Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
I hope the Flames don't get it wrong on Matthew Phillips and he goes on to be a star. Would think we can all agree on that.
He could be an example of poor development.
But for now I'm still waiting on that list I asked for three weeks ago ... where are the players that should have been recalled in Calgary but were not, walked and became impact players in other cities?
Without that list there really isn't a leg to stand on in my opinion.
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Why does that exact narrative have to be fulfilled?
The NHL is a chicken-and-egg league.
If the Flames failed to give a potentially NHL calibre player an opportunity - that becomes a self-fulfilling outcome independant of opportunity with another team - because the majority of NHL teams prioritize the prospects in their own system. The converse us also true - if a team gives a non NHL-calibre player an opportunity - it becomes an equally self-fulfilling outcome that a guy like Kevin Rooney can get hot for a handful of games and score himself a two year one way contract in free agency.
Not all NHL calibre players get NHL opportunity. With the Flames this seems to be a theme, and I don't think a guy like Morgan Klimchik had needed to be an impact player to have potentially had a Blake Coleman type career if given a Blake Coleman type opportunity. Instead we paid 5M year for a past-his-prime Blake Coleman. And therein lies the problem. Of course it might have been more humiliating if, for instance, an Oliver Kylington had been claimed on waivers and proceeded to have a season like he did last year, or even better (he was hardly given a ton of opportunity last year himself). But that is missing the key point - that the Flames refuse to see what they have.
Not all players that get copious NHL opportunity elsewhere are NHL calibre. But the only way to know is to see what you have by giving kids a shot. Bill Peters sort of started them on the right path as he really enabled Mangiapane and Andersson (and to a lesser extent Kylington - also driven out by Treliving acquiring Fantenberg) but since his tenure the Flames have regressed to the same issues that have plagued them under every coach not named Peters or Hartley for thr last 30+ years. The Flames think they are able to assess players in practice and preseason, but fail to recognize that their own biases will always influence such an evaluation.
Asking for such a list is ignoring the larger point. That successful organizations give their own drafted players more opportunity to sink or swim. The only excuses not to are
A) Genuinely Contending for a Stanley Cup - which the Flames have not come close to in decades. The bar for this organization is winning a playoff round.
B) Atrocious amateur scouting - which is evidently not the case with the Flames outsixe of perhaps the goalie position. The Flames have shown to be one of the better amateur scouting organizations in the league despite the deficit in picks. Which makes the lack of opportunity more baffling.