Quote:
Originally Posted by burn_this_city
That was a long time ago, in a league where people here were fed up with the top teams buying a spot in the playoffs. Toronto, Detroit, ect had unlimited payroll so a small franchise like Calgary was simply a farm team. If the Flames showed some intellectual honesty and rebuilt, the fans will stick around. They might not sell out every game, but they won't need to spend to the cap either.
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Yep. People forget the Flames simply couldn't compete on a financial level with the big markets. I remember Coates desperately wanting to keep Dave Gagner around to mentor Iginla as they had good chemistry in his first year and Gagner opted for more money in Florida than the Flames could offer. Dave frikking Gagner was out of the Flames league salary-wise. That's how bad things were. They would trade for guys under contract like Cassels but they would all leave as soon as they became UFA. By the late 90's the team was filling the roster with league castoffs like Jeff Shantz, Clark Wilm, Jeff Cowan, Freddy Brathwaite, etc because that's the best they could afford. It was pretty dire and hopless.
At least now the Flames have the money to be able to acquire top players with high salaries in trades or via free agency. That wasn't even remotely possible in the 90's where they were hopeless to compete with the big markets.