Quote:
Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper
Sutter is just telling us what we’ve always known or at least should’ve known, that this team never had a legit #1 center. Treliving traded for Dougie and Hamonic and spent all kinds of assets and moolah for wingers and goaltenders and extras. But that elite number one center position was always the glaring hole. It took the league 5 years to finally figure out how to stop our dynamic duo and now that they have, this team is left exposed and has fallen apart like a cheap suit.
I honestly don’t even want Jack Eichel if all it’s going to do is create holes every where else. If we traded Lindholm, Tkachuk ++ then are we any further then where Buffalo is? We’d be another one line team with an injury prone #1 center. Mediocre bubble playoff team anyway you slice it. Might as well just tear it down. But honestly, I don’t have much faith in this organization, they always disappoint, just like this team. I won’t sit through another 2010-2013 Flames. Too many other entertainment options available then to watch a middling team scratch and claw their way to #9th place in the West.
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I agree this team has zero chance of landing Eichel and being a good team while we have him. His contract may be long enough to build through the draft and be good before his contract expires but IMO that isn't what Eichel wants. He's played through that his whole career so far and adding 3-4 more wasted years of his career will just lead to him wanting out of here. If we had a top 10 prospect pool then it is different case. But we don't and it isn't even close to top 10.
I'm not sure we need to completely rip it apart but when I look at this team and ask when will players like Zary or Pelletier or our first pick in this draft make this team and how quickly will they make an impact vs what players we have wrapped up long term and will still be high end players when these guys are actually making a difference. Right now we have Rasmus Andersson signed long enough with guys like Valimaki under RFA status long enough for these guys to develop. Markstrom will still be here but he will be on the tail end of his career.
Add to this the Flames don't have franchise type players or prospects and we are not the Rangers or Leafs where we can add guys like Tavares or Panarin in the middle of a rebuild and expedite the rebuild.
IMO the only thing stopping a long rebuild or a constant retooling every summer(probably same thing as a rebuild) is winning the draft lottery preferably in 2022 from a draft position that is unexpected, a prospect making a bigger impact quicker than expected or a trade that works out way better than expected. It might take more than 1 of these scenarios but it's really starting to look very obvious the only option is to rip it apart.
This summer will be very interesting as I would expect if Tkachuk and Johnny don't resign they will be traded. I'm really hoping we don't make a franchise crippling signing this summer