A Kadri - Mittlestadt swap puts both organizations on a better timeline. Kadri is better than MIttlestadt, and fills a need they have, and his age is 'win now' for them.
Flames are a great story this year, but they aren't exactly 'win now'. Mittlestadt is only 26, but I would bet that he is what he is at this point in time, as he has been given a lot of opportunity in two different organizations now. He fits the timeline for the Flames a lot better than Kadri.
Straight-up I think Colorado wins. Colorado adding a first seems like too much. Maybe they add a B prospect or a 2nd.
As for Kadri moving - he liked his time in Colorado. He may like it here, but I wouldn't be so certain that he wouldn't agree to a move elsewhere dependent on where it may be. A cup contender that he enjoyed playing with in the past and won a cup with in Colorado? His hometown team in Toronto? Somewhere else that he would like to play? All we know is that he likes it here. It doesn't mean he wouldn't like someplace else more, especially if that came with a chance to win another cup. He may or may not agree given an opportunity.
On the podcast, Warrener made another good point.
"Kipper covered a lot of warts on the team over the years, and it never came close to winning after '04. There weren't enough stars."
While I believe that the Flames are really good at drafting, and have a higher chance at finding a star later in the draft than most other teams, it certainly isn't a given that they will. Warrener's statement (which is not verbatim, but was essentially his point) does remind us that there are risks of going down this path (assuming no top end picks are made during this build).
Seravelli stated that this is a slow build, and that Conroy will then sign a star or two on the UFA market. While I believe the new arena will move the needle, along with what I believe is a GM that knows how to treat players well (like picking up Frost and Farabee), I am not sure it will move the needle enough. Calgary couldn't sway Richards by offering the most money and having Iginla and Tanguay try to convince him.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this build unfolds as time goes by. I think with the addition of Frost and Farabee, it signals to me that it is unlikely that Calgary is going to dip down to the bottom 5 at any point in the near future. I think their biggest weakness on the roster overall was the large gap between the older forwards and forwards that were too young - older forwards that will decline quickly in premium positions, and young forwards that won't enter their prime soon enough to replace them. Now it is an injection of two further ~25 year olds, which along with Wolf, Weegar, and an Andersson re-signing, plus the overall depth, is probably enough from keeping them at the bottom in the next couple of seasons.
It is going to be an interesting build, that's for sure. I am sure that Conroy is not going to be giving draft picks away, that's for sure. Flames have to find difference makers in the draft, and the more bullets they have, the better chance they will find them without bottoming-out.
|