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Build through the draft or Build through the draft?

Which would you rather?

Interesting posting over at Hockeybuzz that I wanted to bring up but not for the writing (even though he has been a strong contributor to the Avs stuff over there) but for his comparison of the Hawks and the Penguins. The article uses the two teams as comparison between winning through Free Agents or through drafting but really would have been better suited to: Which would you rather... win with numerous Superstars (Penguins) or Premium Depth (Hawks). Both teams were primarily built through the draft (and with high picks) and both made missteps along the way that their "superstars" or "premium depth" were able to overcome to win the cup. The Penguins are a good example of how having a regular shot at premiere (franchise) players can go along way to being an elite team. Unfortunately the downside is that having players of that caliber can eat up a lot of cap space so drafting and developing becomes extremely important for such a team to remain an elite team. Pittsburgh has not been that strong in that area and are hurt by the holes in their line-up that they must now fill with cheap FA or through end of season trades. On the other hand, Chicago has drafted and developed extremely well in addition to facilitating smart trades to improve their team. They may not have a bunch of superstar/franchise players but they have been able to draft and develop players who can play at that level when it matters most... not to mention save $$ on each player. Unfortunately where Pittsburgh faltered later on, due to a lack of depth, Chicago is now being hurt by spending their money on earlier FA contracts (as we all know) that were done to speed up their chances of winning a cup. Would Chicago have won without Huet, Brian C., and Hossa? Would they be in a much better situation without those 3?

Well I am not going to go on and on but both teams won the cup and both teams made missteps along the way that will make winning again tough, but not impossible. Learning from these teams will only benefit Colorado. Colorado does not have the superstars that Pittsburgh has but they look to have (or are building upon) the premium depth that Chicago had/has. By working to avoid the missteps that both teams have made... the Avs have a very strong chance to really win and maintain their place as a top team for years.

So is it better to build through the draft or build through the draft? Any other way seems to be a longshot...

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