Quote:
Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy
I am all for patience, but we were able to be patient with Backlund because the team was rebuilding anyways.
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This is the biggest thing with me and the point of the thread.
I don't want to re-draft the 2014 draft or litigate who should've gone where, the point is, the Flames don't have time for Bennett to find his way over the next 5 years and become a Backlund level forward when Gaudreau is 31 and Giordano is on the final year of his contract.
Lots of teams cut bait with their first rounders, and those that do occasionally come out smelling like a million bucks.
Rundblad for the pick that became tarasenko. Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn to push LA over the top.
St.Louis unloaded FIRST OVERALL erik johnson for a tremendous return, including Kevin Shattenkirk who has ended up being a far superior defender than Johnson and who the team used to generate further assets by moving him even though they were contenders. That EJ for McClement, Stewart and Shattenkirk deal set the Blues up to be perennial contenders from that moment on.
Chicago moved Cam Barker when he was 21 (3rd OVERALL pick behind Ovechkin and Malkin (!!!!)) for Kenny Jonsson and Nick Leddy. Leddy would go on to be the vastly superior defender and Barker would be out of the league a few years alter.
The oilers held onto Yakupov until he was basically worthless.
The point isn't that the Flames picked the wrong player, because I don't think they did. The point is they didn't have the wherewithal to accurately assess what they had when that asset still had exceptionally high value.
Whether Bennett turns into something or not, the Flames don't have time to wait. They should've been looking at a deal for him as early as a year ago.
The Flames are absolutely killing it from the top end of their roster this year. It will be a haunting mistake if they don't get those guys some help in the next week or so.