What are we doing here?

The way forward for the Flames is simple

As a passive observer of the post-season, I’ve laid back and let the Oilers Cup run roll right over me, like a wave over a stone on the beach. Most Flames fans have kept the fires of the Alberta rivalry alive, symbolically spitting in the direction of Stinktown any time Connor McDavid’s crew is mentioned.

Like the stone, I am indifferent to Edmonton’s success. I’ve resigned myself to a half-decade (minimum) of struggle in my own fandom, a familiar state of affairs in Calgary. I cannot, at this juncture, conjure much animosity towards the Oilers and their fans. Their current jubilation was paid for by 10+ years of fumble-bummery, an effort at team building so laughably inept it echoed the futility of erecting a castle in a swamp.

But here they are, generational talents in hand, back on top of the West despite themselves. The other reason I am sanguine about the Oiler’s ascendence is it brings some clarity to the local franchise’s efforts. Perhaps not strategic or tactical clarity, but maybe - just maybe - the kind of fiery emotional clarity that comes from watching a hated rival succeed.

I am half convinced that being downstream of Edmonton’s Gretzky-led dynasty fueled Calgary to build their own best-ever rosters in the 80’s. Edmonton being miserable through most of the cap era was grimly amusing for Flames fans and management, but it also allowed the local crew to wallow in a kind of self-satisfied mediocrity far too often.

“At least we’re better than the Oilers.” No. We don’t have that anymore.

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I’ve heard a lot about the “Dallas model” since the Stars were mentioned during a year-end press conference.

Of course, nobody should pretend that this is a “model” in any meaningful sense of the term. It’s certainly something that happened - a noteworthy something, an admirable something - but it’s not something that can be studied, duplicated, and enacted as a guiding strategy. Certainly not by the Flames, who haven’t had a Heiskanen-Oettinger-Robertson draft since their historic turn in 1984.

Outside of “draft a whole new core of star talent all at once” (which is quite obviously something the Flames should try to do!), the Stars’ unlikely redound is not an object lesson for Calgary. It doesn’t illumine a fresh path, it’s not the lightbulb moment of an executable insight. We may applaud the Stars’ improbably fast turnaround, but there’s no obvious way to emulate it.

The NHL is structured to reward the boom and bust cycle of team building. Being bad - really bad, for a while - is the most surefire method to put your thumb on the scale. “Pick early, pick often” should be emblazoned on every surface in Craig Conroy’s office. This is assuming the organizational goal is to build a legitimate contender at some point within living memory, of course.

Relative to their time in the league, I doubt any other NHL club has extracted less talent from the top-10 area of the draft than the Calgary Flames. You can count this org’s sum total of early choice stars on one hand. Depending on your opinion of Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary has never landed a generational talent at 10 or higher. They’ve also been to the Cup finals once since 1989, a feat that’s now so rare there is a generation of local fans who cannot recall a third-round playoff series in this city.

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If the Flames are a ship, they’re adrift. Their anchoring talents fled the vessel. The effort to replace them failed so completely that the previous captain jumped overboard. Lingering members of that crumbling crew are set to follow him, with the exodus already underway.

The current operating manual for Conroy at el. is short and simple. Be bad. Bottom out. Collect futures. Weaponize your cap space. Increase your odds of landing the future stars of this franchise. Patiently and meticulously build the foundation for a roster that can contend for a decade, rather than one that will scramble amongst the middle class indefinitely.

This is deeply unsexy, I understand. I think this is one of the reasons NHL decision-makers and owners so frequently strain and wail against “the full rebuild” - because it’s just so blandly straightforward. Not at all worthy of their years of experience, dedication to the craft, and the enduring desire to win in every situation. “Just be bad on purpose”, like an accountant stating matter-of-factly that the company is bankrupt and we’re going to have to liquidate all of these assets, you know.

Naturally, there’s a risk in being a team that loses a lot. Sometimes it takes a very long time to scramble back up the cliff face. Of course, if you don’t have faith in a regime to build a fresh contender, you probably shouldn’t believe they can successfully resuscitate the corpse of one either.

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This is all a very long way of me saying - I’m not going to engage much in the typical off-season jabber that animates NHL team commentary.

The Flames want to acquire Martin Necas? It doesn’t matter, except that they shouldn’t do it. Martin Necas won’t make an impact on a roster like the Flames. He’s a fine young player and will be useful to someone, but he’s another body on the deck of a listing ship. “Calgary is interested in acquiring established 25-year-old forwards.” Nah, stop it…pretending the current club just needs to shade in a few pale areas on the roster is a delusion.

Last summer Conroy spent his freshman off-season running around trying to retain all of his pending free agents. Those players had no reason to sign here long-term nor did the club have enough cap space to accomplish it, but there was some residual hope in the wake of Sutter’s firing, so honor demanded he try at least.

That’s gone. Hanifin’s gone. Tanev’s gone. Lindholm’s gone. Salvation didn’t lie with them anyway.

This summer, the interest doesn’t lie in what marginal additions the team hopes to make. Rather, we are all standing on the shore, wondering if the new front office can chart a completely new course.