Quote:
Originally Posted by 1qqaaz
Yes, drafting is a large part of it. Both of those teams have no shortage of superstars.
Another thing is that I believe both of those teams, when they missed the playoffs, were not burdened by large contracts to older players.
Even now, Colorado only has one player over 28 on contract for next season (excluding LTIR). The Flames have 6.
Good cap situations make it easy to rebound after tanking for a year.
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Colorado has also maximized trade value at every turn. They turned a c prospect a 2nd and a 3rd into Burakovsky (19 g 44p), who is a major part of their Offense. Donskoi (17g 31 p) at 28 on a 4 year contract as a ufa for cheap. Devon Toews, who has 31 points and is probably their 2nd best d man paired with Makar for 2 2nds (compare to Hamonic acquisition...) Nichuskin they got for nothing... Not to mention the haul from the duchene trade.
Yeah, they've been lucky drafting players like Makar, Mackinnon, and Rantanen. But they also drafted some duds like Jost... It wasn't just drafting, but really saavy timing to take advantage of other teams cap situations, patience in big trades, and some excellent UFA pickups. Sakic is an underrated GM. He and Steve Y battling at the top yet again it seems.