Quote:
Originally Posted by The Cobra
I get this.
Markstrom was traded because they had Wolf ready to take over. I think that was a special case.
Carried $20M worth of cap space because there was no one really to spend it on. Same for UFA's this summer. Conroy isn't going to sign long term contracts that he thinks will stink at the end. But he's also made offers to Andersson, Hanifin, Lindholm. That's not what a rebuilding team would have done.
I think Conroy was largely forced into the things on your list.
I believe he would have signed Marner if he was available to Calgary.
I guess I agree that he's not trying to win "at all costs". But he's not doing what is in the best interest of the franchise long term by hanging on to vets while their value decreases.
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From what I recall, he made offers to Lindholm and Hanifin.
Hanifin is in the age range that would have fit in the rebuild, so I'd argue that was totally in line with the rebuild.
Lindholm, I think you'd have more of a legit argument. But I'd argue Flames needed a stop gap #1 centre, so I could see Conroy's thought process there. But the important thing was he stuck to his guns and didn't budge from whatever he was offering. (now in hindsight, seeing Lindholm's performance so far, we obviously did dodge a bullet there).
I'm still of the belief that you can't just strip it down to the studs and only have young guys. You still need guys as stop gaps as well as some vets mentoring the young guys.