Quote:
Originally Posted by howard_the_duck
See I think the rebuild is precisely the philosophy that gives the best chance of ending this never-ending loop of mediocrity, it's just one that this franchise has lacked the patience to fully see through. It's unprecedented that in our franchise's history we've not had a top 3 draft pick. You can't plan for it on any one given year, but properly bottoming out for a few seasons, especially when there's no foreseeable path to championship-level talent otherwise, I don't know how you feasibly acquire it. I guess I don't buy the defeatist view that our fate is to just exist as a north of the 49th parallel, 'make up the numbers in the league' franchise.
Why is Edmonton not doomed to this same fate? Just because they had some lottery balls bounce their way and we're the unlucky neighbor to the south?
You can't plan to have Edmonton's historic lottery luck, but I am a firm believer you build with top-level talent and that's done through the draft. There's not a foreseeable path to this roster as constructed becoming a cup contender, and that's enough reason for me to say enough's enough, it's time to reset and give ourselves a chance to take another crack at building a championship roster through a rebuild.
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The difference between us and Edmonton is that they actually have ownership who will do whatever it takes to keep the team competitive (i.e. paying their stars and keeping them happy), and was willing to let the team suck for many years (with multiple high picks squandered) in order to get them there.
We can hate on the Oilers all we want because they're our rivals, but maybe it's time that we learn from them, instead of adopting this superiority complex thinking we've somehow done things better than them (we haven't). Not saying that the Flames have to go through a sucky 10 year rebuild, but that some very important organizational decisions (from both management and ownership) will need to be made in the coming months to determine the direction this team is heading in the next few years. Are we contenders or not? Can we realistically win with this current core, and get over the hump of beating the Oilers (or the Avs or Knights) in the playoffs, or should we rebuild?
IMO what happens in the next few months during this off-season will dictate how this team is run for the next 4 to 5 years. Everything else will then follow, like a new arena deal, finding players who actually want to play here, etc.