Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
Let's take a look at the state of the franchise when he took over in the spring of 2014.
The roster consisted of
- leading scorer Jiri Hudler (54 points - one of the lowest top scorers in the league)
- the second leading scorer was Giordano with 47 points
- The top goal scorer was Mike Cammalleri (26 goals) who was now a free agent
- Other key forwards were Mikael Backlund, Sean Monahan, Matt Stajan, Joe Colborne and Curtis Glencross. You also had the likes of Stempniak, Byron, Jones, and Galiardi. Of the entire forward group on Backlund and Monahan were "pre-apex" though Hudler would go on to have an unreal year
- The D consisted of Gio, Brodie, Russell, Wideman, and Chris Butler
- There was no #1 goalie (Ramo, Ortio, MacDonald, Berra)
So let's agree the big league roster wasn't good.
This is the top 10 prospects in the organization as of spring 2014, according to The Hockey Writers.
1. Johnny
2. Emile Poirier
3. Sven
4. Markus Granlund
5. Bill Arnold
6. Morgan Klimchuk
7. Corban Knight
8. Kenny Agostino
9. John Gillies
10. Joni Ortio
Of the group only one turned into a store, and two more turned into below average NHLers (Sven and Granlund). The rest - nothing there.
So you had a crappy NHL team and a crappy prospect base, except Johnny.
Tree also had a top 5 pick in that draft - used for Sam which everyone thought was the right move. He had two 2nds wasted on Mason Macdonald and Hunter Smith. According to most - Tree had very little, if any say in that draft.
So that's what he had to work with. Pretty poor. Largely because the previous regime got NOTHING out of the core of Iginla, Regehr, Bouwmeester, Langkow, and Kipper.
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If the organization was in this rough shape, why the hell is he trading picks in his second year running the team?
I mean, obviously we are dealing with a ownership hurdle here, but...
It's too bad the flames didn't get anything for their previous major assets, but isn't that an indication a good GM would prioritize addressing the asset deficit instead of trying to buy your way to respectability?
We talked about this then.
Joe Colborne scored 44 points in 73 games and then
walked away from the organization after not even being qualified, let alone traded in a year they didn't make the playoffs...
It's one thing to have no assets from a previous core group, it's another to then almost immediately begin deficit spending to get within spitting distance of 8th in the west.
We all love Backlund and Giordano, but those players should've been sold at their pre-apex career highs, not signed to retirement contracts after career years. I LOVE Gio, but rebuilding teams that have never won anything shouldn't be holding onto players like that.
Totally agree with what Strange Brew is saying.