Quote:
Originally Posted by dino7c
Come on we all know the home grown talent thing is mostly because of guys leaving over geography
Gaudreau, Fox, Tkachuk, or injury...Monahan
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Yeah, I don't disagree - but those things happened, and the Flames then chose a decidedly different path than building internally. It made for a fun summer, but I wouldn't say it has left the team in a good position today/for tomorrow. There were also clear pivot points in the team's history that they chose not to do because they (incorrectly) believed they "right there"...but they weren't, and things eroded.
So while Tkachuk (homerun), Gaudreau (homerun), Monahan (good pick), Bennett (decent pick) were good enough to build a mediocre team, they didn't have the picks required to build a Championship team.
Timing of your draft picks is also key. 2023 would've been a great time to plan on a down year, but again - they chose a decidedly different path and hobbled together this weird, old roster. They focused on the today because they incorrectly believed in their team...again.
At some point I hope the owner(s) realize that this team doesn't have the bones/the foundation that Championship teams are built on. It's pretty damn evident. We're now seeing teams that did go through entire rebuilds now out pace us.
New Jersey, New York, Los Angeles all started rebuilds during this Treliving era, and they are now better teams than us. You could argue that Buffalo did a failed rebuild, and then another rebuild in that time and are now better than us. Edmonton's extended rebuild has also equated to more/equal success in this Treliving era, and they're better positioned than us as well. Throw in Toronto's rebuild into the Treliving era too, as their organization is in better condition today than ours (although team success in that stretch is certainly up for debate...both teams have had pretty much no playoff success).
The Flames desire to not rebuild correctly has proven to be the absolute incorrect path. Simply drafting 3 times in the top-6 (6th, 3rd, 6th) in a 4 year span is not rebuilding - especially when one of those draft years was a bad year.