Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
“Compete for Stanley Cups”.
If you accept that the Flames were a lower level team when he took over 8 years ago (despite the fluke 14-15 season), arguably he could have only possibly had a teams which competed for the cup for the last, say, 4 seasons. I mean, Yzerman is supposed to be a great GM and he has had the same results with the Red Wings for 3 years in a row. They aren’t close yet to a PO spot, let alone competing. Anyway, 3 teams have won the cup in the last 4 years, and 6 teams have competed in the finals, since TB has appeared 3 times. The other finals teams have plummeted since their one appearance, so I’m not sure how you’d gauge their success overall. I mean, was Bergeron a great GM? Is Jim Nill?
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I think if you accept that the Flames were a lower level team when he took over 8 years ago (despite the fluke 14-15 season), then you have to be willing to criticize the fact that they have been a cap ceiling team since the 15-16 season, when the team still needed to acquire foundational pieces to compete for a Stanley Cup. Since that season when the Flames became a cap ceiling team the following teams have reached the Cup Semi-final from the Flames' path:
Anaheim
St. Louis
Nashville
San Jose
Las Vegas
Winnipeg
Colorado
Edmonton
Dallas
Montreal(when the Flames were in the Canadian Division)
Now factoring in teams who did not hit the salary cap ceiling for most of those same years:
Seattle (new team)
Arizona
Now, account for the fact that the 2014 Kings and 2015 Blackhawks were just beginning to rebuild after successful Cup runs, and you've got the following teams remaining in the West, and you're left with Calgary's actual peers in terms of postseason success:
Vancouver
Calgary
Minnesota
To me personally, that is underwhelming company for a "Great GM". Especially considering some of the GMs on that first list of teams are far from "Great"