Quote:
Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler
The Blues were a fluke - they had a lot of really good players, they were rugged, and they found a superstar goalie on the garbage pile just in the nick of time. Kind of like the Hab fluke in 1993 (Binnington is obviously no Roy, but he was Roy for all intents and purposes last season).
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The NHL is random though, and lots of luck is required in building a good roster.
Those Kings teams were 8th seeds that were kind of flukes that got lucky because the Flyers decided to go scorched earth and trade Carter / Richards.
Chicago/Pittsburgh/Washington got generational type talents and then drafted well around them to win the cup.
Bruins team that won the cup was a bit random too. Signed two big name UFAs (never usually a good way to succeed) in Chara and Savard, found a journeyman goalie in Thomas, and then hit on some 2nd round picks (Bergeron, Lucic, Marchand).
My point is just that this Flames roster is probably 80% there, the high performers are still quite young (except for Gio), and the guys they do have are signed to pretty reasonable contracts. Trading that away for picks is not going to get you closer to a cup. You just need to keep drafting well, and make smart trades to fill in weaknesses on the roster, not try to start from ground zero again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flash Walken
In this example though the right move would be completely revamping the top 6 player group and moving several drafts worth of high picks.
I don't know that I'm for that at this point. I mean, i'm definitely not for the current product, but I don't think I like the alternative of moving a dube level prospects and 3-4 first round picks to grab 2 new centres.
I'm not trying to quash what you're saying, I just don't know that it's a viable alternative.
Move out Monahan and Backlund, bring in Seguin and i don't know, coutourier or giroux minus the picks it would take to make those deals happen?
Tough call.
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That is the tough part because I don't think we know what is available out there, and trades are probably the toughest thing to predict in the NHL.
I never would have guess Brodie+Janko for Kadri+Brown was something the Leafs would actually consider.
Just like Oshie for Brouwer+3rd probably shocked the Capitals fan base.
And just like O'Reilly for Thompson, a 1st, and a bunch of dead cap was probably shocking to the Blues fan base too.
All I know is that I've seen Edmonton, Florida, Buffalo, etc all try to just tank and that doesn't guarantee you anything. If you can somehow make a hockey trade that makes sense around Monahan, Gaudreau, Backlund, etc then I'm all for it. But I don't consider that a re-build - that's just smart management and really this team should have no untouchables.