Quote:
Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
That's very selective reasoning. Pretty clear to me that the Flames likely don't win the cup in 89 with out either of those trades occurring. The Flames needed the blueline depth provided by Ramage in 89, especially with Suter injured for the entire playoff run.
Tough to question deals that helped bring them the cup, and tough to say if they were good enough to win in 89, that the subsequent teams weren't good enough because Hull was gone. Not saying Hull may not have been a key piece to future cups, but the Flames rounded out their team in a win now mode which meant giving up a very good young piece in Hull. That win now team should have won more than 1 cup, lots of reasons that didn't happen, Hull being gone isn't one of them, although that's not to say he wouldn't have helped in later years (although hindsight we now know Hull would likely have been gone just like all the other good players before the halfway point of the 90's as the new economy of the NHL started to takeover and the Flames were no longer able to retain talent).
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Well, of course it's selective reasoning, except for the fact that Fletcher made the deal with the specific purpose to win in '88, and on those terms it was a failure. It was a classic "trade for the present and hope the prospect doesn't come back to bite us".
All of what each of us is writing is pure speculation, but 88-89 was a different season and there were a number of trades over a number of years that were important in building the Cup champion. The only reason they had to trade for a Walmsley as a backup goalie was that they gifted Lemelin to Boston at the start of the season.
There are all kinds of scenarios for what might have happened if they hadn't made that trade. The presence of Ramage made it easy for Fletcher to gift Paul Reinhart to Vancouver - a move that allowed Vancouver to come within a disputed goal of derailing the Stanley Cup run in the first round.
Even though the Flames were beating the Oilers during the 87-88 season, the coaches/management were concerned about the Oilers ability to goon it up - Ramage supposedly added toughness, but Fletcher did another very bad trade to acquire toughness right near the deadline in the spring of '88, dumping another prospect, Brian Bradley, to Vancouver for Craig Coxe - a goon who couldn't skate.