Cbrower91
Donkey Bonker
I understood your post, the issue is that right now they have BOTH jumbo-patty-boyle AND cooch-pavelski-burns and its still not nearly enough as they havent really approached a cup with those 6 guys now on the team for two years. Hell they barely even made the PO's with those 6 guys let alone be a top seed and real contender. As the big 3 fade into the background, they need equally potent players coming up, but they just dont have 'em. That's what I was meaning...
You are dead right about the risk regarding top picks. They definitely dont always work. Where's wishart? Petrecki? Bernier? Kaspar? and several other 1st rounders that just didnt pan out. I agree that it's no guarantee of success even with those deals, but it's a bit of a numbers game. The more good picks you have, the more likely to land a solid farm. And, the only way to get lots of solid picks, other than sucking for years, is astute deals. Look at the Hawks this offseason... They traded several very good players who had higher salaries to land a bevy of picks. Why? because they know they are victim of thier own success and will quickly fade if they dont keep the farm going. It remains to be seen if that strategy pays off, but it is the only way good teams remain good (other than superstar drafting in the mid-late rounds like dats and zetts, but that's tough to hope for.
that's why I would rather take some risk on the picks for the chance of a cup a couple years down the line and pray that some UFA's could work out to keep the team competitive while the cupbaord is restocked.
BTW, I have also heard of all the UFA's dougie failed to land. BUT, I also hear the perennial rant against UFA's that dougie makes about how that is when the biggest mistakes are made, so personally, I dont think its an issue of players not wanting to come (aside from select situations like neidermeyer with his bro) but instead that dougie really doesnt philosophically believe in signing brand name free agents. He has never signed a single one that wasnt already in the organization (I think). You look at other top teams and they often have (Hossa campbell this year, scuderi, Mitchell for LA). The sharks have added only crappy guys like zues and burish for horribly inflated deals that have clearly not worked. I guess Nemo could be said to be good, but obviously dougie only looks for 4th line role depth, so I dont buy the notion that dougie is a real bidder and simply loses. I think he avoids the table...
Im only going to address the Hawks thing, and that they are victim of piss poor cap management and it was the biggest reason why Dave Tallon is in Florida now. The Hawks have been trading off the bottom half of their line up, not anyone of importance like a sharp or a hossa. I mean the Bolland deal was good for the Hawks but Dave Nonis is a shit GM. The picks for Kane,Toews,Seabrook, and Keith were all through the Hawks sucking for decades. Sharp was acquired in trade from Philly for Booby Clarke so good for the Hawks for getting over lol The only 2 marquee guys they got in UFA was grossly overpaying Brain Campbell and Hossa who wanted to go to Chicago.