Quote:
Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy
After years of building that was the best team he had built, agreed, but it was a house of cards built in a wind storm. The only players of any significance under the age of 25 on that roster were a 23 year old Dion and a 24 year old Gio. Plus the prospect pool was completely barren with just Brodie and Backlund as future NHLers who were a ways away from having any impact.
Iginla was 31, Kipper 31, Lanks 31, Olli 30, Bert 33, Sarich 30, Conny 36, Aucoin 35.
That's your #1 goalie, star forward and all you centers 30+. How long was that going to last with no decent prospects?
Cammy, Bourque, Moss and Glencross were all 26, but Cammy was a UFA who Sutter chose to let go and the rest of those wingers weren't going to keep that ship afloat.
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I agree it was not long for the world but that was a great team in a vacuum. A rebuild was inevitable after the Iginla years after pushing so hard to win with him. It's not like Sutter was going to be around for that, so he pushed his chips in. Lots of GMs wouldve done the same. The drafting was really unfortunate. I think he was figuring it out a bit at the end but it's not like the current pipeline is very good so...
People act like Sutter did wrong by us. I'd argue it was the opposite. He delivered the best hockey this city has seen since 95, and it hasn't been that good since. He wasn't a great long term guy but he almost won us a cup. The 06 and 09 teams were true cup contenders in my view. Then he whiffed on Playfair and Iron Mike. No injuries and we probably go on a run in 09. The debate after the tdl was who is better, DET, CGY or SJ? CHI was there too but for a bit we were ripping it up and that was with a terrible head coach. I think had those injuries not happened we would've had another year to romanticize over. They had a chance, all those 06-09 teams did. Not sure you could describe the current team as having a chance. To me they are a bubble team that got really hot for 4 months in 18/19.
I think if Sutter had hired a young, smart AGM in 2006 to help take the load off, instead of hiring Playfair to replace him as coach, things are quite a bit different.