Post by Citris on Jun 5, 2015 23:16:41 GMT -4
I wanted to start this thread not just to talk about the draft, but what I think should be the philosophy of building a winning team going forward.
There has been a lot of talk about trading up to get an impact player like Bowers (though granted, I don't think anyone realistically thinks we will/can do that.)
I want to lay out why I think that would be a terrible move, and the way I see this rebuild going forward.
We have 5 picks in the first 3 rounds, including a really decent pick in #7 overall. I think hanging on to these and maybe even picking up another late first or second should be a priority. Why? Look at this teams depth, especially at forward going into the future. There's NOTHING there. We have no future. That's the first thing we need to build: Depth.
I want to cite a couple examples, look at how Chicoutimi attempted to build a winning team the last two years. They overreached and grabbed a star prospect in Roy, added him to another good player in Daulphin. They made some trades for futures and picked up Ranger and Paquin-Boudreau... these are all really good players who can play on a championship caliber team...
So why did the Sags suck?
Because those star players were added to a team with no depth. Nothing on D, an average goaltender at best, and no other talent up front. Essentially these stars were the icing on a shit sandwich.
The Sags rushed the rebuild and they suffered for it. They forgot the most important part which was building depth first. Stars only last 2-3 years in this league, you need to find your 4-5 year players who will be your secondary scoring, log important minutes, kill penalties etc.
Compare to the 2013 Mooseheads or the 2011/2012 Sea Dogs. These teams had STARS in Huberdeau, Jurco, Coyle, or Drouin, MacKinnon and Fucale... But those teams had depth, built through the draft. Each of those teams could lose 2 or 3 of those stars and still win games.
The point I'm trying to make is: we can't rush this rebuild. We have to find the Brent Andrews, Andrew Ryans, Darcy Ashleys etc, guys who will be solid 4-5 year players for us. We need to build our depth, and then when we add 2 first round picks next year (hopefully each top 5), then we can go for the stars who will be the icing on the cake. We cannot skip building depth if we want a REAL contender.
There has been a lot of talk about trading up to get an impact player like Bowers (though granted, I don't think anyone realistically thinks we will/can do that.)
I want to lay out why I think that would be a terrible move, and the way I see this rebuild going forward.
We have 5 picks in the first 3 rounds, including a really decent pick in #7 overall. I think hanging on to these and maybe even picking up another late first or second should be a priority. Why? Look at this teams depth, especially at forward going into the future. There's NOTHING there. We have no future. That's the first thing we need to build: Depth.
I want to cite a couple examples, look at how Chicoutimi attempted to build a winning team the last two years. They overreached and grabbed a star prospect in Roy, added him to another good player in Daulphin. They made some trades for futures and picked up Ranger and Paquin-Boudreau... these are all really good players who can play on a championship caliber team...
So why did the Sags suck?
Because those star players were added to a team with no depth. Nothing on D, an average goaltender at best, and no other talent up front. Essentially these stars were the icing on a shit sandwich.
The Sags rushed the rebuild and they suffered for it. They forgot the most important part which was building depth first. Stars only last 2-3 years in this league, you need to find your 4-5 year players who will be your secondary scoring, log important minutes, kill penalties etc.
Compare to the 2013 Mooseheads or the 2011/2012 Sea Dogs. These teams had STARS in Huberdeau, Jurco, Coyle, or Drouin, MacKinnon and Fucale... But those teams had depth, built through the draft. Each of those teams could lose 2 or 3 of those stars and still win games.
The point I'm trying to make is: we can't rush this rebuild. We have to find the Brent Andrews, Andrew Ryans, Darcy Ashleys etc, guys who will be solid 4-5 year players for us. We need to build our depth, and then when we add 2 first round picks next year (hopefully each top 5), then we can go for the stars who will be the icing on the cake. We cannot skip building depth if we want a REAL contender.
