The Flames didn't draft a franchise center in their last rebuild. They only had one top 5 pick. Not putting all the blame on Bennett, but without him succeeding, there was almost going to be somewhat limited playoff success.
The Flames also failed to draft/develop an elite goalie. But this is tough to criticize, because there's no way to reliably do this. Personally, I believe the problem here has been more with development than with drafting.
But these goalies are largely what end rebuilds. The Rangers got Shesterkin. Tampa got Vasilevsky. Pittsburgh got MAF back in the day. And Washington became a goalie factory in general.
|