[GreenLantern]

Watching Chicago it appears that they have the model figured out, as Ozy said, identify the core at a young age.. lock them up long term and rotate pieces around them till you find the right fit. As those supplementary players grow, you trade them out and replace them with players from your system or bargain UFA's who want to play for a winning team.

In this model guys like Bouwma are pretty valuable because they can play up and down the roster in all situations and they come at a reasonable price tag. They aren't your game breakers but they are just as essential to help keep the check book and the roster balanced. But you also need your top guys to be elite, you can't be over paying (like ROR for 7.5) because it is like building a house on a crappy foundation.

I think BT is on track to set the Flames up this way, Monahan and Gaudreau will deserve to get paid once they are set to hit RFA and I have no problem locking them up as long as possible.