[polak]

So it's the end of a fantastic season and as expected, there are a lot of people who seem to have the idea that we should be patient and not expect dramatic changes or set too high of expectations for this team just yet. This is a completely level headed and commendable attitude and it's definitely one that I hope management shares to some extent but I have one question...

What are we waiting for?

We all know this was only year two of the rebuild and that a rebuild takes time, however, I think we might be forgetting the strategy that comes with a rebuild. You trade your older players with value in order to build a strong cupboard of picks and prospects thus increasing your chances of building a strong team in the future and also lowering your position in the standings to draft higher. Do you still think that’s what the Flames are doing or should be doing?

This team is most likely not going to be drafting in the top 5 any time soon. Even if we regress, we’d have to completely fall of the map for a high caliber pick. Unlikely.

The only veteran players we have with any value are key pieces of the team in areas where our prospect quality isn’t just “light” but down right non-existent. We don’t have anyone remotely close to being able to step up and be a reliable replacement for Wideman. There are very few prospects in the entire league that have the ceiling of 2015 Jiri Hudler, let alone any in the Flames system currently displaying that level of promise. The rest? They may indeed garner some low end picks but the ones that will get you anything worth your while might just be more valuable to us than what they’d return. Look at someone like Backlund. He might be a valuable trading piece in a bigger deal, but alone? It’s doubtful that he gets you anything better than a 2nd, probably lands you a 3rd. He’s only 25 and we know he could be the reliable defensive 3C on the team going forward. Do you risk that for a 2nd or 3rd rounder? I don’t know.

The reality is, our blue chips have all graduated to the big leagues. The core we all dreamed about last summer, the one that was supposed to help us make the playoffs in 2016-2017, well, they have mostly arrived. We don’t have many prospects that are sure-fire NHL’ers left to come fill in these gaps that we would theoretically be making room for if we were still trading away our “post-apex” players.

So we have probably moved passed the traditional early rebuild stage. Suck it, Oilers.

Do you leave the team alone to fight on the bubble again? That’s an option, I guess? But somewhat of a fruitless one. We would be sacrificing a year of Gaudreau, Monahan and Bennett on the cheap for another early exit or possibly picking one or two spots higher if we miss. Doesn’t seem worth it since we don’t really gain anything from that scenario. Remember, most of our blue chips are already here. We’re not really waiting for much down on the farm.

So to me, when I hear “be patient”, I understand and I agree but only in terms of not shedding picks or going all in just yet.

We need to be making the appropriate changes despite the fact that it might cost us some younger players. We're sitting pretty in goal and we still have some decent forwards to look forward to on the farm, but we have zero high end D. That’s a hole that we need to fill and we have the cap space and depth up front to do it. Okay, that one was easy but what about our Top 6? Porier could be the answer and Klimchuk could eventually step up too but are we sure we shouldn’t package up one of them for a young-ish Top 6 player now? That one isn’t so straight forward as it flies in the face of a “rebuild” but that doesn’t make it a bad choice.

(TL;DR)

What I’m getting at with this long winded post is that while patience and staying grounded is important, we also have to realize that most of what we’re waiting for is already here. There’s not much point in sitting pretty and letting time go by. Last summer, we were hopeful that in 2016-2017 we might be a playoff team. So answer me this, what would have been the plan in the offseason in 2017? What are we waiting for?