[ComixZone]

Rich Winter on with Francis really hammering home how Alberta is perceived by players.

Notes that it’s particularly tough for Calgary - no history of winning in the last decade, rough climate, players don’t see the benefits of family-first communities, so the only way Calgary can attract players in this era is by overpaying on contracts - and you can’t do that in the salary cap era and find success.

Says Toronto and Edmonton have given themselves a chance due to drafting McDavid and Matthews, players who attract other players.

Says Calgary needs to find a “cool” factor. A new arena won’t be enough.

My take? Unsurprisingly - this organization needs to rebuild and get some foundational players that really put life into it. They need those #1 overall players, they need Wolf to become a vezina quality goalie - and they need to stay the hell out of free agency, because it’s a poison pill.

We are at a disadvantage and to overcome that we need everything within the teams control to be first class. So having things go this sour is a hell of a pain point. How is this team perceived league wide right now? Has to be near the worst, if not the worst situation in the league. Yeah, who cares about Arizona’s small arena - it’s still Arizona vs. Calgary, and Winter really hammered on just how poorly the cities up here are viewed.