Quote:
Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
I don't agree with the "this wasn't the year to go for it" talk. This is the best a Flames team has looked in... well, you could argue 30 years, but at least a decade and a half. If now's not the time to go for it, when? And don't give me "next year", because the stars only align for so long sometimes, and there's absolutely no guarantee next year will be nearly as good. The Rangers won the president's trophy in 2016; the next year they were 9th. In 2016, Dallas was 2nd in the NHL; the next year they were 24th. In 2017 Chicago was first in the west; last year they were third worst. Last year MIN and ANA were 8-9 in the league; this year they're 18th and 28th.
I'm not saying that the Flames are those teams or will experience a precipitous decline (although Dallas should perhaps be a bit of a cautionary tale), but they're 2nd in the NHL right now. They're outstanding. There's no guarantee they'll still be that level of contender from year to year even if they're still a good team. Hard to position yourself much better than best in the conference... Take your swing when you're at your peak, is my view.
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Except all of the Rangers, Dallas, and Chicago relied on aging cores or players at their absolute peak. Dallas, your "cautionary tale," had exactly 3 players that they drafted or developed in their top 10 scorers, and only 5 of them were under 30. In comparison, the Flames drafted and developed 8 of their top 10 scorers and and 9 are under 30, 6 are under 25. Comparing a team just entering their window of contention, whose problems can be solved with assets retained this deadline at the draft, with veteran teams at their peaks is very strange and wrong. I don't see any angle from which 2017-2018 Anaheim and Minnesota are remotely comparable to this year's Flames, or a 2016 Rangers squad with a 29 year old zuccarello as its leading scorer.
I don't see an argument that this is the peak of the Flames, given how young the roster is and given the additional high-end young assets that they've retained this deadline. There will be other opportunities to improve the roster. There's also no guarantee that the stars would align again next year even if they improved their roster at the deadline.
I'm as disappointed as a lot of other fans with how the deadline shook out, especially missing out on Stone, Zucc, Zucker and Nino, but I would not bet that a second place team with one of the youngest cores in the league and more young assets on the way has reached its peak.