Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonded
The Sharks chose Karlsson over Pavelski basically. They gave Hertl a long term contract after missing the playoffs for three years and Granlund a 4 year contract after missing the playoffs for two years. Marleau and Thornton left to chase a cup.
I am not arguing that the Flames are in a better spot than them but that you can't point to them as an example of a team that proactively managed into a rebuild.
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There was also a comment that ownership blocked a rebuild in those first few years.
The Sharks had a dominant stretch of 15 years where they were in the finals once and conference finals 4 times. 15 years where you have some players there for most or all of it. Owners who had relationships with star players for decade or more and they had success for a decade together. It only took 1 or 2 years to start the tank job, IMO this was planned. They only had 2 years of limbo of maybe retooling over rebuilding. Once they commited, they traded players for picks and retained salary and went full tank to get Smith and Celebrini.
Flames should not be married to our players, these guys haven't been here as long or had anywhere near as much success. Yet we still could be retooling, this summer will tell us a lot.