[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Hah, nice try. I never said that you trade Glencross at any cost. I said you don't trade him just to make the playoffs "if you can get good assets in return". Pretty big difference from what you're trying to paint me as.

I'm painting you by exactly what you said: "Being impatient and ignoring the long-term master plan, just to see your ass handed to you in the 1st round = more insane"

Your earlier posts notwithstanding, there was no qualification to this statement. You made your view clear that you don't care if this team feels retaining Glencross helps us make the post-season this year. You would sacrifice that chance to get, as it turns out, something even as pitiful as a fourth rounder. That is called wanting to fail upward, and that very much is what the Oilers attempted to do.

I might be lost in my world, but at least my world is not about jumping to massive conclusions and thinking that trading Glencross means we are "dumping all our vets and turning into the Oilers". It's never that black and white.

No kidding dude. That is why I pointedly reminded you that this is not a binary process.

The Flames have made a massive step beyond expectations this year, with or without the playoffs. As a coach and player, you absolutely hope these guys are pushing to make the playoffs....but as a GM, you can't keep changing your plan with every weekly up and down of the win column.

Since when were you the GM? Also, I love how you jump to a massive conclusion exactly one sentence after claiming you don't jump to massive conclusions.

Burke made it clear last year he wasn't going to just give players away. Treliving is a different manager, of course, but given how often he spoke of sharing the same mindset as Burke, don't bet on him being terribly different. But to the point, opting to retain Glencross - if we are still in the race a month from now - absent a quality trade offer is not changing the plan. Signing Glencross to a big, long term deal at the expense of getting younger could be viewed as changing the plan. Dumping prospects for vets would be changing the plan. Maintaining the status quo wrt Glencross at the risk of his going to UFA because the team thinks that a taste of winning and a taste of playoffs will help the kids more down the road is not changing the plan.

And that, I am quite certain, is something Treliving, Burke and Hartley have discussed already.

And for those who don't think getting even a 4th rounder is worth it...there are at least two key guys on this Flames team who would tell you otherwise. The draft is still largely a crapshoot, and smart teams hoard draft picks like they are going out of style...it doesn't mean you will automatically turn into the damn Oilers.

Smart teams consider a hell of a lot more than blindly hoarding draft picks just because. Remember that whole "it's never that black and white" thing you said but clearly do not believe? If you aren't getting a quality offer, you need to consider the value of experience. Hartley et al have already spoken of the value of these kids playing meaningful games in January. February, March and April (if we get there) are only going to ramp that up. There is no substitute for experience, and if the team feels keeping Glencross for a run is more important for the org long term than drafting the next JD Watt or Hugo Carpentier, they are likely going to do so.