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Originally Posted by Hackey
The trade in isolation is fine but I still do worry the Flames are on a path right back to the mushy middle. They still lack high end players. Beyond Wolf and potentially Parekh are there any legit top line or top pairing d-men currently in the system? The prospect base looks quite solid but its one of those situations where you can't count your chickens until they hatch. Anyone who has been a fan of the team for a long time has seen many prospects with a lot of hope and promise that came and went. The Flames are quickly running out of assets to trade as well. If Andersson is signed there isn't much left that will bring back any futures of significance. But I think its still early to say what they truly are. Is this season a one off or will this be the norm moving forward? Next season will likely let us know. But drafting becomes more difficult and takes longer once you're picking outside the top 10. A middle pack team without stars becomes a tougher destination to sell to UFAs and even trade targets with no trades. I think Conroy has done a good job at building depth but finding 2 or 3 legit stars might be a challenge. Maybe he can build a team that has such strong depth it can overcome a lack of stars but even then I think they definitely need a couple forwards and another dman that are above anything currently on the team.
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I don’t disagree with any of your concerns and the same has crossed my mind. I’m sure Conroy’s too.
Given Wolf’s emergence and what looks like a solid team environment, I think Conroy will try to do two things simultaneously, which unfortunately might be a lot easier said than done.
First, I think the Flames, given the results this year, are likely going to put themselves in a ‘try to get better’ approach and continue to compete for the playoffs. What I think this means is what we just saw with the Flyers trade. Continue to acquire age appropriate players. The Flames might be done for now though. As it’s been stated, often, there are only so many players in that age range, call it 22-26, who are available. Especially ones with upside. In most instances you need to identify a player being miscast, or has fallen out of favour, or simply not living up to their promise. Otherwise you’re giving up a similarly aged player/prospect (Byram for Middlestat for example).
Second, finding that age appropriate C. All things being equal I’m sure the Flames would love, or would have loved, to draft that player. It’s looking that isn’t going to happen this year and may continue to be a long shot if this year is any indication as to what’s to come. I know some think next year and the year after, we may see the bottom fall out in large part due to the vet’s aging out. I’m not so sure I see a significant drop. Couple that with improvement from Zary, Coronato, Farabee, etc. that could more than offset any age related decline. Will Cooley began upgrade on Vladar? This team
could be better next year.
So how are they going to do it? Obviously, I think Andersson is a key piece of the puzzle here. If he goes, that will be a big step back. Injuries or bad luck could also derail things, as they can with any team. The bottom falls out in Vegas (unlikely).
OR if Parekh, Mews, and Brzu, continue to develop is dealing a young RHS D something the Flames need to consider? Arguably, behind a C, RHS D are the hardest spots to fill and the Flames have a surplus, especially with Weegar and, potentially, Andersson, still in the picture. Is there a team out there with a surplus of young C’s that need to find an offensive RHS D? Is there a commensurate C to Mews out there, as an example?
It may turn out that the Flames might need to find themselves a repeat of the Hanifin/Lindholm trade. It might not ever land them a truly elite C, but it might find them one who is good enough. And on balance, if Wolf is a truly elite G, that might be the ‘model’ for the Flames.