Treliving has undoubtedly mortgaged the future in trying to 'win now'. Why? Is this team a contender? Has this team ever been a contender? Seems like to me it has shown itself to be nothing more than a bubble team.
I forgot which poster made the post (and I forgot which thread it was made too, or I would quote it), but it showed that there were only 4 teams in the NHL that picked less often in the draft (or was that in the first 3 rounds? I forgot now) than the Flames did. I remember they were all contending teams/Stanley Cup winners.
Not damning? Considering that the Flames have had 3 single playoff game wins over the last 6 seasons, I would say that's fairly damning.
I trust this team to draft. One of the better drafting teams in the league.
Sutter got vilified for constantly trading picks, but even under his management, this team didn't make a selection in the first round only once. At least you can argue that he kept trying to feed a team that actually proved itself to be good in the playoffs, no?
This team better be sure on the trades that they are likely to make this off-season. Players like Tkachuk, Gaudreau, Monahan and Giordano that many people here feel that they should move on from. There are no players even close to those ceilings in the system right now. Maybe a few exceed expectations, but there isn't a lot of skill coming up through the ranks. This team simply hasn't picked often enough, and this team can't afford to trade more players away for pennies on the dollar.
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