Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
It's interesting to look at the Stars as well, as a team that has been similarly mediocre and update and down.
They had 5 straight years out of the playoffs from 2009 to 2013.
But they never really bottomed out drafting:
#8 - Scott Glennie
#11 - Jack Campbell
#14 - Jamie Oleksiak
#13 - Radek Faksa
#14 - Valeri Nichushkin
Classic example of a team not being bad enough to get the elite picks.
Since then they
2014 - Lost in Round 1
2015 - Missed
2016 - Lost in Round 2
2017/2018 - Missed
2019 - Lost in Round 2
2020 - Finals!
They never executed scorched earth but rather re-tooled some of the elements. They also got a high pick to get Heiskenen and he looks like a game changer.
But my point is they are an example of a team not executing scorched earth but rather just re-tooling and now they are in the finals.
Perhaps in a cap world you take your shots, as best you can, as long as you've got enough pieces in place.
Thinking out loud.
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When Tree took over, and generally at any season ticket holder session, he's openly discussed a team learning to crawl, then learning to walk, then learning to run. It was about making the playoffs, then consistently making the playoffs, then finding playoff success.
If you look at the Flames - it took until Year 5 and then Year 6 of Tree's tenure for them to consistently make the playoffs. If they make it next year, the hope has to be the lessons learned both from a player and from a management perspective start to pay off. You have to just continue to build and develop, and ignore all this talk of "windows". The only true way to win a Cup is to consistently build a good team - and it has taken the Flames years and some mistakes to finally get any level of consistency from season to season. Now that they have? Well, it's time to trust the process.
I think Tree has very clearly learned that he can't continue to drag his feet in the goaltending department. Talbot and Rittich let the team down huge in these playoffs - and hey, we're rumoured to be in on pretty much every available goalie. Tree needs to execute and get that primetime goalie.