Quote:
Originally Posted by dino7c
okay so St. Louis certainly isn't "under rated"
just drives me crazy every move, signing, draft, that teams like Ottawa, Montreal, ect. do is the greatest ever. Meanwhile every year they ####ing suck.
Remember 3 summers ago when the Sens won the summer? I'm telling you I wouldn't be praising everything the Flames and making excuses if they were dead last in the division 3 years in a row.
Put up or shut up time for a bunch of teams...like what does Montreal have that makes anyone think they are building towards a cup contender? I'm not impressed with their talent pool considering how bad they have been. Anyway we can agree to disagree its fine.
|
It's funny because I don't disagree on these points.
Ottawa always gets way too much credit. They Debrincat and Chychrun trades were unneccessary , and I was also vocal that I didn't love the huge contract to Sanderson so early.
For Montreal it's funny because to me they are similar to the Flames in a lot of ways...but maybe a year ahead in their rebuild.
In 19-20 both teams were outside the playoffs but made it in becasue of the bubble rules and lost in round 1.
In 20-21 they were both disappointing in the regular season in the Canadian bubble...Montreal sneaks in and makes the finals and Flames don't.
Coming off that season though Montreal loses Price/Weber to injury, loses Danault/Tatar to free agency, lose Kotkaniemi to the offer sheet and all of a sudden they are in last place. Then over the next year they also move Lehkonen, Toffoli, Chiarot, Petry, Kulak, Monahan, etc to recoup draft capital.
Sounds a bit familiar (although I think the Flames lost more impactful pieces) just one or two years earlier.
Flames lose Gaudreau and Tkachuk coming off the 21-22 season, Kylington takes a leave...then trade Toffoli, Hanifin, Tanev, Zadorov, Mangiapane, Markstrom over the next year and half.
For me Montreal has a decent young core, but they don't have the elite center yet and probably need to suck one more season still to try to fill that gap.
Demidov, Suzuki, Caufield, Guhle, Dach, Slafkovsky, Hutson, Reinbacher, Hage, Newhook, Roy, Barron, Mailloux, Beck, Struble, Xhekaj, Primeau, Fowler is a decent young crop of U-25 players but they lack that true elite C piece. Missing out on the top 4 of young centers in 2023 (Bedard, Carlsson, Fantilli, Smith) probably is going to really hurt them.
I will have no issues if the Flames are last in the division over the next 3-4 seasons though, that's how you get the elite pieces they are going to need.