You're complaining that we don't have any top end talent and offering up any player 22 and under, most of whom are rookies... such that we have no idea what their top end talent is for a player in his prime. Do you not see the problem with your logic here?
Rather than accusing people of problems with logic, maybe a more accurate assessment would be that we start with different assumptions. The first assumption is about timelines, the second is about how many will actually blossom in huge pieces that can be central to a cup run.
Yes, we have some young players who may be good down the road. My assumption is that it will take quite a while. Zibby will be peaking in about 3 years or so, same with Silf. The player I want is a power forward, and the only ones in the system are just starting their pro careers down in Bingo. A power forward typically takes longer to mature than, say, a scoring winger. Let's say for the sake of argument that it takes about 5 years, possibly 7 if we figure in that the scoring will come before the maturity in that position. So we stay with the youngsters, watch them grow, scrape into the playoffs for the next 3-5 years, and maybe get out of the first round if we happen to run against a team in the 1st with poor coaching and whiny soft prima donna players.
So 3-5 years later, when these players mature, do we have Perry and Getlaf clones? Maybe, but it is just as likely that one out of Zibby and Silf becomes a reliable 20 goal scorer while the other just can't climb over the hump and pot goals on a regular basis. Maybe that power forward we are grooming has a good heart, but he tend to hit the goalie in the pads a lot when he shoots and the numbers just aren't there. My assumption is that not all wonderful prospects turn into star players. Some keep growing, some plateau, and others may even regress and end up eking out a living in playing for a team with an unpronouncable name in some European league.
I'm not saying we should dump every young player we have. My position is that even if we wait for them to mature there is still no guarantee that we are grooming a star rather than a Latendresse Mark II. We are in a good spot in terms of organizational depth, so why not part with some young unproven players in exchange for proven guys who can take us a step further while we still have Alfie, Phillips, and Neil to lead the way?
