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Originally Posted by CSharp
...To me, there are two of the worst decisions any team could of made in the last decade and the Flames did both at the same time back to back:
1) Instead of tanking properly, they decide to win against the Oilers in the final game of that one season. So, the Oilers actually placed themselves right above the Flames in the draft. They drafted Draisaitl while the Flames took Bennett.
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I agree with Jiri that the Flames would have selected Sam Bennett in 2014, even with the #3 selection, but you are going to have to elaborate on precisely how a team wins a game by merely "deciding" to do so.
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2) The very next year, the Connor McDavid sweepstakes is on and the Flames went out with a bang while every team held back (except for Chicago and the Pens). I guess the Playoffs is far more important than a proper rebuilt. So, most of the teams lined up for the last possible free-for-all sweepstakes while the Flames decide they'd take the high road to get into the playoffs and got their party crashed heavily in the second round by the Ducks. Then, the next year, they weren't even close to making the playoffs...
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This is nonsense. Contrary to a seemingly common belief, NHL coaches and managers do not receive their marching orders from owners and management to the fact of "go out there and drop as many games as you possibly can." But more to the point, you appear to have a flawed memory of exactly how the 2014–15 season unfolded. In October of that year virtually NO ONE imagined that the Flames would be in the conversation for the playoffs by the Trade Deadline. There was never any opportunity for the Flames to "hold back" as you suggest in anticipation of participating in the draft lottery. Coaches and players play to win every god-damned time. The Flames were surging forward beyond every reasonable expectation to a playoff berth before Christmas.
It is positively unrealistic of anyone to expect that there was ever a chance for the Flames to win the 2015 draft lottery. It was never going to happen, and that is absolutely no fault of anyone's within the organization.