1. Lets look at the players you named. Xhekaj is in his first year in the OHL he needs time, but is one of the few goal scorers here with 7. Drobac and Malboeuf are goalies, no goal scoring there, likely Drobac becomes an OA next year as he has performed well and Malboeuf has played 10 OHL games total. The jury is expectedly out on him.
Gill-Shane, Grush and Donovan are all defensemen. They shouldn't be our primary goal scorers (yet Donovan is one of our top 5). Donovan shows promise but he's 18, Grush is close to aging out and likely will be going to Texas soon and they are doing a decent job. Gill-Shane we got for an 8th round pick from Ottawa to fill the gap White left when he was hurt which he did. He hasn't played since Nov 18th, close to when White worked his way back into the lineup, what more would you have me say?
Sherk, Thomas and Anderson have 7 goals combined. Anderson is on his second year in the OHL and has currently matched his last year goal and assist total with 1 each. He's a giant player who sees play on the checking line, which makes sense given his size. Sherk has always been assist heavy (23 last year), and continues to be with 6 this year. Patrick Thomas, same thing, 21 assists last year, 8 this year.
It's not that they are bad players, it's that they are passing forwards without developed goal scorers to pass to of which we have only have two who play on the top line. Even if with Humphrey, Winterton and Xhekaj light it up, you need at least 6-7 guys scoring goals to have the depth you need both to deal with injuries. We have 5, presuming a perfect world, and no ability to trade for another, again due to lack of picks.
Don't call me gutless for pointing out how things are, or that I'm shitting on a team that isn't performing because it is missing key pieces to contend.
2. Are you kidding me? In 2018 we had Robert Thomas, Brandon Saigeon, Matt Strome, Nick Caamano, Will Bitten and Marian Studenic being fed by assist monsters in Mackenzie Entwistle, Ryan Moore, Ben Gleason and Riley Stillman. Yes, Kaliyev lit it up as a rookie that year, and yes he was a big part, but he is not lone reason we won. You are crazy to think he alone carried the team in 2018, especially how we were designed after the Flint trades. Again, it would have been stupid to trade him in 2019 like you suggested, given he had only one year under his belt and we were putting pieces together for a 2021-2022 run (as evidenced by our 2022 win)
3. If you don't think the team is championship ready, that means they aren't. There is no benefit to a franchise to say "We'd prefer to sacrifice our ability to win in the future, for a chance to not win the playoffs today"
4. At this point? Next to no chance. We don't have "few months" to sit on this decision. Trade deadline is the start of January (Correction: I thought it was the 6th, but I guess it's the 10 which is just two more games), which means you have 10-12 games, and in that little of a span. It's not just a matter of the Bulldogs doing well, but also other teams not being in a position to effectively challenge.
The only scenario I could see going for it is not only if the Bulldogs won at least 90% before the deadline, Ottawa and North Bay would have to collapse (which is doubtful) and I'd need minutes before midnight trade in hand to trade Morrison and Hayes, just in case Peterborough, Barrie (who may get Clarke back) or Mississauga loaded up, since I have next to no ability to do so this year. That's just not going to happen.
Could there have been a chance at the start of the season...yeah, I'd say if the team was at 38 points by now and kept hold of the 2nd seed till the dead line, yeah, but that didn't happen and likely wouldn't have happened given how many players we lost. We would have had to have found at least 3 diamonds in the rough to be in that spot, but ifs and buts are candy and nuts.
As far as loading up, again no. I explicitly said 4th seed (and even then not always) or above, before the deadline, and that you have a full cupboard. It's very clear in the east that Ottawa and North Bay are on a different level then the other teams. Now I am to understand Peteborough and Barrie have substantial draft cupboards so they may do it depending on developments this month. Not sure about Missi or Kingston who I don't think have a lot of trading stock, but I haven't been keeping track.
That's the point, if you load up now, that may make you a top seed team. We can't load up, the cupboard is bare. Again, you aren't grasping the importance of having available picks to make deadline trades in the OHL and that if we don't recoup them, we won't be able to contend.
