Quote:
Originally Posted by mrdonkey
What's missing is commitment and willingness to rebuild properly and quit with this rebuild-on-the-fly/re-tool nonsense. The bottoming out period did not produce a winning core because it was too short, did not result in any significant picks on the level of Matthews/McDavid/Laine, and the players that were acquired (i.e. Bennett, Monahan) did not progress as much as was hoped.
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Longer bottoming out periods do not guarantee success either. Edmonton, Arizona, Buffalo, NY Islanders, Florida, etc... have all had long bottoming out periods. They have all had multiple picks higher than the Flames in the last 10 years. The Flames are arguably in better shape than all of them. Which of those teams has a winning core?
I'll give you Bennett not progressing as much as we'd hope, but its hard to say Monahan has not progressed has much as we'd hope. He is a perennial 30 goal guy. He has more goals than both his draft class and the preceding draft class. Lets not let 3 garbage games overshadow what has been a productive career so far. He's punched well above his 6th overall draft spot.
I'm not saying I have a definitive answer for the proper way to rebuild into a contender, but be careful what you wish for. A "proper" rebuild doesn't necessarily lead to success, even if you end up with a McDavid or Tavares level player.