Quote:
Originally Posted by PepsiFree
Yeah, whole lot of revisionist history there. The Flames did a pretty good job replacing the losses of Gaudreau and Tkachuk according to most at the time, and even with monumental collapses by star and key players, they still missed the playoffs by just a nose.
Do people really think that if they took the rebuild deal instead that they would have been much worse than they were with Huberdeau and the goaltenders completely collapsing? That they somehow could have rid themselves of enough talent to compete with teams like Arizona and Chicago for the bottom of the order? Come on.
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I think the Monahan deal was in the works long before losing Gaudreau. If the management was planning on bringing Tkachuk back at 9.5 and Gaudreau at 10.5, then there was no way they could've kept Monahan, or re-signed Zadorov.
Signing Kadri was a slight knee jerk reaction, banking on competing for a cup in 22-23, and 23-24, before we had to pay Lindholm, Hanifin, Toffoli, Kylington, and Dube.
I still think that Kadri is a $7M player for the next 2-3 years, but I have my doubts about his 35+ seasons. That said, I don't have a crystal ball, and Kadri could follow Pavelski's path and still be a top player in his late 30's. I just hope that Kadri's play after the all-star break was mostly on Sutter, and not because he quit on his teammates. Sometimes it's hard to manufacture emotion a year after having much higher highs and lows winning it all in the process. I hope Kadri rediscovers that again this year, and becomes a fan favorite.