I think we can look at many of the failed trades in the past 3 years and a lot of it points back at the Hamonic deal as it was so crippling. When you add the Lazar trade the flames went 3 years without a 2nd and failed to pick in the 1st when the pick was 12th overall.
The fact Hamonic turned out to be a complete dud of a player makes it up there with Sam Bennett not panning out as 2 of the critical blows of this rebuild. Without the picks and prospects the Flames had a hard time coming up with the necessary pieces to add Stone, Dubois, or Eichel.
The picks that were given up for Hamilton lead to Lindholm and Hanifin who are top line/top pair for this team. Hamonic did little while he was here and left for nothing. Not having those 3 young assets, specifically that 2018 1st likely made it tough for Brad to close any deal in the last 3 years.
Missing out on Eichel is such a failure in my opinion. This team went from 1st in the west to 8th in the west, to out of the playoffs. He still rides this same core and had a shot to get a player who could be a league MVP but disint have the pieces to pull it off.
Time for a new GM
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