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Originally Posted by stemit14
Buffalo with their 6th loss in a row tonight. What is the solution for that franchise? I can’t believe it’s another rebuild through the draft… they’ve tried that so much for so long and never made anything of it. Seems like most players become big contributors on winning teams when they leave Buffalo.
They still have arguably the deepest or one of the deepest prospect pools in the league. They have high level prospects in virtually every position. So they have the choice to start trading some of those prospects for impact players (could be tough to do with no trade lists that likely include Buffalo), trade their actual NHL players that aren’t getting it done, or keep being patient and hope it pays off.
Would love to pry Helenius from them more than any other prospect in their system IMO.
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When you look at Buffalo you have to keep it isolated to Kevyn Adams (June 2020 hire). If you look back before that, you're getting into things that can't be controlled (ownership issues). Just like with the Flames, you have to keep it isolated to Conroy's run at this point. Current regimes can't be held accountable for previous management group shortfalls.
If you look at Kevyn Adams' run, it actually lines up a lot with what Conroy has been doing in his first two years. There's a decent amount of sell off, with a sprinkling of 'now' focused moves in a very limited fashion (Conroy prioritized Sharangovich in a Toffoli trade, Adams dealt 2nd + 5th for Greenway).
Adams, in his 5 years at the draft as GM has had 8 first round picks, and 7 second round picks. Adams got Power in his 2nd year at 1st overall.
Conroy is (currently) poised to have 8 first round picks, and 7 second round picks in his first 5 years at the draft. Conroy got Parekh in his 2nd year at 9th overall.
If Adams had managed to keep Eichel, I'd say they'd be rounding the corner into contending. Eichel, Dahlin, Power + all the depth picks over the years? Yeah, that's how you build a Champion. Subtract Eichel though and you end up being a mushy middle team that could potentially go a run if everything hits exactly right and a number of players have career years. Powerhouse team though? Unlikely. They don't have the top-end talent up front to do it.
Where does that leave Calgary? Mushy middle in all likelihood, with a lower ceiling than Buffalo currently has. Whether you do that at $80M in salary or $60M in salary is irrelevant, because either way you're not acquiring the talent needed.
I think Conroy knows this though, and it's why we'll see Andersson traded and not re-signed.
I also live in a fantasy world where Cale Makar is going to be our next Captain in the Summer of 2027 as we go into our new building.