[timbit]

Originally Posted by blankall

Disagree.

You have to remember the excitement after the JBo signing. It looked like we had 3 potential Team Canada level defencemen: JBo, Phanuef, and Regehr. They all excelled, and were potentially the best, at a different area of the game.

Who could've predicted that the NHL had passed Regehr by, JBo offence woud fall off, and Phaneuf would be exposed for the total bonehead he is.

That being said, even at the end of the season when Phaneuf was traded, he could have been packaged for a solid young offensive forward. A much better way to add "depth" than 2 middle of the road forwards. We weren't going to trade Phaneuf for picks and prospects as we were in "Win now" mode.

Phaneuf at that point could have easily brought back a JVR, Chris Stewart, or James Neal type of player, and maybe some change too. Phaneuf was no longer the type of player who would've brought back Patrick Kane, but we could have done much better than Stajan and Hagman....Sutter was just too focussed on having more experience and "character" in the lineup. The formula had worked when we brought in Nilson, Nieminem, Simon, etc...Very poor judgement by Sutter.

Still not convinced that Sutter was totally to blame for the return the Flames received. Various King comments and the ownership's mandate to be a playoff team superceding intermediate and longterm growth probably had some significant impact.