Quote:
Originally Posted by saillias
A rebuild doesn't stop because you sign UFAs. No team stops signing UFAs, what. We were clearly still rebuilding for longer than 1 year.
The revisionism about that rebuild is very strange. It was actually fine. Do you think that because they signed Raymond and Bollig and Engelland it didn't happen. It didn't spiral into a Edmonton or Buffalo-esque decade of hell. The core that emerged was good. Being upset about what happened with the key players in that core later is a different conversation
|
I think the problem with the rebuild was that the Flames didn't accept maybe three years of top 3-5 draft picks, which helps a lot. Selling off guys like Iggy for picks and prospects only gets you what top temas (like Boston or Pittsburgh) at the time have to spare, and draft picks at the end of the list. You need top 3 to get elite blue chip guys. Calgary picked 4th in 2014, 6th in 2016. They got all excited in 2015 and traded the pick but it was only mid-first anyway.
If they commit to sucking, in those years following Iggy's trade they might have drafted McDavid 2015 (or even Barzal). Makar or Heiskenan instead of Val in 2017.