Quote:
Originally Posted by Sandman
To win the Stanley Cup, you need real strength down the middle- and more often than not, you need that prototypical #1 center that can play any type of game, check the other team's top centers, and handle the grind. I don't believe in tanking on purpose necessarily, but I do want to finish bottom-5 (preferably bottom-3) this season, and perhaps next, in order to secure one or two of these players. Our aim should be to compete for the cup, not compete to lose in the Division Finals.
Buffalo's rebuild didn't work because management is incompetent. They lost good players like Eichel and Reinhart, put in a never-ending carousel of bad coaches, and didn't supply enough veteran leadership to usher in their youth. Consistent goaltending would help, too.
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I agree in principle here. That said, the Flames have struggled to develop their top pick centers in the previous rebuild. All of Monahan(#6), Bennett(#4), and Lindholm(#5) became pretty good players, but nothing close to the level of the top 10-15 centers in the NHL.
Crosby lived with Lemieux, then took MacKinnon under his wing. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I think that the Flames need a development coach that was an elite center in the NHL. I just keep coming back to Jagr, and the influence he had in his brief stint here.