The conversation isn't always about Tanking either. Tanking implies that we would purposely lose games. Trading the older roster players and playing mostly rookies would likely result in picking high for a few seasons while not Tanking.
The reality is still that for some reason, you need a self drafted top 4 pick on the roster to win the cup. "oh, but half the teams have that" yes and those half the teams thus have a shot at winning the cup. Acquiring this player doesn't work- the answer to this is probably in contract make up/team building development pace post high draft pick, but it's esoteric and unimportant. Boston, 08 redwings, these are examples of teams that massively buck the trend, not positive examples to build after. It's similar to saying that no one should go to college because Bill Gates dropped out. Objectively true but super stupid.
Arguing that half the league has a player like this is also confusing. You're essentially arguing that the flames have a smarter or better strategy than the majority of the league, when the results bear out that we most certainly do not if the goal is to win the stanley cup. We frankly want to do the opposite of what we've been doing for the last 30 years.
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