Quote:
Originally Posted by Philly06Cup
-You don't need to tank to build a good team. St. Louis Blues, LA Kings, Boston Bruins are good recent examples of that. Edmonton is the exact model of how that DOESN'T work.
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Of the last 13 cup winning teams all but one (the Blues) had a player taken in the top three selections; all of which played a pivotal role in either the regular season or playoffs. Of those 12 winners, all but one (Tyler Seguin) would be considered generational talents (Crosby, Ovechkin, possibly Kane) or elite players (Stamkos, Malkin, Toews, Hedman, and Doughty).
Meanwhile the Flames have never selected a player in the top three in franchise history. Is this the soul reason we can't hack it... of course not, but recent history shows pretty overwhelmingly that having the opportunity to drop at the top end of the draft gives you a much higher chance of future success than not.
Oh and the Blues had Pieteranglo who was taken 4th overall. I would say that only the Blues and Bruins did it the "right" way, the other teams basically failed their way up.