[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

The Flames are actually a better example of a '3 year drop' than the Avs are.

The Flames went full rebuild in '13 and drafted Monahan at #6, then Bennett at #4 the next year. Had Bennett become the #1 C that he was projected to be, the Flames would have come out of that with C depth of: Bennett, Monahan, Backlund, which would have been the foundation of a true contender.

Unfortunately for them, 2 things happened to derail the plans:

1) they drafted a kid in 2011 in the fourth round named Gaudreau, who joined the team in year 2 of the rebuild, and immediately connected with monahan and the team found success too quickly, and

2) Bennett didn't turn out to be that #1 C.

It's wrong to blame this on Bennett, thse simple fact of the matter is that all draft picks down't turn out. That's why you can't just tank for 3 years. Only some players are going to turn out, only only rarely do you luck into franchise players, which is why when teams tank, they are down for much more than 3 years. Some (see EDM, FLA, ARI) stay down indefinitely. But some (COL, CHI) get a good collection of talent and become contenders.

Flames were in the running for the MacKinnon draft, but then just decided to play actual hockey when it didn't matter. And even if Flames made it to the bottom 5, knowing their luck, they probably wouldn't have won the draft lottery anyways.