Quote:
Originally Posted by driveway
...Expecting incremental improvements from season to season, at this point, is a recipe for long-term mediocrity.
I'm sick of mediocrity.
I want two more years of being hot garbage, adding a player or two who will be in the hunt for serious individual hardware during their peak years, and then a five to seven year championship window.
I want the Flames to be the next Hawks or Kings. I do not want to be the next Capitals, or worse, Coyotes...
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Between 2004–07 the Hawks drafted #3–7–3–1, but acquired only two of their most important players from those picks, with a sizeable number coming from later in the draft. The Kings drafted #4–2–5 between 2007–09, and the years in which they added two of their most important players—Jonathan Bernier and Anze Kopitar—they finished on the playoff bubble in 10th and 11th place in the West. It is important to also note that between 2004–07 the Capitals similarly drafted #1–14–4–5, and in the same time frame the Coyotes drafted #5–17–8–3. All of these teams picked at least twice in the top five, and 3/4 picked three times.
I say that only to point out that hoping for incremental improvements, or being pleased with a better than bottom-five finish in the season is not "a recipe for long-term mediocrity." The best teams are built through strong drafting, and strong drafting will produce NHL players from outside the top-ten. It seems more sensible to hope that the Flames draft well rather than to hope that they finish poorly. Another lottery pick will not hurt the Flames, but by the same token, if they find themselves drafting outside of the top-five, this is not going to derail the rebuild.