Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason14h
The issue isn't just the start of this season in a vacuum. It's what this team has shown vs where they are in their competitive cycle.
They really don't have much of a chance to get better over the next few years, aside from hoping one of their non elite prospects really steps up and becomes a driving force (And we dont even give those guys a chance)
We don't have any cap flexibility going forward, so we can't really improve the team going forward in free agency or trades
Everyone knows Kadri, Markstrum, Coleman, Hubby, Backlund, Tanev are going to, on average, decline over the next few years and into the tail end of their contract.
And yet here we are, struggling to try and hold onto the last wildcard spot. And not looking anywhere like a dangerous team.
Sure, if we had better goaltending we would be better. But we still don't look dangerous. If I was an opponent I would love to play the Flames in the playoffs. We don't have a single player who can take over a game.
So were an older, inflexible cap, average to poor farm system team thats struggling to hold a playoff spot
Honestly - If there was a league wide draft for entire teams rosters for a franchise going forward (not one season, this is your new team to build a winner), how many teams would you really take the Flames over given their entire player and cap situation.
Now I suppose the Flames could quickly restock their youth and start completely over if they traded everyone tomorrow and took back horrible contracts, but that isnt going to happen.
So we're kind of stuck in purgatory again, until we slowly decline into a bottom 6-8 team, and start the same cycle for another 10 years.
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I wish management and ownership were more open with fans about these things too, that would help IMO.
Today's fans are intelligent and follow everything about the franchise closely. Talk to us about things like the big picture, competitive cycle, drafting philosophy.
I look at my other favourite sports team (Arsenal) and how they've rebuilt the past few years, became the youngest team in their league, got rid of old players with big contracts and asked for patience from fans.
Now they're top of the league and things are coming around full circle. Even if it didn't work, at least we knew what they were trying to do.
Why can't hockey teams have these honest conversations with fans?