
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Huh? When we added Tanguay the first time around Iginla wasn't even 30 and Tanguay was 28. When we added Bouwmeester, Bouw was 26 and was considered a franchise defenseman. You make that signing even if it was the first year of the rebuild. Boston managed to rebuild with a 30 year old Chara.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hells Bells
The Canucks remind me of the Flames of 5 or 6 years ago.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike F
So their plan is to sign veterans to bridge the gap until their mediocre prospects are ready to break into dribble into the NHL.
That sounds like the Flames of 09/10.
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I hear this a lot from Flames fans but there's really no comparison. The problem with the Flames 3-6 years ago wasn't because the team attempted to supplement an aging core. The problem was that the team did so by trading away assets and not getting any futures in return. The Flames kept getting older in every trade they made. The Flames traded their best trade chip (Phaneuf) for zero futures. The Flames actually traded away the two youngest players in that trade and received no draft pick back. The team traded a first round pick for Jokinen and again traded away younger roster players in the trade. When Jokinen was a pending UFA they packaged Prust to acquire a pending UFA and a 31/32 year old Kotalik. To get rid of Kotalik, the team traded Regehr and actually threw in a 2nd round pick (sure maybe the 2nd was for Byron but Regehr was worth more than Butler). The Flames wanted to dump Regehr's salary and did so because they wanted to re-sign Tanguay and go after Richards. This is after having missed the playoffs the past two years. Feaster still thought they were one player away from being a playoff team. The Flames end up getting only 3 years of service from Butler and 73 games worth from Byron. Meanwhile ,Buffalo ended up with three 2nds due to that trade. The same year, the Flames traded for Cammalleri and threw in what turned out to be the #36 pick in a deep draft. And of course Jokinen was allowed to leave via UFA for nothing after a 61 point season, Cammy was allowed to leave via UFA again even in a rebuilding year.
The Canucks, on the other hand, have been getting younger for the most part. Two summers ago, the Canucks started to retool. They moved Schneider for a top 10 pick. This past trade deadline they didn't move any draft picks in hopes of making the playoffs and actually moved one of their UFAs for a 5th round pick. The apparent stumbling block to trading Kesler to the Penguins was the inclusion of Derrick Pouliot. This summer Benning moved Kesler and made sure he got a first round pick in return. They traded Garrison for a 2nd round pick that they used in a trade for a 23 year old player who looks ready for the NHL (I suppose you can compare this to the Regehr trade, but Benning was working off of Garrison's two team list while Feaster negotiated what he thought was the best deal then went to Regehr).
Maybe the Canucks get nothing out of their draft picks and only one year of service from Matthias, but the Canucks didn't get older when they traded Kesler and Schneider. Compare the last two drafts. The Flames have one more 2nd round pick and one more 7th round pick than the Canucks. Meanwhile, the Canucks have one more 4th round pick and one more 5th. And the only reason the Flames have one more 2nd round pick than the Canucks is because we traded down. It's why I hated Feaster's tenure so much. He had was two trade deadlines and two drafts two slow to rebuild this team.