Quote:
Originally Posted by Royle9
I understand wanting to pick high, I really do.
But the tank group seems to think in order to do so we have to get rid of every veteran and then some even think we need to get rid of Wolf... just to TANK.
Can it not be a bit of both? It doesn't need to be a complete bare bones sell everything, in fact no team ever really does that to start a season. We need a balance, we need to have an identity and understand when our window will be and Craig has that. He's said multiple times that they project to have a GOOD team by the time the new arena opens and that's their long term vision.
For now they stay competitive and try and promote from within.
Of course he's said they'll want to watch for young guys who fit the window via trade and then any big star UFA that may make sense *Cough Makar* cough.
I think he's stuck to the plan he's been very transparent about.
But somehow its just not good enough (or bad enough in this case) but NO team ever just sheds every player over 25 and fills their roster with prospects and young guys.
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Problem is you don't get to just choose when your window is. The top-end of your roster defines when it is...and if you don't have a legitimately, near the top of the league top-end, you don't have a window.
So, how do you build a top of the league roster? You need the elite #1 centre, and top-end players around him...so until you have that elite #1 centre, you don't have a window.
...so far, Craig's plan does not include leveraging the tool (draft) to maximize the odds of finding that elite #1 centre (because where know where the succesful #1 centres come from in the draft from a % perspective), so how does Craig know when the window will be?
This balance you speak of resulted in the Flames with the 16th overall pick (which they forfeited in a predictable fashion given the balanced approach).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
I'd add to that that I think he is likely a little (or a lot) surprised that the team he iced for 24/25 was as good as it ended up being.
I think they built the team for a bottom ten finish and it just didn't happen.
If they had a goal of make the playoffs he would have kept Markstrom to work with Wolf, and not left $20M in cap space unutilized.
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I'd challenege you on 'it just didn't happen' component. The team was not good, it was mushy middle - Craig didn't put his finger on the scale to alter that at any point in the season. He chose this 'balanced' approach, and it had a direct result - mushy middle, forfeited pick (poor pick spot anyways).
Things he could have actively done to put his finger on the scale to help the long term:
1. Trade Rasmus Andersson (all signs point to that happening now...but why not last season? balance, short sighted approach on that season)
2. Trade depth pending UFAs for marginal returns such as Hanley and Vladar (more picks = better than less picks), and promote youth into meaningful games for experience
He's clearly on this path that the balanced approach is correct, and that culture is in fact not transmissable outside of the dressing room and results show what that approach brings - mushy middle. If he believed he was building a bottom-10 team, and then didn't adapt...that's not being a very attentive manager. If he was building his team to be a bottom-10 team, why spend futures to bring in middle-6 forwards to help now?