Quote:
Originally Posted by kehatch
- Conroy has made one trade in the past 15 months (not selling low in weak market)
- We are about to enter the season with one of the NHLs lowest payrolls (clearly picking a lane to rebuild)
- The majority of our top players are 30+ (I would say Wolf, Kadri, Parekh, and Coronato are our top 4, and 3 of those are under 25)
- We lack star talent across both the active roster and system (both Wolf and Parekh are looking like franchise players, and Gridin, Reschny, and Potter look very promising)
- The Vegas odds of us making the playoffs or drafting McKenna are both very low (poor approximation of probability that's highly skewed by bettor biases)
- The most likely outcome of this season is we draft in the 12 to 14 range (just a guess here, but I would say the probability of this happening is no more than 20% at most; if you made the draft range 5th-20th I would be more inclined to believe this)
Conroy has not picked a lane. He is driving on the line waiting for something to force him to swerve. Its not a smart way to drive a Volkswagen or run a hockey team.
For those that think the lack of action is due to a lack of options, let me ask you this. If the Flames had finished bottom 5 last season do you think this summer would have went the same way? What if we made it to the conference finals? |
See my responses to your bullet points inside your quote. Conroy manages players and draft picks as assets. Unless forced, he won't trade an asset for one of lesser value, unless it's for a specific team need that could push them over the top. But this is not where the team is. You don't trade an asset for one of lesser value when you're rebuilding. There may not have been a lack of options, but there was an absence of any good options that would improve the team's overall assets. So Conroy waits until he gets a return for an asset that's worth more to him than the asset he currently holds.
And people need to stop insisting that Conroy isn't doing his job if he doesn't trade Kadri. The player has a no movement clause and won't waive it. Because he wants to be here. Because he loves the city and sees the potential in the franchise. Similarly, Backlund won't agree to a trade. And I don't think Huberdeau is tradeable without giving up assets. So that basically leaves you with Andersson (and the expectation is still that he will be traded) and Coleman. I expect that both will get traded before the TDL unless the team is in the top 10 overall.