Hard to disagree with them based on last year's unwatchable on-ice product, but I'm just here to eat popcorn and watch people get unreasonably angry in the replies to this.
https://deadspin.com/a-2018-19-nhl-s...t-t-1829040918
Quote:
Boring Trash:
Calgary Flames
Why do they suck? The Flames are mediocre, but more important to the future of the franchise than anything that happens on the ice this season will be the #### that could go down with the Flames’ arena while the players are busily finishing fifth in the Pacific again. Calgary’s been playing at the Saddledome since 1983, which means old rich dudes have been practically jizzing themselves at the thought of knocking it down to build a shiny new suite-holder with public funds. The NHL and Gary Bettman tried their best and failed to advance this agenda by attempting to unseat Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi last year. But even though talks broke down when Nenshi won a third term, they’ve appeared to warm back up again this summer. I love the shape of the Saddledome but I’ve never been, so I can’t speak to its viability as an NHL arena. But so far, the voters and politicians of Calgary have done an excellent job rejecting the stupid expectation that cities should pay the bill for millionaires’ over-extravagant toys. Calgary has previously offered a more-than-fair three-way cost split of $185 million from the city, $185 million from a ticket surcharge and $185 million from the Flames, which the hockey team rejected. It’d really suck if the city were to agree to a worse deal than that.
Will they get better? Johnny Gaudreau is a bona fide stud and Sean Monahan has struggled with injuries but looks to have all the skills necessary to be the team’s long-term number-one center. Still, the division and the West’s wild card race will likely be too tough for the Flames to make any real noise this year.
Who’s a guy to know? Matthew Tkachuk. All you need to know about Matthew Tkachuk is that he is the inspiration for a lovely Youtube video titled “12 minutes of Matthew Tkachuk pissing people off as a rookie.”
|