[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

I don't mean to make the 'potshots', but I have no other way of phrasing it.

Saying that I have no hockey knowledge because I don't like Butler is what? Feels like a potshot to me. Am I being over-sensitive?

Stating that I don't like Butler because I feel that trade was horrible because Butler didn't come close to filling in Regehr's shoes - I never expected Butler to do so, and that is also not a fair statement.

I don't really take 'potshots' at posters - at least very rarely. I have never received so much as a warning for any of my posts thus far (and I take your post as a bit of a warning).

If the poster I was referring to just made his case without bring up the 'measuring hockey knowledge' line, I would not have rebutted without the 'arrogant' statement. However, I feel this is exactly what it was - and I wasn't the only one. If that post was borderline trolling, I would say.

Have to apologize for losing my cool though. You are correct with that.

As for Butler - I don't exactly know why he is a whipping boy myself. He is a 5/6/7 defencemen, on a team full of 5/6/7 defencemen. He needs to be sheltered, but when he is on the ice, he doesn't bring anything special. He is not a shutdown guy, he is not much of a puck mover, he does get frazzled a lot, he is not offensive, and he is not physical and he is not consistent. Does it make him 'horrible' and the whipping boy? No. However, it does make some fans like myself not have any real appreciation for what he brings other than just being a warm body out there, but we see more potential in other players at this point to contribute in different ways. They may have some deficiencies in their games as compared to Butler, but they seem to have more strengths as well, and we would like to see those players develop instead of giving Butler more time.

I am not a 'Butler hater', just don't see the value he brings especially with a rebuilding team like the Flames who do have prospects on the verge of breaking out, and with seemingly an over-abundance of depth-defencemen.

It is what it is. If you don't think Chris Butler isn't good enough to play in the NHL I would say you were a poor evaluator of talent. If you notice there are a lot of posters here that do understand what Butler is and what he provides at $1.7 million. It's the over the top talk of how terrible he is that just makes some of you look bad. It's not a pot shot. It's the truth. Before Butler it was Bouwmeester, Stajan etc. It's fair game to criticize all players on the team but when you go overboard it's just silly and makes us look bad.