[stemit14]

Another tough outcome of re-signing all these guys and not going for a rebuild now that so many people are ready for one is the inevitable reaction to when the team struggles in the future. A bad stretch of games and every veteran player will look like a mistake… even the ones that are playing great now. We are all loving how Markstrom and Coleman are playing now but, sooner or later, a bunch of people will be saying “should have traded them when their value was high” when these guys go through any stretch of rough games.

In the rebuild scenario… stretches where the team loses are part of the plan so there is little criticism. Even when rebuilds take a long time… I don’t think anyone would be arguing that trying to rebuild was a mistake… the criticism would be if the flames made poor draft picks or developed young guys improperly.

Rebuilds, once committed to, tend to be difficult to criticize where as trying to be a competitive team every year can very easily be criticized as every decision is measured in immediate success. Look at Chicago and San Jose right now…. they are icing terrible teams pretty much by design… they get made fun of for that but not criticized since it’s part of the rebuild plan. It only gets criticized in about 5 years if they are still bad teams (like where Ottawa and Buffalo are at).

All that said… it’s definitely easier for us, as fans, to want a rebuild than it is for a GM to commit to one when your team seems to be coming together and playing really well. There ends up being pressure from above (ownership) and below (coaches and players committed to this team for years after this) to go for it.

I’m pretty much at the point where I’ll support either direction for the flames if they keep playing like this up to the TDL and it ends up putting them in a playoff spot by then. I’ll respect Conroy for sticking to his plan of trading guys if the UFAs still won’t re-sign by the TDL. It will be exciting to have lots of picks and spots ancailable for young guys. I’ll also understand the logic if he ends up signing guys to reasonable deals past this season.

Either way, it seems like Conroy and the coaching staff are going to continue to allow young guys to play impactful roles on this team going forward… which is something that has been lacking the last few years. The veterans on the team will end up being complemented by the likes of Zary, Posposil, Pelletier, Coronato, Poirier, Klapka, Honzek etc. I think Conroy will value his first and second round picks more than Treliving ever did so I could see a string of years where Conroy builds up the prospect cupboards… even if it’s from picks that are outside the top 10 in the draft.