Can we also stop the "You win through the draft, look at Colorado and Tampa" statements as if these two team figured out a drafting formula the Flames could emulate.
They drafted elite talent in the top of the draft because they finished at the bottom of the league. They weren't picking in the bottom half of the first when they acquired their elite talent
TB Drafted Stamkos 1st, and Hedman 2nd overall. (They missed on Connolly 6th and Druin 3rd) . Vasilevsky at 19th in 2012 was the one late first they hit on
Colorado drafted McKinnon 1st, Landeskog 2nd, Rantanen 10th, and Makar 4th. Also throw in Byram at 4th overall. Since drafting McKinnon they have 5 first round picks in the top 10
While it is accurate to say these teams "Built through the draft" the reality is they all had multiple top 5 picks, and 5 top 10 picks over a decade, including top 2 picks multiple times.
The Flames "Problem" (If you can call it that) is that we never were terrible. It's not trading late firsts.
Drafting mid/late in the first round did not lead these 2 teams to success.
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