Quote:
Originally Posted by gvitaly
The higher the draft pick, the better the odds to draft an impact player. Which is why most of the top players in the NHL are drafted there. The Dallas strategy is essentially banking on being smarter or luckier than everyone else. Banking on that you see something 20-30 other teams don't. Another reason is that top picks can typically play in the NHL right away, this speeds up a rebuild compared to a pick in the 20s that's usually at least 3-4 years away from making an impact. In order to expedite the rebuild even further the Flames' strategy should be drafting both in the top 3-5, and getting as many picks in the 20-60 range they possibly can.
As for team tank vs rebuild. I don't believe any fans want to trade players for pennies on the dollar just so they can secure the 32nd place. At the same time Kadri, and Coleman are depreciating assets. They will be worth less and play worse with each year that passes. That was also the reason people wanted to trade Andersson last year, but that would've sent the wrong message to the players. With hindsight it would've been pretty nice if we could get a haul for Andersson, and lost enough games to send MTL pick 32, while drafting in the top 10, as well as getting Reschney.
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Sure, I guess I am just not too worried about the trajectory of the team, regardless of what Don Maloney says for basically the following reasons
1) They are just a really bad team. No amount of hoping or praying will take away from the fact that at most they have 3 forwards that could possibly play on any teams top 6 (Huberdeau, Kadri, Coronato). They might have 3 dmen that could play on any other teams top 4 (Rasmus, Weegar, Bahl) and after that they barely have a dman that could play on another teams top 6. They have a great goalie who can keep them in games but can’t score goals for them. They will be bad regardless of what management does
2) due to point one they will certainly be a team that will finish bottom 5 this year, likely bottom 3 (which would ensure a top 5 pick).
3) while I hope they trade multiple vets (and expect they will) sometime this year Conroy has yet to let a single asset walk for free. Doubt that changes this year so that means they will get something for Rasmus at a minimum and I expect they will move at least one of Kadri or Coleman as well. If they do not I expect Conroy to follow his history next year and move Coleman at a minimum rather than lose him for nothing.
4) There is no reason to expect them to be any better next year. Hunter B and Gridin are the only guys who move up that may have any impact. UFAs just won’t sign on a team this bad, can’t see it happening. The backend and the forwards make it incredibly likely that next year is also a top 5 pick.
5) even in 27/28 it seems unlikely they will make massive improvements. Maybe some of the 2024 picks, 2025 picks and the top picks from 2026 and 2027 start to make an impact but it usually takes time for those guys to really be able to play at the NHL level. Probably still not a playoff team and at worst it is a pick in the 8-12 range.
I don’t really think they have done anything to try to compete since Conroy came in. They have moved three picks out in his time, a 5th for at the time 23 year old former 2nd round pick and a 2nd and a 7th for Frost and Farabee. I suspect at the end of the Frost/Farabee trade tree they end up getting more draft capital back than they sent out (due to the Conroy rule of not losing assets for free).
The only thing for me that would ever cause me concern is if they got rid of Conroy because they do have enough young assets that they could start trading them for guys that could actually help them win. But Conroy has 3 years under his belt of obviously doing next to nothing to actually win now and I don’t think that is going to change anytime soon.