Quote:
Originally Posted by Oil Stain
Flames were in a better spot in 2013 just because of cap considerations.
The 2024 Flames have 3 long term and large contracts on guys on the downslope of their careers. Huberdeau and Kadri's are already negative value. Weegar's looks good now, but most NHLers start falling off in their 30s. That contract could become problematic in the future.
Talentwise its so hard to compare as we have the benefit of hindsight for one side. Someone saying Gaudreau would become a 99 point NHLer wouldn't have been taken seriously after his 12/13 season. Maybe Zary and Kylington go supernova, and change the equation. The future is always impossible to predict.
I do think the 2013 rebuild had some things happen that were very fortunate, after the rebuild started. Giordano going from just a guy at age 28 to a Norris trophy winner at age 34 is something you don't see very often.
Brodie becoming a top pairing D, Tkachuk was probably a one in 20-30 year 6th overall pick. Gaudreau exceeded all expectations. Monahan developed very quickly, and Boston decided to dump a young, first pairing D man for cheap right at an opportune time.
So a lot of very positive events happened in a cluster which allowed the Flames to avoid a lengthier rebuild in 2013. If the Flames have that level of good fortune again this time around, it'll be tougher to capitalize on the situation with so much of their future cap space tied up for so long.
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Huberdeau is really the only boat anchor. Weegar is signed to a great contract and is following the similar late-blooming career path that Gio took, and if he keeps getting better, he could be a 34 year-old Norris trophy winner too. His contract is a deal now and it'll probably still look like a deal when it expires. Kadri's is still market, and I'm sure teams would be interested in him if he were made available and interested in moving on. He brings quite a bit of value to Calgary for the rebuild, though, as long as he keeps playing and mentoring like he did this last year (and doesn't go back to the first year I don't give a crap Kadri).
Calgary has a much better, deeper and more intriguing prospect base now than they had in 2013 (Gaudreau was 1 at the time, but the list got weak quickly and fell off hard after Jon Gillies at 4 or 5). Gaudreau turned into a superstar but Calgary has a few young guys now at forward, defence and in goal that could really explode.
Lots more to like these days than back then.