I think people misconstrue the idea of a re-tool vs a rebuild. In a rebuild situation yes kadri, andersson, probably Coleman, weagar, and backlund are all gone.
In a re-tool, holding onto 5, for lack of a better word, “tools” that play the way you want, have the right attitude, and are actively helping the team grow the kids and win games is not outlandish. You need vets to be able to push the kids and get them thinking about the game the right way. Sure you may miss your “sell high” opportunity, but the cost benefit of keeping these leaders a bit past the optimal trade window to ensure the correct culture/mentality in the room, at least in my mind, is the right call. You are losing out on returns but hoping that you get dividends from the players already in your system as a result of the vets guidance.
Would it have been nice to land Ritchie? Or tank a bit harder and move up the draft board to get a better pick? That’s an easy yes, but picking at 18 seems to have also got up the player we wanted, so maybe conroy isn’t out to lunch.
Point is, you have to breed a winning attitude, you can’t do that if you gut the room. Terrible comparison but I breezed through high school, no studying, limited homework. I took that mentality to university and got absolutely waffle stomped my first year. It took a few years a lot of work to get my grades to where they should have been. If you don’t have someone in your ear leading by example and showing you that what worked when you were younger won’t work now it’s a long hard painful road to learn those lessons yourself at the cost of a ton of confidence.
Is it not better to foster the confidence and ability of all these “lights out draft picks” we have in the system than to whine about missing out on magic beans? From all I’ve read the last few years Conroy and staff have had maybe three, definitely two, unreal drafts. Why not lay into that and build a place where all these kids want to be and an environment that is top class? Instead of stripping the place and leaving all these budding stars/players in the deep end of the pool with the lights out.
Let’s not be Buffalo/utah/columbus/edmonton. Andersson, kadri, and Coleman will be traded when the time is right. Again, the return might not be as bright, shiny, and fleecy as people would like, but don’t forget to account for the internal developmental benefit of having these guys on the team now.
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