Quote:
Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby
"Enhancing player development" to me has more to due to ability of lesser travel issues logistically. I really don't think fan support has anything to do with player development in reality. Could the Flames have done more in QC? Perhaps, but the Flames partner with local groups to do that 'for them'. I may be bias (okay, I probably am) being a fan of the parent club, but I think the Flames main concern with their farm team is player development, not winning the Calder Cup. I can understand though how this would be frustrating as a fan of a AHL club. But such is the nature of the beast.
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though i don't blame calgary for qc failing, i think they could have done better. first off, keeping their mouth shut about abbottsford would have been nice. it killed any chance of the team making it past last year when it became pretty obvious they wanted to go to abbottsford. it is very hard to get fans to come to the game when they know the team is going to fold.
additionally there were many times when sutter/king told the qc media that they didn't care of we won or lost. and while that is true of most all ahl teams, why constantly remind us of that? there was one example early last year where qc had lost like 8 out of 10 games and were honestly playing brutal hockey. sutter rolled into town and watched a game and told the media that he was really happy with what he saw and thought we were playing well. that was pretty stupid to say considering the team had been packing it in for 2 weeks before that. (though i will say, the players always knew when sutter was in town. it was like watching an entirely different team play when he was there)
and though calgary didn't owe it to us, they could have been more open to bringing in some veteran players for us. heck, i think sutter said it about backlund going to the whl last year; that it was good to see him go play on a winning team. so there is at least some value for the prospects. not to mention, it can't be fun for the prospects moving every 2 years. i know that you guys don't seem to care, but i think it reflects poorly on an organization when your ahl team has to keep moving.
like i have said many times, the reason the team failed was no one around here appreciates quality hockey, and that caused the local ownership to run out of money. it very well may have happened no matter what calgary did. but IMO, they managed the situation pretty poorly.