Free washer | The Flames’ Texas dream

We always try to imitate the best. Thus, the success of the Dallas Stars and the Boston Bruins gives ammunition to managers seeking to avoid a painful reconstruction.

The Flames have one thing in common with the Stars of a few years ago. Declining offensive players who are highly paid and difficult to trade.

Dallas retained Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, but by drafting extraordinary over the years, the team was able to climb back to the top without tearing down the foundation. Seguin and Benn still have a role there, but secondary, and we can respect the salary cap because several young players who are already dominant are not yet too expensive.

Roope Hintz, Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston, Miro Heiskanen, Thomas Harley and Jake Oettinger have now taken the reins of this team, although the veteran group is made up of strong leaders.

The Flames have very little replacement and are stuck with two thirty-year-olds, Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri, overpaid for the long term. The Stars represent the dream that Calgary can hold on to.

“Take the Dallas model,” said GM Craig Conroy during his end-of-season review a few days ago. It’s a reset. They made some draft picks, acquired some players, added some veterans and now they are in a position to win in a very short period of time. You don’t want to lose by ten goals every night. Are you necessarily improving? Some groups are still trying to get by after seven, eight, nine years. We want to move forward as quickly as possible. »

Conroy can dream of the Stars. But these are inimitable, or almost. Nobody drafts better. The 2017 vintage transformed this organization. In three choices, Miro Heiskanen, 3^e overall, Jake Oettinger, 26^e overall, and Jason Robertson, 39^e, they found a number one defender (Heiskanen), a number one goalie (Oettinger), and their best scorer, Robertson, 80 points this season, 109 the previous year. This is one of the great vintages in history.

Roope Hintz, three consecutive seasons of 30 goals or more, 65 points this year, 75 last year, remains their number one center: drafted at 49^e rank in 2015. Wyatt Johnston, employed at the center of the third line, has just had a season of 65 points, 32 goals, at only 20 years old: drafted at 23^e rank in 2021.

Defenseman Thomas Harley, 22 years old, 6 feet 4 inches and 206 pounds, broke out this winter with 47 points, including 15 goals, a +28 record and an ice time of 21:01, second in this regard among the Stars behind Heiskanen: drafted at 18^e rank in 2019. Logan Stankoven slotted into the third line at the end of the season, amassing 14 points in 24 games. He had an assist Monday night in the first playoff game, lost to Vegas. He dominated in the American League this winter with 57 points in 47 games: drafted at 47^e rank in 2021.

Six young pillars (we still have some discomfort in the case of Stankoven), only one, Heiskanen, drafted among the first fifteen. It still has to be done…

Tod Button, Craig’s brother, former Flames GM turned analyst, has headed the team’s recruiting department since 2011. But we won’t confuse him with Joe McDonnell, the Stars’ big man for eleven years.

Rasmus Andersson was a second-round masterstroke in 2015. Button hit the nail on the head with Matthew Tkachuk at sixth overall in 2016. 2017 first-round pick Juuso Valimaki has developed into a decent, if unassuming, defenseman for the Coyotes , after being claimed off waivers, but he was drafted ahead of Oettinger and Robertson.

Calgary did not have a pick in the first three rounds in 2018, nor was it drafted in the top 20 during the following two years. We’ll see if Jakob Pelletier, 23, 26^e overall pick in 2019, has a future in the NHL. Injuries haven’t helped this year. 2020 top pick Connor Zary, 22, 24^e choice in total, started the season as a lion, ended it as a sheep. He had 34 points in 63 games.

Matt Coronato, a 5-foot-10, 183-pound forward, was drafted 13th^e rank in 2021. At 21, he had one point per game in the American League and nine points in 34 games in the NHL. That year, the Stars chose Wyatt Johnston ten picks down.

Calgary drafted winger Samuel Honzek at 16th^e rank last summer. At 19, he didn’t have a point per game with the Vancouver Giants in the Western Junior League. He missed the first two months of the season due to injury, had a good World Junior Championship, but struggled upon his return to the West. Time will tell if he was a better choice than Gabriel Perreault, Quentin Musty, Bradley Nadeau, Gavin Bradley and Jacob Fowler, among others.

Conroy has done a good job since his arrival. For Tyler Toffoli, one year removed from full autonomy last summer, he got 25-year-old Yegor Sharangovich 59 points, including 31 goals, this season. Acquired with a first-round pick and two prospects for Elias Lindholm, Andrei Kuzmenko, 28, had 25 points in 29 games with the Flames.

Calgary holds the ninth overall pick this summer, unless the lottery decides otherwise, the Canucks’ late first-round pick, two second-round picks, a second third-round pick if Vancouver advances to the final four. as.

If the Flames are bad enough next year to finish in the third third of NHL teams and hold a pick in the top 10, they will be able to keep it and give the Canadian the choice of Panthers they have in hand. Being positioned between 11^e and the 21st^e rank in 2025 would hurt since they would probably draft at the end of the first round with the choice of the Panthers, whose power is not likely to diminish.

We wish the Flames success, but don’t imitate Dallas who wants, especially with Calgary’s draft results over the past fifteen years.

Ruff returns to Buffalo

So, the Sabers are relying on an old man, Lindy Ruff, to revive their young team. Ruff led the Sabers from 1997 to 2013. The long drought of thirteen years without making the playoffs began with him, in 2011-2012.

We thought he was a little too old school to lead a young team like the Devils. He missed the playoffs with them in 2021 and 2022, but had a surprising year last year with a 112-point season and a first-round playoff victory, before crashing out again this winter.

We’ll see the results in Buffalo, but one thing is certain, playtime is over there.