Quote:
Originally Posted by Hackey
Hamonic was signed for 3 years at a 3.75 million dollar cap hit. That gave the Flames a solid top 4 dman during their window to win. That mid round first likely isn't even playing over those 3 years or likely isn't making a huge difference. There's a chance he never amounts to anything. You are far more likely to have Hamonic making an impact on the club than whoever that pick is. This idea that they have to be a cup contender makes no sense. He had 3 years on his deal and could grow with the team. You really think this mid first we are missing out on was gonna be the savior to turn this team around? I fully agree it sucks not having a first this year but in the big scheme of things it's likely not changing all that much. If we got a player as good as Hamonic with that pick we would be thrilled.
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You know why the Flames have no blue chip forward prospects? Because we don't value draft picks enough.
In this salary cap era, if you want to build a contender, you have to build from within. Holding out hopes that you can trade your way and sign your way to a contender is futile, and outdated. Teams don't let go out key impact players. And when they do hit the market, they cost a lot of money, plus may not even be interested in joining your team/city.
Considering you have to give up assets in order to gain assets, and spend lots of money which takes away available money, getting impact players via transaction really should be done to supplement a team that is looking to put itself over the edge, rather than a strategy in team building. You have to build your team through the cheapest format possible, and that is through smart drafting and development. Contending teams are built from within.
Since the Flames have a defensive prospective base that is expected to be suffice NHL players in the near future - and I would say should be at the level of Hamonic, if not more for some - was there really a need to bring in Hamonic on a value deal at the cost of giving up prospective players that could provide as much, if not more than Hamonic has or will? And if we were going to trade the pick anyway, could it not have been used on an offensive player instead since that was the team bigger need, and still is?