Also isn't the talk of Treliving going for a 1st just spinning our wheels? Like c'mon, you totally misjudge your roster, make the Hamonic trade and now want to get a 1st? How about a top 6 forward and a nice bottom 6 forward? Use the assets for that. Hey I won't mind using an asset (Fox, Brodie) to get a 1st but these moves also must consider getting a top 6 forward for next year. So if the wish list is a 1st and a top 6 forward then it's admitting the Hamonic deal was ill advised. But sigh yeah I'll move on, we still got Hamonic so it's not like we spent our 1st on a one year rental and missed the playoffs. I hope Treliving learns from all this.
WARNING: NOVEL TO COME
I don't get this. Treliving took essentially the same crew last season to playoffs, then on paper made the Achilles heel less of an issue, only to watch the roster find new ways to mess up. I don't think he misjudged the roster. The Jekyll and Hyde woes of the team IMO are a product of the team's ability to implement the coach's game plan. IMO our team has adequate firepower, but not the appropriate formation to utilize it to its maximum potential.
Consider, the Flames made playoffs with essentially the same core as last season.
Treliving upgrades goaltending from Elliott/Johnson to Smith and Lack. At worst a lateral move, even with hindsight. I honestly don't think that this was Treliving's ideal target, so he decides to take his futures and add to the blue line to improve in aggregate. Our d core adds a lot to the scoring anyways, so strength in the back end should theoretically add to up front which was adequate last season.
Treliving locks up Stone because our roster did better with him than without him. No trust in the D prospects, likely for good reason.
Treliving loses Engelland to Las Vegas and probably decides to acquire Hamonic to replace/improve the blue line because Smith wasn't his ideal guy.
On paper, the only other team to improve their roster on paper out West as much as Calgary was Dallas. But as many say, the game isn't played on paper.
Here's the damn thing. Gulutzan unveils a THIRD system starting this season. It's a system to utilize Smith's puck handling as much as possible. The preseason is a gong show and players essentially collide into each other due to the insane differences between the previous systems. Everyone is learning the damn system for the first time in a way where we might as well have a new coach. Hell, I bet Gully was developing the system as he went along. The crazy part is that most of the West decided to be inconsistent in the same season. We just struggled more than many of the other teams. We seriously might as well have had THREE coaches over Gully's tenure. Seriously. Not to mention the differences in the systems is like Hartley's ABCs to Gully's algebra, then to trigonometry. I often rant that Gully is square pegging round holes.
In my opinion, Gully's system actually ended up screwing things up and handcuffing many of the players who really struggled the entire season to figure out how to survive let alone thrive in Gully's system. This IMO is why our entire bottom 6 suffered and struggled to score. Why our PP and PK struggled. Why our team looks like it doesn't have killer instinct. All of which were once strengths with essentially the same core. Think about that. That lunch pail version never had issues with our bottom 6, in fact it was a strength. Hartley's crew were pretty damn good on the PK scoring many short handed goals. They were highly disciplined and was not very penalized and often made teams pay on the PP.
The issue is Gully, or an issue with the roster struggling to learn the THIRD Gully system in the last 2 seasons (Season 1: Gully's original system in the first half, then the Hartley/Gully rush hybrid in the latter half of last season, Smith puck moving version this season). IMO Gully is a very good big picture guy, but too inexperienced micro manager at the game level. IMO he will be a good coach long term, but not yet and definitely not with this group/organization.
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Regarding going for a First, I think it's a combination of shooting at a low first and possibly settling on two seconds, but I think his true intentions are something else which I will explain after. IMO tactics to do this would be to dangle the following players:
- Andersson: Why/How? Utilize Hamilton, Hamonic, Stone, Brodie on the RD until contracts run out. Within those two years, Fox ends up developing well making one or both expendable in a later trade. Maybe someone is willing to take him on and willing to believe his stock has increased and he is merely buried. Idea wise it's loosely like a Granlund for Shinkaruk trade.
- Ferland: His value is at his highest at the moment. His value can fall easily if his production drops or he ends up signing an extension at a higher AAV. I wonder if a team like Pittsburgh or Toronto who may be looking for a cheap option first line LW would be interested. Toronto may as Ferland may be a JVR replacement long run. Pittsburgh may not mind him as a rental. However, this isn't an acquire a 1st situation. It's swapping first rounder value of NHL roster players.
- Dougie Hamilton: If Treliving can attack some distressed value assets (based on idiot GMs) and unlock some of Dougie's value in a quality for quantity trade, maybe it's a thing. However, I really don't see a X + 1st rounder trade for Dougie to make any sense. Since it's well known Chayka is in love with Dougie, I could see maybe if Chayka really over values Dougie and thinks far less of his own roster players, maybe there's some type of trade for Dougie+ where Treliving is looking at combinations of OEL, Domi and Raanta. But a crazy idea like this involves throwing futures into the mix and locking said players long term. Treliving would likely negotiate such a trade in a way where it's hinged on his ability to come to terms for an extension with up to 3 players prior to consummating the trade.
- Brodie: I guess it's doable, but most of the ideas are similar to the Ferland for RW idea. Brodie for a top 6 player idea again is not a move for a first rounder.
- Valimaki: The only way an idea like this makes sense is if it's a trade for a BPA top 6 option which is also a better fit for team needs going forward. It's for a team that needs depth on the blueline and willing to make a swap.
- Fox: I seriously don't see this though. Trading Fox is merely a trade for his rights. Who the hell is trading a first for a shot at a guy who might not even sign? Yes, Fox might be a mid/late first round calibre in some fan's eyes, but there's no bloody way IMO we can get a first for him.
- Gaudreau: The only way anything like this occurs is if JG wants to go back out East in the same way Hamonic wanted to come out West. However, I do believe things will unfold in the same way as Hamonic, but moving JG for a first rounder does not make sense. JG for a downgrade on the roster + 1st is a terrible trade to ma
- The mixed bag: Maybe someone is crazy enough to take a mixed bag of prospects and trade it for a 1st. I'm thinking something like a late first for a combination of the Shinkaruk, Klimchuk, Hathaway guys who haven't made the bigs, but seem like they're close and somewhat buried. However, this only makes sense if we're talking about a team with a severely depleted farm and need quantity over quality. Minnesota seemed like a team like that a few years ago, but I've been busy so I haven't kept up with most other teams farm systems this season to know if they're still that way or if some other team is sitting on a pile of players in their system they'd like to move on from.
- The idiot: (AKA: The Berra) - If someone is crazy enough to move a first for some goalie in our system (unlikely), he does that all day. I honestly think he'd end up flipping that pick for a proper goalie with potential rather than drafting with it though.
Re: first rounder rumor: I think it's garbage. I could see Treliving maybe doing a quantity for quality trade where he acquires future first rounders (not this draft, the ones after), but the entire management mandate is playoff contention. Why the hell would he move roster players for high picks? I'd be at max moving lower tier guys to make room for kids on the farm on the NHL roster. I cannot see Treliving making any moves for any top 6 or top 4 players that are not for NHL roster calibre players. No way I see us getting a top 3-5 pick and no way any one we draft this draft is guaranteed NHL ready.
