The Flames are in a tough position. I genuinely don't see how they can finish in the bottom 5 with Wolf performing at his level and younger guys like Zary and Coronato starting to take steps forward. To achieve that would probably take Conroy designing a roster to suck completely and bad injury luck.
They're 3rd last in goals for this year and still in a playoff position, with Wolf improving (possibly) they'd have to be the worst by far to even have a shot in the tank battle. It's hard to see what they can do besides make high risk high reward trades to try and get the kind of star power the team needs.
In pro hockey "you have to suck to be good" is not an oxymoron it's darn near tautology. Chicago, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Detroit, the dominant teams of the last 25, 30 years all had long stages of being real bad before they secured the hockey quality needed. You still need good management*cough* Oilers *cough* But you can't incrementally improve your way to a championship in a league of 32 teams.
Kent, you’ve followed this team from the 80’s, so why do you think there’s so much ownership disdain to bottom out for a few years? Do you think the “forever flames” season ticket drive from the 90’s scared ownership from a rebuild or did the 2004 run just give them a false pretense of get in and you have a chance?
With the team committed to being in the city and a new arena opening it’s an ideal time for the team to embrace a fill tear down and I think fans would get on board work an openly communicated message and plan. What do you think?
But, yes, I think it's a reasonable thesis that wandering the desert for a decade in the 90's , punctuated by the Cinderella run in 2004 established this as a bit of an organizational trauma response.
I do think Murray's default setting is "don't be bad on purpose" as well.
I agree that a strong, consistent plan and messaging around a committed rebuild would work well in the city.
The Flames are in a tough position. I genuinely don't see how they can finish in the bottom 5 with Wolf performing at his level and younger guys like Zary and Coronato starting to take steps forward. To achieve that would probably take Conroy designing a roster to suck completely and bad injury luck.
They're 3rd last in goals for this year and still in a playoff position, with Wolf improving (possibly) they'd have to be the worst by far to even have a shot in the tank battle. It's hard to see what they can do besides make high risk high reward trades to try and get the kind of star power the team needs.
I don't envy Conroy.
In pro hockey "you have to suck to be good" is not an oxymoron it's darn near tautology. Chicago, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Detroit, the dominant teams of the last 25, 30 years all had long stages of being real bad before they secured the hockey quality needed. You still need good management*cough* Oilers *cough* But you can't incrementally improve your way to a championship in a league of 32 teams.
Well said.
Kent, you’ve followed this team from the 80’s, so why do you think there’s so much ownership disdain to bottom out for a few years? Do you think the “forever flames” season ticket drive from the 90’s scared ownership from a rebuild or did the 2004 run just give them a false pretense of get in and you have a chance?
With the team committed to being in the city and a new arena opening it’s an ideal time for the team to embrace a fill tear down and I think fans would get on board work an openly communicated message and plan. What do you think?
I've kicked that question around a bit in the past, and wrote about it (sort of) here: https://bigbodypresence.substack.com/p/calgary-flames-implacable-foe
But, yes, I think it's a reasonable thesis that wandering the desert for a decade in the 90's , punctuated by the Cinderella run in 2004 established this as a bit of an organizational trauma response.
I do think Murray's default setting is "don't be bad on purpose" as well.
I agree that a strong, consistent plan and messaging around a committed rebuild would work well in the city.