I am not doom and gloom about this at all.
I know that people still want to think well of Treliving and offer up other excuses, but the results matter. This team was only ever a bubble team under his tenure. Bringing back the same players would probably have resulted in the same Jekyll and Hyde team of great regular season followed by poor regular season, but always with a disappointing playoffs. He is gone. The players are leaving too.
I think there will be a bit of a stink for a little while, but it will quickly be followed by some much needed fresh air. This organization will improve.
The last rebuild was going well for a little while. Things were looking fantastic. I also remember how Button had both Gaudreau and Kucherov on his 'side list', but just ended up miss-timing it. With the 'pizzazz' that Calgary was showing, Panarin also had this team in his 'final four' that he was deciding about. It is not hard to imagine that if Button had also managed to snag Kucherov, that Panarin would have probably picked Calgary. That would have been one hell of a team. Just one miss-timed decision, and then it was followed-up with some overly-aggressive moves in acquiring pieces that didn't fit, and perhaps being overly cautious on salaries to existing players forcing moves like bridge deals.
You live and you learn. Conroy was in the shadows every step of the way. He may have had a different opinion on how to proceed, or maybe he didn't - but he was present for those decisions and I do think that he has learned from Treliving's mistakes. I was actually really glad that Conroy was promoted just because of that continuity. Last thing this team needed was a 'fresh set of eyes' who would go on to repeat the same mistakes.
This sure seems like Conroy coming in, making sure that this organization doesn't bleed any further assets away, and just gets its crap together. He seems to believe more in building a team through the draft and having more youth on the team. I don't think that players are necessarily bailing because they want out of Calgary, but that they are probably being advised by their agents to not sign until next off-season when the cap is bigger. Backlund is at the age where winning is everything, which I think is why we saw his trade request, then a rescinded trade request after the Tkachuk deal, and now a preference to move on since this is looking more and more likely to go in the direction of a retool at minimum, probably a complete rebuild.
I love this direction. I do believe that this is going to be one heck of an exciting draft, and an exciting off-season as a whole. The new building is coming. Before it is up, this team will be rejuvenated. There will be some misses on some picks, but there will also be some good 'hits' as well, and hopefully Conroy has learned from Treliving's mistakes and will figure out a better way to build a team, and make Calgary a team that players want to play for again.
If you are a winning organization that treats its' players well, then you become a destination that players want to be in. Nobody is racing to play in Anaeheim or San Jose any longer, but when those organizations improve again, they will again. Calgary may never be the premier destination, but it can be a destination again if Conroy does a good job.
Things have gotten really stale here this past year. I really do believe this was the best direction for the Flames to take.
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