Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Which goes back to drafting and development. This team has struggled for decades to develop a steady stream of bottom-six forwards to plug into the lineup. So many prospects have fizzled out or busted. It's a systemic weakness.
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There is strong evidence now, if you look at what % of the team is now home grown compared to the past, that this has changed.
However, the long-term terrible drafting has really hurt the organization in terms of overall assets. That has long been my biggest concern is that the franchise overall is weak from an asset point of view. So there is a constant trade off between trading futures for now and now for futures, instead of a healthy balance where there are enough assets to trade of help now, without mortgaging the future outright.
But I do think that when you look at the lineup and the number of drafted players on the team - that has improved mightly: Monahan, Johnny, Ferland, Brodie, Gio, Kulak, Rittich, Sam, Janko, etc. All home grown and make up a big chunk of the core.