Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
Was it really an optimal time? It was an extremely soft trade market, and nobody traded away 2023 1st rounders that summer (except Nils Lundkvist for a protected 1st in September).
Burns, Pacioretty, and McDonagh were essentially given away. A pretty good goal scorer in Bjorkstrand only fetched a 3rd+4th.
There were a few hockey trades, but Fiala and DeBrincat were there only real futures trades. Did those teams like any of our guys as much as them?
IMO a futures package for Tkachuk is about all you could really do. And I'm skeptical how good CAR's package actually was considering the guys they already got for free.
And we had a goalie with a NMC who just finished 2nd for the Vezina. Even if you could somehow scorch earth the rest of the team, there was no reason to believe he would be bad enough to get you anywhere near Bedard.
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In terms of being forced into a massive organizational shift it likely would have been far better to rebuild after their 2 superstars decided to leave rather than replace them via the trade and free agency route. Obviously the ideal would have been 8 year deals for Johnny and Chucky and a reasonable window for contention would have existed with those 2 leading the way. Losing Gaudreau for nothing was a tough blow but Chucky deciding to move on was the death blow. He was our mid-20’s franchise player and future captain. Realistically with him, Dube, Mangiapane, Lindholm, Anderson, Hanifin, Kylington you have a pretty strong core of guys in the 25-28 age group to keep building.
The moves that capped off the summer of Brad sure seemed amazing at the time. Huberdeau, Weegar, prospect, 1st was more than most thought the team could get but the pending UFA status kicked the problem down the road that only massive 8 year extensions could solve. Giving up the 1st pick and going all in by paying Kadri a massive 7 year deal right before he turned 32 coming off a career year was also a massive risk and loss of a key asset.
Had the Flames come to the realistic conclusion they were not going to be able to win when their best 2 players left it would have been a great time to start the rebuild. Chucky moved for futures and then Lindholm/Hanifin/Toffoli, etc put on the market that summer and into the following season where their low cap hits and multiple years left would have enticed some teams to pay up.
I don’t think the Flames would have entered the Bedard sweeps but they would have had a great start on the rebuild. Let Treliving do the tear down and let Conroy start the build back up.
Obviously a really hard decision for a team to make after winning the division and losing to their arch rival in the playoffs. You lose your 2 pillars to build around though it makes the decision more realistic. Just not one the Flames felt they could make