Quote:
Originally Posted by kehatch
Conroy is paralyzed. The team has to rebuild but it can't rebuild.
We can debate a rebuild all we want, but the point of a rebuild is to establish your core. The Flames have lost most of its core (Gaudreau, Tkachuk, Monahan, Giordano, Bennett) and may lose most of the rest (Lindholm, Hanafin, Backlund). Therefore we have to rebuild. The only question is whether it's via high draft picks or "on the fly".
At the same time, the Flames can't do a traditional rebuild. We don't have the prospects and we have too much invested in veteran players. As such your trying to balance a rebuild with staying competitive and that's very difficult.
It limits the moves available. You can't lose players like Hanifin for nothing. That impacts your rebuild and it hurts your competitiveness beyond this season. At the same time, you can't trade him for futures. You can't lose that type of asset and stay competitive.
That leaves you with a hockey trade. But even that isn't clear. If Lindholm stays then the trade target is a scoring winger with a RH shot. But if Lindholm doesn't stay then you need to trade Hanafin for a center.
I expect once they figure out what's happening with Lindholm the dominos will begin to fall. But Conroy has a heck of a balancing act to perform and he is running out of time to do it.
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I guess I'm in the minority but I think you could get a lot of good pieces by trading Lindholm and Hanifin for futures.
I also don't agree with the thought process that "this team can't rebuild because it has no prospects". Well, that's exactly why I would rebuild, otherwise you find yourself in a worse position than the Flames in 2013 when they sold Iginla and Bouwmeester far later than they should have. The only real difference makers/prospects that came out of the organization during that era were Gaudreau and Backlund - not nearly enough to bring this team over the top after we added Monahan/Tkachuk/the rest of the core.
This is definitely a team that has structured its contracts for the short-term. But again, you can't let the mistakes of the past dictate further miscues for the future. It sucks that Huberdeau and Kadri are on the books for 8/6 more seasons, but those costs are sunk.
If the Flames truly believe they are a contender, by all means make these next moves like they believe it. But I don't even think the Flames organization believes that. They think if they get into the playoffs, there is a chance for another 2004 run. That's how this organization has been run for 20 years.