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Draft Pick
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Flames development
I really lament that the Flames haven't treated last year, or this year as development years.
This comes really late in the season I know, but I've felt this way for a while. I know that the goal should always be to "ice" a competitive team, with aspirations of winning a cup. And I know the fears around tanking for a higher draft pick, there are plenty of examples around the league to make anyone gun shy about hunting for the lottery (Buffalo, Ottawa, early call but it's got to be tough being a Sharks fan right now). And for all the talk I hear about a Flames retool/rebuild/oil change(kidding), I feel like there's something that always gets missed, player development!
Johnny leaving the way he did was heartbreaking, and Tkachuk leaving too, could have been a real back breaker. But he did the right thing, let the club know, and they were able to make a pretty good deal to get a solid return! I know that Huberdeau hasn't lived up to the expectations placed on him, but I'd argue that (until this year) he hasn't been put into a position to really succeed. The teams success in the 2021-22 season, and playoffs relied heavily on having (arguably) the best top line in the league. Sure the insert player-Backlund-Coleman was a great shutdown line, but outside our top line there wasn't a lot of contribution overall. So going into 2022-23 with a vastly changed top line was a little jarring, i'd even equate it to having a major organ transplant. Huberdeau-Lindholm-Tofolli looked great on paper, and right out of the gates it seemed like there could be something there, but production dipped under a coach who demands that his players play his style of game. Huberdeau has never been a Darryl Sutter style of player, and for all the criticism that he's received (deserved or not), I truly believe that Jonathan made a real effort to play Sutters way. It's just not what Huberdeau has spent his whole hockey career doing, so the results were middling at best. I feel like Huberdeau should have been given at least half the season to establish his game, and build chemistry with his linemates. That means the coach needs to give a little free reign and stomach the fact that mistakes are going to happen. You let him establish his game and build that confidence with his linemates, that they can get it done offensively, then you start working him into the defensive structure.
Frankly the expectations were unrealistic! To expand on the earlier transplant analogy, you wouldn't give someone a heart transplant and expect them to win a marathon that year. So why, after such a major change to our teams core, was the expectation to make the playoffs? Why not take a year to figure out what you have and how to best make it work? It takes pressure off the coach, it takes pressure off the players, dare I say you might even create a fun place for players to play the game for the love of the game? And with the younger players in our system, Pelletier coming to mind specifically for that year, as well as players in the AHL who could have used some time with the big club, Zary, Phillips(I know I know)? It could have given us a chance to really see the potential that we have developing in the A. Instead I think it set this team back in terms of having an understanding of the talent that we actually have. We will never know how good Huberdeau-Lindholm-Tofolli could have been if they'd been given a chance to build that chemistry over the course of a season!
Shift to 2023-24 and my main complaint again comes down to the mandate that this team make the playoffs. This team has certainly shown that it can be very good at times. But we are on the cusp of losing two of our best defenders, and much like last year I feel like we still don't really have an idea of what this team could look like at it's best because the pressure to make the playoffs has deprived the coach of being able to make "mistakes (i.e. letting different lines build some chemistry). For example I think that having Coronato sitting in the AHL this long was a mistake, sure it was probably the best place to start the year, and it gave Sharangovich a chance to stretch his legs and find some form. But I can't help but feel like there was a real missed opportunity in having Coronato play winger with Huberdeau and Lindholm. Particularly because Lindholm is so defensively sound and responsible, he could have made the transition to the NHL more comfortable for Coronato. Covering some gaffs and mistakes for a rookie linemate, until Matt finds his bearings would have been a huge boon in Coronatos development. I also believe that Coronato is the best pure shot talent we have in the organization and he would (and likely still will be) the best option to place with Huberdeau. That is a missed opportunity, and unfortunately with Kuzmenko being added to the line up, it likely means we won't see Coronato playing with the Flames for the remainder of the year (another missed opportunity for a player who decided to sign instead of spending another year at Harvard). They could bring him up and put him on the Kadri line, but with that pressure to make the playoffs they aren't likely to move Pospisil off that line any time soon.
Zary has had a great year so far, but I can't help feel that we aren't getting the best out of him, or even the best read on his higher end capabilities. After Lindholm was dealt it left a big gap down the middle, and while Sharagovich has handled himself well in taking up those reigns. I feel like Zary is realistically our best option long term for a top 6 center to play with Huberdeau. Sharangovich is reasonably accountable on the back end to cover some of Zarys gaffs and mistakes. Giving Zary until the end of the season to start developing as an NHL centerman would give him and the club an accurate assessment of what they have! It would provide experience and video footage to take into the off season so he can find the best programs to improve his work in the circle as well as cleaning up on deficiencies.
A Huberdeau-Zary-Sharangovich line also leaves room for a Kuzmenko-Kadri-Coronato line, giving another prospect adequate time to find his legs before the end of the season. Pospisil has been a great find but realistically isn't anything more than a 3rd or 4th line player. How great could a Pelletier-Pospisil-Duerh line look?
My point is that the Flames don't need to take the tank route, but treating the rest of the 2023-24 season as a development period could really set this club up for big things going forward. Best case scenario they gel fast and we look even better going into the playoffs, worst case scenario we miss the playoffs (which may still happen), but get a better assessment of what we have in some of our young talent, and end up with a better first round draft pick (maybe even squeezing into the top 10). Honesly that seems like a win-win situation if I've ever heard one, all while avoiding tanking!
Thanks for coming to my TED talk lol
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