The Flames have a young blueline (Hanifin, Valimaki, Kylington, Andersson), a great core forward that is young in Matthew Tkachuk, and a player I'm really starting to like in Tkachuk (creating more this year), and Lindholm is a solid two way piece that good teams have.
This isn't a rebuild, it's a retool of the core.
I don't think any of Giordano, Monahan or Gaudreau are bad people, and don't care, or are trying to destroy a franchise. But maybe none of them are the type to drag a team out of things or simply not accept losing.
Or I'm wrong and they're warriors and this isn't the problem.
But don't do anything now ... let this season go where it goes and have a look at the trade deadline. If anything this might make the Hamonic/Brodie decisions extremely easy ... they don't have to hang on to them for a playoff run possibly and then watch them walk away.
This team is better than their recent results, and they will rebound. But I still haven't seen any of the steps needed to become a better team from last year's playoff debacle. It honestly seems like the emotional/mental damage inflicted by the Avalanche now has them on life support.
|