I think relying heavily on drafting totally works but you have to be good at it. For instance the Oilers could pick the consensus player at the top but couldn't draft outside the first round. Not being able to draft well hurts their tradeable assets. Looking at the Oilers they are built through top picks, UFA signings. They traded for Perron and Purcell by giving up 2 former top 10 picks so even the decent looking assets that arrived via trade cost them a lot
Where I am loving the flames right now is it looks like they have hit a few nice late round steals (still a lot to prove) but Gaudreau, Granlund, Reinhart, Wortherspoon, Gillies, Arnold, Ferland, Kulak, Ortio all look like nice finds outside the first round (not to mention Brodie and Bouma). If down the road there is not enough room for all of Sven, Johnny, Klimchuck, Reinhart, Granlund, Jankowski Eric but all remain solid young pieces the flames will have the ability to make good trades to solidify areas of need.
I think drafting is the true key to building because it gives the team the assets needed to make trades and can build a strong team that UFA's are drawn to
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