Quote:
Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy
I do not know what Tre should do with this team if they get knocked out in the 1st round again. It's a confusing mess. I honestly cannot tell if they are a couple of solid tweaks away from taking the next step, if it needs a major retooling, or if they need to tear it down and start over.
The D is a mess. They are probably losing Brodie, Forbort, Gustafsson and Hamonic plus Gio is almost 37 and showing major signs of a serious drop off.
We can't go into next season with Rittich as the main goalie can we? He's the only one signed though for now, and he's too expensive to be just a back up.
Up front you can't make any major additions without moving a big piece out because there isn't enough cap space and the defense and goaltending will suffer as a result.
I was 99% sure it was time to move on from Bennett but now I'm stuck between selling high and "holy ####, he's finally arrived, let's keep him and play him at C with Dube and Tkachuk next year".
Mangi and Dube look like they're blossoming, so maybe you don't mess with the forward group too much and just add to D and goaltending?
And to top it all off, any decent addition anywhere to the line up is only going to result in the loss of a better player for nothing at the end of next season when Seattle comes calling.
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I think there is a pretty clear path to a quick re-tool here.
Forwards:
Move Forward Pieces: Monahan, Lindholm, Tkachuk, Bennett, Dube, Mangiapane
Potential Trade Chips: Gaudreau, Backlund, Jankowski
Veterans You Probably Can't/Won't Move: Lucic, Ryan
Flames UFAs: Rieder, Rinaldo
UFAs to Target: Hall
Prospects: Gawdin, Phillips, Ruzicka, Pelletier, Zavgorodny, Emilio Pettersen
So up front I think we have 6 pretty good pieces as go forward pieces, some promising young prospects, and potential to add another young core piece if they decide to move Gaudreau. Plus lots of smoke about the Flames being very interested in Taylor Hall.
Defense
Move Forward Pieces: Hanifin, Andersson, Valimaki
Potential Trade Chips: N/A
Veterans You Probably Can't/Won't Move: Giordano
Flames UFAs: Brodie, Hamonic, Forbort, Gustafsson
External UFAs to Target: Dylan Demelo (3rd pair RH)
Prospects: Yelesin, Poolman, Mackey, Kinnvall
I don't mind the defense moving forward with three good young pieces. I'd look at bringing back one of our own UFAs (probably Brodie or Gustafsson) and hopefully bring in an RH d-man like Demelo via UFA.
Goalie:
Move Forward Pieces: Rittich
Potential Trade Chips: N/A
Veterans You Probably Can't/Won't Move: N/A
Flames UFAs: Talbot
External UFAs to Target: Lehner, Markstrom
Prospects: Wolf, Zagidulin
I still like Rittich, if you can add a Lehner or Markstrom then that's great, if not I'd be okay with bringing back Talbot on a 1 or 2 year deal.
So I think the path to a quick re-tool is there. They just need to have a really good draft this year (picks and trades), and keep bringing up some of these young forward prospects.