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Originally Posted by Flames_F.T.W
Its been 30 years without a #1C and our franchise has absolutely nothing to show outside of a Cinderella run to the finals. I'm alright taking some chances and being a little reckless trying to acquire a guy of Eichel's calibre. The depth and talent needed to insulate Eichel is MUCH easier to come by than a guy like Eichel. We can fill those holes.
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I don't think you have an idea what you're asking for?
So let's say we do make the deal you want and we move Tkachuk and then one of Monahan or Lindholm, Valimaki, one of Pelletier or Zary, and our 1st. We've carved out two top end players, and then three of our best prospects for that potential #1 center (who has yet to take his existing team anywhere other than the bottom of the standings). Great, you've traded for a player we have control over for the next five years. Now what?
Well, we have a pretty weak roster. We've moved two of our best players to get this one. We have a declining Backlund and Lucic as mainstays. On top of that we moved our best prospect on the blueline who was expected to pick up the slack from a retiring Giordano. We have a bunch of expiring UFAs and need to plug holes. We currently have next to nothing on the farm. Mackey is going to have to step in and fill the gap left by Valimaki's departure. After him? Bleak. Up front we're looking at Gawdin and Ruzicka. After that, bleak. What's worse, we moved at least one of the guys we hoped to take a spot, so we're down there too. Our top six is going to be comprised of Eichel, Gaudreau (until the end of next season?), Monahan or Lindholm, Dube, and Mangipane. So now what? We're going to be cash poor so bringing in free agents to supplement the roster will be no different than what we saw this year. So we turn to the farm.
The farm is a hot mess. Not much talent there and the talent that is there is mostly small or tiny. We're lacking at every position in the minors. We're really at the whim of player development for last year's draft and looking forward.
The development path for the average player is three to five years, depending on round drafted. Losing early picks mean you don't get the top end talent that matures quicker, and that development window extends out. So because we've carved out our top picks, we are dependent on players more like to take the longer path to get to the NHL. Because we've traded so many picks in the past, and have a weak system, we're looking toward future drafts to fill needed positions. That means we are five three to five years from those picks filtering in. Because of the weak system and lack of picks, the window to exploit Eichel is pretty much closed.
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The "safe" approach has gotten us nowhere. The price for Eichel will be steep, but we won't have an AHL roster after the deal.
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We won't have to worry about an AHL roster, we'll have an ECHL roster. Our minor league affiliate is one of the worst in the AHL. Our prospect depth is one of the worst in the league. That's what we would be relying to to backfill the roster until new talent can be drafted and develop. Not a pretty scenario when you drill down into it. Unless we can get Eichel for just roster players, the Flames should stay as far away from him as they can. He's a potential timebomb for this franchise.