Now that the Rebuild is here...

[EYE_Overstand]

the draft cant come fast enough!

[djsFlames]

Baertschi, Brodie, Backlund, Jankowski, Gaudreau, 3 possibly 4 first round 2013 products, additional 2013 picks, and whoever pans out from the rest (Wotherspoon, Granlund, Horak, Hanowski, Agostino, Cundari, Nemo, Sieloff, Reinhart, Ferland, Kulak, Ramage, Gordon)

And a solid wave of upcoming netminders that will make for heavy competition to be the future starter: Ramo, Berra, Brossoit, Gilles, Ortio, (Irving, Taylor, pending extension)

I think that quietly after this year's draft, we will be loaded with a large and solid pool of quality prospects, and from those, a good handful of emerging young NHL players and future stars.

No more "stubborn flames", "old and slow", "cupboards are empty" comments associated with this organization. We'll be flourishing with youth soon enough. Watching and tracking all these kids as they develop is going to be an absolute pleasure for everyone here. The Abby Heat are sure going to be a team to watch in the near future. Troy Ward is actually going to get to work with some true talent, which i'm sure will be refreshing.

[Berger]

I hope even with the rebuild we keep McGratton around. He's shown he can at least keep up and can protect our prosepects from other teams taking liberties on them. I would almost to go as far as to say sign him to a 2 year deal.

[Kaine]

Originally Posted by Berger

I hope even with the rebuild we keep McGratton around. He's shown he can at least keep up and can protect our prosepects from other teams taking liberties on them. I would almost to go as far as to say sign him to a 2 year deal.

We have plenty of roster spots and will likely have more to come for young players. I can think of no reason at all to not keep McGratton around considering he can play an honest shift and is actually able to protect his teamates unlike say Jackman, try as he might.

[Enoch Root]

McGrattan has definitely earned another contract. Plus, you have to protect the kids.

[Enoch Root]

So who cracks the lineup next year?

Baertschi
Lottery pick (MacKinnon)
Horak
Bouma likely
Breen possibly

anyone else?

Looking at our D for next year, there is a chance that one of the prospects steals a job - Wotherspoon?

[Matty81]

Great that the rebuild is here, happy to see them try to build a team that can actually win the cup even if that takes 5 years. Hoping St. Louis makes the playoffs as this is a good draft, especially at 15-18th you might snag a real good player who drops a little.

Not real pleased with the prospects Feaster targeted or the fact that he seems to be flying by the seat of his pants. This should have been planned a year ago instead of throwing crazy money at Hudler and Wideman and going all in again. Also slightly disappointed that we didn't eat some of Bouwmeesters deal to get a better return.

[Max Cow Disease]

I'm optimistic. I'm glad that the shift is finally under way and that we'll finally have something new to watch, and not the stagnant product that the team had become over the past few years. I don't share some people's pessimism about our management and am reasonably confident that they'll be able to turn this shortened season and this upcoming draft into something positive for the franchise going forward.

You know you're headed in the right direction when you've got two Swiss bears in the equation.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by albertGQ

I would love to learn more about the four players we got in the past 7 days

So would Feaster

[djsFlames]

I'd strongly suggest that Wotherspoon has a chance to crack the lineup from training camp, given the likely opening in the d-corps that will exist after moves made this deadline and offseason.

A +62 with decent point totals. Mind you playing with the likes of Jones, but even Seth wasn't able to come close to that +/-

He looks super steady and super responsible. Just the kind of player a young Flames roster will need as soon as next season.

[MrMastodonFarm]

The Flames just can't be scared of young players anymore.

[Itse]

I'm relatively 'meh' over them finally starting a rebuild, because it should have started long ago and I have no faith in our GM's ability to pull it off. Hard to get excited over something when it's started this late. I feel like I'm watching an airplane in tailspin in slow motion. It has now caught fire... At least it looks more spectacular.

I would not be at all surprised if Feaster threw away our picks on some stupid RFA overpayment and our cap space for some more average overage UFA's.

[Flame Of Liberty]

This management wasn't able to properly assess players playing and practicing in front of them every day, makes me question their ability to properly assess obscure players buried in other teams depth charts

[Shin Pad]

Well, I hope they draft wisely. I don't want to see this team to become a perpetual bottom feeder team that never gets out of the rebuilding mode.

[Split98]

I'm not worried about losing Glencross, Brodie, Backlund, Baertschi and Gaudreau so the only players on this team I'll miss are Iginla and Cammalleri.

Iginla stings, but at the same time I'm jacked that our hero has a chance at winning the cup.

I'll miss Cammalleri if he goes, but the rest of the team I haven't grown overly attached to in recent years.

So I'm happy, though frustrated our returns haven't netted one prospect I can really get behind yet. This years training camp will be very fun as we get to see our previously-unheard-of prospects and our 1st round draft picks battle it out with Baertschi and Gaudreau. Along with the upcoming goaltender battle.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

If the Flames can get Johnny Gaudreau to sign I bet they make a big summer push focusing on him, Sven and whoever they draft with their top pick this year.

Sven Baertschi, Roman Horak are who likely players full time next season. Whoever we draft in our top spot should be likely to make the jump right away too. If Gaudreau makes the jump to pro I think he has an outside shot as well, hard to judge though.

You put those guys and build them up along with Backlund and Brodie and people will stay feeling good about the future and still be there.

I can see it already...

[t0rrent98]

With the way this team has played over the past couple of years and not trading away the players they have traded now, its about time they try and re-build this team. I do like the fact that we have multiple 1st round draft picks and many decent prospects to see play.

Through, the one thing that concerns me now is even if we are in a re-building mode, who and where do we start building this team around? Do we start from the net out or build around a upcoming Forward/Defense men?

[bubbsy]

Happy that management finally sees that changing the direction of the franchise is required -> 2 thumbs up.

How they are going about it? -> 1 thumb up for getting 1st rounders for the core guys, and not getting back undesired salary. 1 thumb down for not getting any high end prospects back in the deals.

I look forward to seeing some guys from the heat over the last dozen or so games after the deadline getting a chance to play for the big club (baertchi, horak, breen, reinhart, etc).

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by t0rrent98

With the way this team has played over the past couple of years and not trading away the players they have traded now, its about time they try and re-build this team. I do like the fact that we have multiple 1st round draft picks and many decent prospects to see play.

Through, the one thing that concerns me now is even if we are in a re-building mode, who and where do we start building this team around? Do we start from the net out or build around a upcoming Forward/Defense men?

The Flames are basically an expansion team. We will likely have to draft our new franchise player(s).

[bubbsy]

i think this offseason, there are going to be teams that will be moving out decent players (like the hawks did after their cup run) in order to get under the new cap. Buyouts aren't going to be the most desired approach since ur essentially losing the asset for nothing and being hit with a portion of the cap hit (or salary hit, can't recall if it's both).

Though "caged great" i agree that the franchise will be built off the upcoming draft(s) to get our next stars, i am intrigued at the opportunity to still get some decent talent quickly this offseason for teams trying to shave their roster to get under the cap. Perhaps this angle allows what should be a 4-5 year rebuild (ie. time when the team is back in the playoff picture) to trim down to a 2-4 year rebuild.