Expecting this rebuild to be quick is the copium. They are 18 months into the "retool" and its been mostly just tearing down. Way more talent going out than in. Where exactly do fans that think this is a quick rebuild think the rapid ascension back up the standings is going to come from?
They think the 25+ year old Dmen they picked up on waivers and for 4th round picks are all going to wildly exceed expectations?
Ah I see what you mean now. I still don't think it's copium. It's because management and roster want to get back to playoffs as soon as possible, we as fans can't count the possibility out. The roster we iced in 2014-2015 (perfect year to be bleh) wasn't expected to do anything either and that group inexplicably dragged themselves into the second round.
Conroy is sitting on a ton of assets. An inexplicably good trade or two, a prospect or two that suddenly starts developing to be NHL ready faster than expected... all of a sudden the roster may look like it has run or two in it before Backlund retires.
I don't think any Flames fan thinks this roster as is might surprise. It's that they think if the roster overperforms and Conroy lucks into an inexplicably good trade, it's suddenly a dark horse candidate to do some damage in the first or second round. If that happens, that's gravy, but certainly not expected as of now. No, we don't expect PTOs and late round acquisitions to suddenly play like superstars. We're expecting a possibility our group could against the odds suddenly click and win games they're not supposed to.
If you look at the expectations for the Flames for the last decade, we're typically good when we're supposed to be bad, bad when we're supposed to be good for an average of mediocre. That's why many of us are basically, "I want this... but I dunno what I'm gonna get." As an Oilers' fan, shouldn't you know this? I'd assume it's low hanging fruit for when you want to rub salt in our wounds.