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Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
Good comparable.. until you see how that team got torn apart shortly after. I don't think Colorado will be tearing that team apart to appease Iginla (and I don't think Iginla will be anything like Messier).
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your guess is really as good as mine
I think there is a big difference between a team that has potential to get there, and a team that is already there. I've seen so many up and coming "young" teams (Philly with Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Hartnell, Giroux, Briere-again, SJ with Thornton, Marleau, Heatley, Boyle etc) that end up going no where. Besides just flashy talent, you need so much leadership and intangibles and there is a huge step between the names on paper and what you show on the ice. Things like toughness and heart, and I don't see a ton of that on Colorado - at least not yet. To me, the safer bet - the "blue chip stock" - is LA, Chicago, Boston. I'm not even sure I put St Louis and Anahaim there, though Anahaim is close. Anything is possible but everybody knows that experience and leadership is huge. This is, after all, a team of "tankers" the year before that was last place and critisized by a teammate in Giguere for caring more about going on vacation to Las Vegas then their careers. Colorado just seems like a huge gamble when there were safer bets to me (granted much lower salary). The next great team could be Colorado, but it could also be the NYI, or Minnisota, Edmonton, Montreal, St Louis or Calgary. Who frickin knows?
All we can go by is what we see on the ice. We saw a regular season warrior team, but we also saw a team that looked outclassed by a tier 3 team in the playoffs. That jump from pretenders to contenders is so large and I've seen so many teams fail, I don't count on anyone doing it until they've done it. And there are 3 that stand out and were able to ramp up their game when it mattered most - LA, Chicago, Boston (no idea how they crapped the bed vs a inferior Montreal team).
BTW: if you are referring to Vancouver "appeasing" Messier, we did that for years for Iginla... who knows right? Its summer so we're all just guessing.