Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
Well they thought they'd drafted a 1C in Bennett (which he isn't even in Fla). So imagine Bennett scoring anywhere near a Draisaitl or even Reinhart.
So down the middle Bennett as an elite C, Monahan as a strong 2C and Backlund as a strong 3C looked pretty good. With Stajan as a darn good 4C.
They had a strong top 5 D - Gio/Brody/Hamilton/Wideman/Russell. A winger who looked elite in Gaudreau, plus Hudler, Frolik, Ferland and then they drafted Tkachuk, Dube and Fox.
Plus they were very hopeful that at least some of Mangiapane, Granlund, Kylington, Andersson, Wotherspoon, Poirier, Klimchuk, Jankowski, Shinkaruk, Kulak, Hathaway, would develop.
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To be fair, they weren't wrong at all in that hope:
Guys who developed better than expected: Andersson, Mangiapane.
Guys who developed as expected: Kulak, Hathaway.
Guys who developed into NHLers, but less than expected: Kylington, Jankowski.
That's 6 of the 11 guys you mentioned, which is pretty good for development out of any prospect pool, especially considering that not many of those guys were locks to become NHLers.
The team would also be vastly different if Fox had decided he wanted to play for the Flames instead of being the asshat that he is.
Even if Bennett develops into who he is now and stays with the team, it's still good.
If Kylington doesn't have his mental issues, maybe he's a much better player than he is now?
What happens if Dube isn't embroiled in scandal?
What happens if Monahan gets treatment for his injuries in a timely manner?
Just so many what ifs with that era, and clearly it was a team that could have been better if luck had been with them.
BUT...and this is a massive but...this still doesn't address the goaltending issues. All that talent and mediocre to terrible goalies behind them every step of the way. Treliving was a terrible evaluator of goaltending talent, and had no real plan to develop one of his own.
He's still kinda doing it in Toronto, relying on rebound performances or journeymen like Samsonov, Martin Jones, and now Stolarz to do the job. Mind you, Stolarz has been really good this year just like he was last year in Florida, so maybe he got lucky this time.