Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
This is one of the reasons why Canadian teams struggle to win it all. For the most part, outside Toronto, they aren't a desirable market. So they have a smaller pool of trade targets, and turn their heads to overpaying free agents (which they shouldn't do).
It is what it is, but kinda sucks.
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Winning it all is rarely a result of trades or free agents anyways.
Most cup teams drafted their elite cores.
Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Fleury
Kucherov, Hedman, Point, Stamkos, Palat, Gourde, (Coleman was a trade yes)
Keith, Kane, Toews, Seabrook, Hjalmarsson (Hossa was a FA yes)
Kopitar, Doughty, Quick, Voynov, Brown, (Carter was a FA yes)
Bergeron, Marchand, Krejci, Lucic, Thomas (yes, Chara was a FA)
Pietrangelo, Tarasenko, Parayko, Binnington (yes ROR and Schenn were trade acquisitions)
The Flames certainly have pulled off trades for Carter/Coleman/ROR tier players (e.g. Lindholm). Maybe not a Chara/Hossa tier player, but I see those as being a bit more outliers.
Where Canadian teams fail is to tank successfully to get those franchise players at centre and defense.
Toronto is the closest thing to a successful tank where they picked up Nylander, Marner, and Matthews on consecutive years. I dunno if Morgan Rielly is a #1 of the tier necessary, but he too was drafted.
Edmonton might figure it out if Evan Bouchard lives up to his draft pedigree and becomes their #1. They'll need a goalie and a coach though.