Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan
If anyone wants to know if drafting 1st overall helps you be a better team, I want to present the game I watched last night in which Aaron Ekblad was marginally the best skater for the Florida Panthers, the other good player was Jonathan Huberdeau, but the best player was Roberto Luongo, and was the only reason the score was 2-0 (with an empty netter) instead of 7-0.
I watched the Florida Panthers put on a woeful display of effort and sub par NHL skills. They were easily pushed around, had no cohesive system whatsoever, couldn't make a pass, and had almost no chemistry between teammates. This is a team with talented players who have never gotten better in the NHL because there is no system to support their development. There's no accountability for losing…all of that gets placed on the coach. Even when they try hard, there's no organization to it. Just some haphazard play from guys trying hard, but not knowing what to do.
There's a reason they brought in battle tested veterans to this team: There is such a significant lack of NHL know-how throughout their young lineup that they need those guys to help show the kids how it's done. They were all proven winners that have experience to pass on and become coaches on the ice. When a player messes up, it's important to have internal accountability between teammates to bring it back to what the standard is for the team, not the individual. That's why you get the right type of guys to show them the way and keep them honest.
The turnaround doesn't have to be as long as people think. You have to assess your situation where you are now and as long as you have key cogs in place (a #1 defenseman, a #1 goalie, a top line, a high end checking line, depth throughout the organization ) then you have to go for it. Trading for good players that other good teams can no longer afford is why the cap was added in the first place. The league has parity, and the gap between the good and bad teams is as small as a few players. It really matters who you have in those key positions to build around, but once you have that you can add the rest of the pieces through shrewd movements and picking up players that don't quite fit elsewhere. BUT, chemistry is important. Team cohesion is important. Having a common goal and a sense of brotherhood is important. Hartley gets this, and that's why he's such a damn good coach. We saw this in '04, you can do amazing things when you get all 20 guys moving in the same direction with the same sense of purpose. Who did we have back then? Iginla, Kiprusoff, and Regehr and a bunch of guys who nobody thought were very good on other teams. All of a sudden we're in a cup final. Feaster wasn't wrong to keep trying with the veterans we had, the problem was he was the wrong guy to build a team and just wasn't very good at it, plus the situation he was in was a no-win situation.
We are no longer in that situation. We have a cupboard fairly well stocked with good prospects (could use a couple more, but when couldn't you use more prospects?). We have a ton of cap room. We have a team work ethic that rivals some of the best teams in the league. If you are smart by adding high character NHL level talent under 25 moving forward, without spending too much of that cap space, then you can build a playoff team in the near future, and possibly a great team sooner than anyone would have imagined.
And, dare I say it, getting better is the goal for any team. Any step you take to do that should be applauded no matter what stage you are in.
/end rant
|