[Sylvanfan]

With a heavy shift to analytics, the market is placing a premium on puck possession, shot suppression, and zone time. The result is that other attributes like hitting and toughness are not valued as highly. So the Flames went out and bought some low value skills against the grain of the market. Sure it's more proven that advanced stats will result in expected long term success. It does not mean that some of these other attributes no longer have a place in the game.

Markets adjust to trends, and right now it's hard to find value in possession positive players.