Quote:
Originally Posted by ComixZone
What is the alternative?
Do what the Flames have done for three+ decades with zero success outside of one Cinderella run in 04?
The Flames are perpetually stuck in the middle. They never get bad enough to draft top talent, and never good enough to find any meaningful success. So why continue doing what they’re doing?
Buffalo’s lack of success I’d attribute to lack of stability at the top of the organization.
Edmonton’s lack of success can be tied directly to their old boys club that arrogantly believed they were gods gift to hockey because they won some cups in the 80s.
That’s just bad management. Treliving has shown he’s actually a pretty damn good manager - but is unable to overcome the lack of the foundational top-3 picks. I’d be confident in his ability to rebuild this team.
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Again, they have not been doing “the same thing” for the last 30 years. The last 30 years have seen different managers, different styles of teams, different financial situations (save the Flames!). There have been years where as a cash-strapped team they acted as a feeder of talent for other, better teams. There have been years where they’ve clearly been going for it (post 2004 and 2017-present). There have been the rebuild years in the middle where they rebuilt the team with high-end first round picks.
You can make excuses for why Edmonton or Buffalo didn’t tank into a contender, but as has been pointed out in another thread, no team that tanks turns into a contender. Every Stanley Cup winner has been built through the natural cycle of what most teams go through (good for a while, bad for a while, lucky while you’re bad but always trying to get back to being good). There is no shortcut in the NHL.
People want them to tank because they just want excitement, which is understandable. But people should stop acting like it’s for any reason beyond that because teams that actually rank and or purposefully trigger a rebuild when they’re middle of the road don’t actually win anything. They haven’t yet, at least. None of them. So you want to suck for a while because that’s fun to you? Cool. I would rather them continue to build towards being a cup contender.
You say Treliving would be the difference in terms of turning a tank into a contender, but he’s had 7 years here, no? He’s built his team and you’re complaining about it, but want him to build another? Bizarre.