Quote:
Originally Posted by Aarongavey
I agree with you that Raymond, Hillier, Bollig, Brouwer are bit parts and every team has more than a couple. But for Brad, they are Brad's best. Brad's ability to snag free talent on the UFA market is one of a kind.
Hiller - Brad gave him 4.5 million dollars a year, 6.5% of the cap. The average player makes about 4.1% of the cap, Brad gave Hiller 50% more than an average player, yet he was unable to unload him for anything of value.
Raymond - Brad gave him a 3 year deal at 4.6% of the value of the cap. Again above average money for Mason. Mason was such a bad signing that Brad actually bought out one of Brad's best, costing the Flames 1.05 million dollars last year and this year to do sweet jack. Another example of Brad's nose for talent.
Bollig - gave up a third round pick for this guy, a player you have given up on in his second year as a pro. But nonetheless, Bollig cost us about 775K on the cap last year to play in the minors, another great talent that Brad brought in.
Brouwer - Troy is only paid 6.2% of cap value, and he shows every single night that Brad identifies diamonds in the rough that no other GM finds. We can enjoy another one of Brad's best for 2 more years.
I look forward to who Brad can sign this offseason, this is his 5th offseason. Players I forgot to list
Frolik
Engelland
Grossman
Versteeg
Jagr
But with the big win tonight, the final two years of the BT era are now statistically better than the first two years. This is important because it is probably fair to say that the first two years he was dealing with garbage that Feaster had left behind, which was tough for a hockey guy like Brad as Jay did not know what he was doing.
Now we can definitively say the following
1) The first two years of the BT regime the Flames averaged 87 points a season. For the final two years, minimum (with 3 games left) the Flames averaged 88 points a season. It is objectively true that the final two years have been better than the first two years (although not as good as the first year under the BT regime)
2) The Goals for and against is worse in the final two years of the BT regime (negative 17) versus the first two years (negative 4). This is based on the first 79 games of this year, if we go on a serious run against the Coyotes, Knights and Jets to finish the year, points 2, 3 and 4 could change.
3) The Flames goals against is better in the final two years of the BT regime (2.87 GAA) than it was in the first two years (2.90 GAA). This is probably reflective of the resources that were expended to improve this area (Hamonic, Stone, Elliott, Smith). If the average holds for the final 3 games, the Flames should let in 5 fewer goals in the final two years of Brad's reign than they did in the first 2 years.
4) This defensive prowess has come at an offensive cost. In the first two years of the BT regime the Flames averaged 2.88 goals per game. In the final two years the Flames have averaged 2.70 goals per game. If the average holds for the final 3 games, the Flames should score 29 fewer goals in the final two years compared with the first two years of the BT regime.
But the bottom line is wins and losses, and right now the Flames have a guaranteed 1 win more in the final two years of the BT regime compared with first two years of the regime. Brad has had to mortgage some of the future to get to this point. In net draft pick terms, including the 2015 draft (first draft after a full year of Brad) through the 2019 draft the Flames have given up compared with their base allocation of 1 pick per round.
1st Rounders - Two
2nd Rounders - One
3rd Rounders - Three
4th Rounders - none
5th Rounders - One
6th Rounders - none
7th Rounders - none
So this improvement we have seen over the past two years has come at a bit of cost for the future. The Flames have traded net 2 1sts, 1 2nd, 3 3rds, and a 5th for their current prowess. It is possible that we do not see the success of the last two years in 3 or 4 years because of this as we have depleted our potential pipeline as part of the BT plan.
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Well you certainly have a lot of time on your hands.
This all seems rather nit-picky. Look at Hillier for example, what were the other options and at what cost? Was Raymond a bad bet? Yeah, probably but again, what were the options? Chase some other UFA that may or may not want to sign in Calgary (keep in mind the Flames were hardly an attractive destination at the time). Or perhaps bring up Kenny Agostino? If my memory is right, this was right around the time Bob Hartley was doing a wonderful job of developing Sven Beartchi.
You barely reference Frolik, Versteeg, engellend who all proved to be useful acquisitions. Sure Engellend was probably signed for too much, but he brought an element to this team that I think they miss and now need to address once again.
Your arguments don't seem rooted in reality, they merely look back and say 'what if'. It's basically living your life in a way where you say to yourself 'if I only asked out that girl then we'd be married and rich living in Mout Royal.'
Lastly, treliving has been pretty shrewd as far as pick acquisition & turning those picks into players who can play meaningful minutes and are under control. If there is a better strategy to deploy, I'm all ears.