Quote:
Originally Posted by HitterD
Great post Stemit14! And I’ll add, that a bonus of trading Markstrom and Andersson for 10 and 11 is that it also helps ensure the 2025 and 2026 picks are even higher, potentially top 3-5, which increases the likelihood of drafting that #1 centre in the next drafts (I don’t think there is a high likelihood of getting a #1 centre in this draft outside of 1st overall)
Trading good players now not only helps us get more picks in the top 12 this year (potentially) but also gets the flames closer to a better pick next year. Win/win for me other than the potentially terrible Flames team ahead for the next couple of years.
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Good point. And, as IronMaiden mentioned, there is a decent chance the flames have at least 1-2 young players/prospects (Coronato/Zary/Wolf/etc.) already in the system that could be impact players in a couple years. Trading Markstrom/Andersson for more picks in this draft gets us to “bottom out” faster (probably in 2025 and 2026).
With luck, the timing of everything works well for the flames to be on the upswing by 2026-2027:
-a few of the young players that are currently in the system hopefully should be in their prime by then (Wolf, Coronato, Zary, Pelletier, Honzek, Morin, Brzustewicz, Klapka, etc.). I would think at least one or two of them could be core players for the team by then (top six forward/top 4 defenceman/#1 goalie). The rest would be depth players that are in their prime years which is ideal for a team on the upswing.
-the 3 players taken with the 9th, 10th and 11th overall picks are hopefully becoming impact players in the league.
-the two first round picks in 2025 and 2026 are hopefully elite level players if they are taken in the top five of those drafts. If they are, they could be impact players in the league within a year of being drafted.