End of the day I am sure teams look at Buffalo and despite all the talent they have had they were unable to get it done. O’Rielly, Eichel, Reinhart/Montour all Stanley Cup champs very shortly after leaving.
That franchise is rotten to the core and I think teams are terrified of that so you see Chicago, San Jose, Anaheim start to want to accelerate things (which some on this board will tell you only Canadian teams do this).
There is a big part of me as a fan who would absolutely embrace the Flames taking advantage of this market and sell their veterans high and see if they can have a real shot at McKenna. It is almost like a perfect storm of opportunity for the team with a generational player being available at the top of the draft next year.
I have accepted it won’t happen so I will proceed to cheer on Conroy as he is trying to retool and with the Flames drafting in recent years I have optimism he has a shot to pull it off. Just keep picking two or more times in the 1st round over the next 3 drafts.
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