Quote:
Originally Posted by SeanCharles
Every time we make the playoffs we mortgage the future to some degree.
Trading away 2nd and 3rd round picks add up in the long run.
You look at pretty much every team that has won recently as well as most top teams and they have all picked in the top 3, in many cases more than once.
I know it’s worrisome but what bothers me more is, outside of a couple years after the Iggy era, we have been trying to win and be a playoff team. The success we have had in that time is not anything to get excited about.
You build through the draft so you need to pick near the top or hope to get lucky in the later rounds.
If the upcoming draft is as good as it’s touted to be this is a good time to load up on picks and young players/prospects for our aging vets.
I’m not talking a total tear down, I’m more thinking along the lines of what NYR have done. Keep key players that are still a reasonable age but sell off the guys that will be better served on a contender for the next couple seasons and pick high for 2-3 seasons.
I realize it might not end up that way but that is less of a risk in my eyes over continuing to think we are anywhere close to being good enough to beat the top teams in the West.
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I agree with nearly everything you say. But we don't need to trade 2nd and 3rd round picks to make the playoffs each year. In the example I used from this season the LA Kings made a few minor deadline tweaks mainly to shore up injuries. The Flames can try to follow the same model.
As for NYR, I can guarantee you that's a team that intends to make the playoffs every single season. I don't think they were intentionally terrible when they picked high, and the Flames may well follow the same path. (Very few teams except maybe ARZ or BUF have blown their team up so doggedly.)
So long story short, the Flames can still try to be competitive without playing loose with higher round picks. And they may well prove to be terrible anyway and get some high picks. But I don't want them to give up on competing otherwise why would I watch the games?