[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by New Era

i'm not going to take the bait and respond to your insults. I never said trade all the vets and go with all kids. I said give the positions to those who have earned them and have been most effective. There is more than enough veteran leadership on the team that underperforming players such as Bollig, Jones, Diaz and Engelland could be replaced without feeling a leadership vacuum.

The fact that you include David Jones, a guy who has been one of our leading scorers for the month, in that list tells me a great deal about the basis of your opinion. Sufficed to say, it has not improved my outlook.

I'm not buying the chemistry argument either. The team was performing its best and looking like a team that was playing for each other when the vets were on the sidelines and the youth was injected into the lineup. The losing streak began with the return of the vets. The team also hasn't played with the same heart or enthusiasm. Coincidence? I don't think so. You want to send the kids down to Adirondack to play together and become a team, but that is what they were doing up here and finding success. But for some reason you think they should be back in the minors doing that instead of in Calgary doing that, because it doesn't comply with some time table you have in your head.

No, I simply understand what "correlation does not equal causation" means.

Also, like most people who so desperately hate veterans that they want to believe guys getting healthy caused our downfall, you have never once explained the following:

a) How removing three players in Knight, Baertschi and Ferland with a combined 0 goals caused our offence to stop scoring.
b) Why we have been much stronger in terms of puck possession and generally outplayed our opposition despite losing
c) How removing Knight, Baertschi and Ferland caused Wideman and Russell (especially) and even Brodie and Gio (at times) to fumble the puck much more often.
d) How a guy like Josh Jooris, despite playing with the same two linemates (Hudler and Gaudreau) and getting the same ice time, completely stopped scoring.

You are so blind to reality that you are trying to blame Raymond, Stajan and Colborne for the team's losses without actually understanding where the offence actually dried up. It is true that those three are not producing offensively. But neither is Josh Jooris (0g 1a on the losing skid) anymore. Most importantly, neither are Brodie, Wideman and Russell (0g 5a combined during this skid). And honestly, Engelland and Smid/Diaz have given us better defence than Wideman and Russell have as well in December. But you've allowed your confirmation bias to mask that.

Maybe you need to step back and realize life is not an EA video game, and players progress at different schedules. Some kids take longer, like Baertschi, but other ones have big development spurts that has them knocking on the door sooner. You also have to realize that many of the players that are knocking on the door aren't 18 or 19 year old kids. The ones in question are 20 something's and have done some time in developmental leagues already. Look around the league at the top clubs and see how long each of their top youngsters spent in the AHL. When a kid is knocking on the door as hard as some of the Flames prospects are, room needs to be made for the betterment of the team.

Name them.
Ferland? 59 professional games in his entire pro career to this point. You mean to tell me he's done developing?
Baertschi? You already noted he is still developing.
Wotherspoon? His time is coming. And I think the intention is that when he comes up, the team expects it is permanent. But that is for when there is either a big injury on the blue line, or when we get later in the season and potentially can move a Smid to another team. But right now, the org would rather he gets big minutes in key situations in Addy than play third pair minutes in Calgary.
Poirier? 27 total professional games. Buried at left wing. No sense rushing him either.