Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
That is a pretty convenient post-hoc read on the situation. In fact, the Flames could not really have started the season with Phillips on the roster: He lost a lot of time on IR last season, and in the last few weeks coming back before the cancelation in March he did not look quite right. Before Flames training camp Phillips had played only a handful of games in a calendar year; there is no way the Flames were going to start him in the NHL after only an abbreviated training camp, and this had almost nothing to do with whether or not he is an NHL talent.
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Hahaha. No, this is based on what player development's job is, to know where a player is in their development cycle, and whether they are capable of playing in the NHL. You can bet your ass that during the off season the Flames were quite certain to discuss if there were any players on the farm ready to make the jump. That was answered with a resounding no when they started loading up on 4th liners during the free agent period. So, yes, the team knew that Phillips was not a NHL player coming in and nothing appears to have changed in that regard. There has been more than enough opportunity to bring a player up (hello Mr. Gawdin) and the team has not bother to go that route again. Considering the style of Sutter's game, the chances of Phillips ever getting an opportunity with this team seems pretty tiny, just like Phillips himself.