Quote:
Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
The focus is to win - agreed.
This team is a contender - depends on what you think they are contender for?
The answers to the following questions are key:
- The focus is to win what? Some games, a playoff series, or the cup?
- They are a contender for what? The playoffs or the cup.
There's nothing I need to get use to. If you answer the questions above with the: Cup and Cup, then your stance on Hudler makes a lot of sense, and I wouldn't question your take, it's the right take if that is what you believe.
I happen to believe the answers to those questions as we sit right now are: Cup, Playoffs. If that's the case, either getting Hudler on a cap friendly term, or trading him at the deadline are the only option.
The message to the team thing on a trade is so not a factor this year for this club.
- The message has been sent to the club on how serious we are about winning with the Hamilton trade, the Frolik signing and the Gio extension.
- This is no longer a fragile young team fighting for it's first unexpected playoff birth where the experience and accomplishment of that alone has ridiculous value, that was done last year.
If this team is forced to move Hudler at the deadline, there is 0 chance this gets viewed as anything other than smart asset manangment by the players, it will send no negative message to the squad.
Now, should we sit firmly outside the playoffs come deadline time, the debate goes away because we clearly aren't a contender and the choice is easy. Same goes for if we have established ourselves as a true cup contender at deadline time as well, but in both scenarios that is because the answer to the key questions have changed.
Right now if you see this club as anything more than a "playoff contender" that is pure fan excitement, and zero logic going into that, which is fine, but it's clouding your judgement on the Hudler situation. This team has a lot to prove to be considered a team with a realistic shot at winning the cup this year, but as I said earlier, the nice thing is we are going to get ~60% of this season to add data to figure out where this club actually sits on the "contender" scale before we have to decide on Hudler.
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You need to build a culture and a team before you win a Cup. Teams build on playing meaningful games, making the playoffs and winning series, meshing together as a team and making that final push.
Any team in any sport that sells its most productive players while they are making a push to the playoffs loses credibility with its players and its fans. The Flames do not have to sell off their prospects but they also do not need to be stocking up on picks anymore. Sometimes you take a gamble. Players do go to free agency every year. Sometimes you replace those players with another free agent. Sometimes you replace from within the system.
It may well be that Hudler demands more than the Flames can pay and it may be appropriate to move him depending on where we are and how his season is going, but if we do I would expect a quality forward to come back that meshes with both short-term and long-term plans.